How to Play Zerline Solitaire

This two-deck game flips the usual card order: foundations start on Kings and climb through the ranks with Queens as the top card. Draw from the stock and tuck tricky cards into a small reserve area.

Setup

1. Eight foundation piles (two decks x four suits) start with Kings and build up through Ace, 2, 3, and onward, ending on Queen, the highest-ranked card
2. A stock pile holds the remaining cards; click it to draw one card at a time into the waste
3. A single waste pile holds the card you draw from the stock, and only its top card can be played
4. Eight tableau piles each start with 5 cards dealt face-up
5. One reserve pile can hold up to 4 cards for temporary storage

How to play

• Click the stock to draw one card at a time into the waste pile; you only get one pass through the stock
• Eligible cards move automatically to the foundations once no other card can be built on them in the tableau or reserve, though you can adjust this behavior in Settings
• Build tableau piles in descending order by rank, with any suit (a 9 can go on a 10 regardless of suit)
• Move only the top card from the tableau to another pile
• You can place any card from the tableau or waste onto the reserve pile, which holds up to 4 cards
• Empty tableau piles may only be filled with a Queen
• You can move the top card of a foundation back into play if it helps you continue

How to win

Objective: Move all 104 cards to the eight foundations, building each suit upward starting from King, with Queen as the final, highest card.

You win when all 104 cards are in the eight foundation piles. The stock has only one pass—once exhausted, you cannot redeal.

Tips

• Use the reserve to temporarily hold cards that are blocking your best plays
• Since the stock has only one pass, prioritize moving cards to the foundations and reserve early
• Remember Kings are the lowest card here and Queens are the highest, so plan your tableau sequences with that reversed order in mind

Play Zerline free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Zerline alongside 300+ other games. It saves every move as you play, so you can close the window and pick the game up later, replay any deal, and take on a new Daily Challenge deal every day. Browse every game in the Game Gallery.

Related games

More games from the Klondike family:

• Agnes Bernauer — Each game chooses a random base rank for all four foundations, which then build upward in suit from that rank, wrapping around.
• Batsford — This two-card-deck Klondike variant only gives you one trip through the stock, so every move counts, and a small reserve lets you tuck away kings that are blocking your tableau.
• Double Minerva — This two-deck game adds a 13-card reserve alongside a tableau dealt in an alternating face-down, face-up pattern.
• Haystack — A single-deck game with a small 8-card reserve pile and a unique diamond-shaped tableau.
• Imperial Guards — A two-deck solitaire where you build tableau piles downward by alternating color and move all cards to foundations.