Solitaire: Klondike, Spider and FreeCell with winnable deals

With the “Winnable deals only” option on, yes: the solver wins the deal before you see it. Without it the shuffle is random, and random Klondike can be won in about 82 deals out of 100 when three cards are turned and about 90 out of 100 when one is turned — figures from a 2019 computer study of the game. Four-suit Spider is too large to check in a second, so its winnable deals come from a list the solver worked through in advance.

It means the solver went through every continuation of the position on the table, including the cards that are still face down, and none of them ends in a win. It is said only after such a complete search. When the search runs out of time the line reads “not checked” instead, so the verdict never guesses.

A hint is the first move of a line that wins the whole game, and the solver knows where the face-down cards are. A move that looks pointless — taking a card back from a foundation, or splitting a tidy run — may be the one that frees a buried card several moves later. If the solver has not found a winning line, the hint is marked as an ordinary one.

Yes. Of the first million Microsoft deals eight cannot be solved: #11982, #146692, #186216, #455889, #495505, #512118, #517776 and #781948. They are marked on the table, and “Winnable deals only” skips them. Every other number from 1 to 1,000,000 has a solution.

One more than the number of empty free cells, doubled for every empty column: with two free cells and one empty column that is six cards. When the run goes into an empty column, that column does not count. The table works this out and carries the whole run in one move; if the run is too long, it does not move.

The classic rule: a row of ten cards may be dealt only when all ten columns hold at least one card. Move any card or run into the empty column first. The stock shows how many rows are left — one small pile per row.

Undo does not: taking a move back is part of the game. A game finished with a hint, or after the “back to a winnable position” button, still counts as won, but sets no best time and no best score — otherwise the record would belong to the solver. In Spider each undo costs one point, as it always has.

Klondike uses the Windows rules: 10 points for a card on a foundation, 5 for a card from the waste to a column, 5 for turning a card over, minus 15 for taking a card back from a foundation, and a time bonus of 700,000 divided by the seconds played. Vegas scoring starts at −52 and pays 5 per card. Spider starts at 500, loses a point per move and gains 100 for each finished suit. FreeCell counts moves.

It is kept in this browser on this device: the cards, the clock and the whole undo history, separately for each of the three games. Open the page again and the table is as you left it. Clearing the site data in the browser removes the saved games and the statistics.