About Fair Solitaire

Fair Solitaire is a home for the classic solitaire games, made with two promises: every game you are dealt can be won, and the cards are easy on the eyes, even after an hour of play.

Why we made it

It started with a lot of FreeCell. After winning game after game, we moved on to Baker's Game, its stricter cousin, and kept losing. It took a while to find out why: in Baker's Game, roughly one deal in four cannot be won at all, no matter how well you play. Most sites deal those games anyway and never tell you.

Looking for better places to play, we found the same problems again and again: small, crowded cards that tire the eyes, and fiddly controls, like having to move a run of cards one by one when the game could do it for you. We wanted a place that respects your time, so we built one.

What makes it different

• Every game can be won. We only deal games with a known solution, so when you lose, there was a way through.
• Cards you can read. Large ranks in a clear typeface, bold suit symbols, warm ivory cards on a calm navy table, and strong contrast throughout. The colours were chosen to be comfortable for long sessions.
• One tap is enough. Tap a card and it goes to the best place. Ordered runs move together when the rules allow it, and cards that are no longer needed go to the foundations by themselves.
• Unlimited undo, a restart button and no sign-up, no downloads and no time pressure.
• Game numbers you can share. FreeCell uses the same numbers as Microsoft FreeCell, so game #617 here is the same game everywhere.

How we know a game can be won

A solver is a program that tries moves, backs up when it gets stuck and remembers the positions it has already seen, until it either finds a way to put every card on the foundations or runs out of options. When it wins, it writes down the moves. That list is the proof: anyone can replay it and watch the game come out.

For FreeCell, this work was done publicly years ago. Solvers have checked the first million Microsoft games and found only eight that cannot be won; we never deal those eight. For the other games we add, we run a solver on every deal before it reaches you and keep only the games it solved.

The games

FreeCell is ready to play. Next come Baker's Game, Klondike, Pyramid, TriPeaks and Golf, followed by Spider and more of the classics, each with the same promise.

Who we are

Fair Solitaire is made by Anda Tech Solutions SRL, a small software studio in Bucharest, Romania. The site is free and is paid for by advertising, which we keep away from the cards so it never gets in the way of a game.

Ideas, bugs, a favourite game you would like to see? Write to us; we read every message.