Play Athena Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)

Every pile deals four cards face down, up, down, up so half of each pile stays visible, and unlimited stock redeals make this Klondike cousin easier to beat than the original.

Athena Solitaire is a Klondike variant credited to Thomas Warfield and named after the Greek goddess of wisdom. It keeps everything familiar about Klondike — foundations built up in suit, a tableau built down in alternating colors, and a stock that deals three cards at a time — but replaces the staircase deal with something far more even-handed.

Instead of piles growing from one to seven cards, every one of the seven piles receives exactly four cards, dealt in alternating rows: the first row face down, the second face up, the third face down, and the fourth face up again. Each pile therefore hides only two cards, and you can always see two of the four from the start, which makes planning much less of a guessing game.

The game is easier than standard Klondike, and with unlimited passes through the stock, a patient player wins more deals than they lose. With a single deck dealt across those staggered rows, winning comes down to both skill and a little luck.

It plays much like Bureau Solitaire and Minerva Solitaire.

The original Solitaire is the game these rules all trace back to.

If you run into anything odd or have an idea that would make the game better, please contact me.

Enjoy playing!

How to play Athena Solitaire

Layout:

4 foundation piles: Build up in suit from Ace to King.

7 tableau piles: Build down in alternating colors. Each pile is dealt four cards in alternating rows — face down, face up, face down, face up. Only Kings may fill empty spaces.

Stock: Click to deal three cards at a time to the waste. There is no limit on the number of redeals.

Waste: The top card is playable.

Foundation:

There are four foundation piles.

Any Ace may be moved to an empty foundation pile. A card can be added to a foundation pile only if it's one rank higher and the same suit as the pile's current top card, so the only card that fits on an 8 of spades is a 9 of spades. There can be no more than 13 cards in a pile.

The top card of each foundation can be moved back into play if another pile will accept it.

Tableau:

Seven tableau piles of four cards each. The first and third cards of every pile are dealt face down, the second and fourth face up.

A card can be added to a tableau pile only if it's one rank lower and the opposite color of the pile's current top card, so the only cards that fit on an 8 of spades are the 7 of hearts and 7 of diamonds.

A face-up card may be moved together with the cards on top of it as long as they form a descending sequence of alternating colors. A face-down card is turned over as soon as it becomes the top card of its pile.

Empty tableau spots may only be filled with a King or a sequence headed by a King.

Stock and waste:

There is one waste pile and the remaining 24 cards make up the stock.

When you click on the stock, three cards are dealt to the waste. When the stock runs out, the waste is turned over to form a new stock, and you may go through it as many times as you like.

The top card of the waste can be played to the tableau or foundation.