Play Colorado Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)
Twenty piles just hold cards, no building, so you decide where each stock card parks and chase one of the site's more even win rates: 50%.
Colorado Solitaire is an old two-deck patience that already appears in English card game collections from the late nineteenth century. There is no building on the tableau at all: the twenty piles are nothing more than open storage, and the entire game revolves around deciding where to park each card that comes off the stock. Expect a coin-flip: this two-deck game is medium in difficulty and wins roughly 50% of the time, with skill doing most of the deciding.
Eight foundations sit above the tableau: four build up in suit from Ace to King, and four build down in suit from King to Ace, so every one of the 104 cards eventually has a home. The top card of the stock is always face-up and may be dropped on any tableau pile you like — and that is where the planning comes in, since only the top card of each pile can ever move again.
Two quirks set Colorado apart from its relatives: there is no waste pile and no redeal, and an emptied tableau pile is refilled automatically from the stock, so you can never hoard free spaces.
Twenty Solitaire and Sir Tommy Solitaire share that same open-storage approach to the tableau.
Once you've had your fill of Colorado, original Solitaire is the natural place to go next.
If you run into anything odd or have an idea that would make the game better, please contact me.
Enjoy playing!
How to play Colorado Solitaire
Layout:
8 foundation piles: Build the first four up in suit from Ace to King and the last four down in suit from King to Ace.
20 tableau piles: No building is allowed; only the top card may be played to the foundations. Each pile is dealt one card face-up at the start of the game, and empty spots are refilled automatically from the stock.
Stock: The top card is face-up and may be played to any tableau pile or the foundations. There are no redeals.
Foundation:
Foundation piles are classified into two types. All eight start empty.
The Aces Foundation
There are four piles in the aces foundation, one per suit. Any Ace may be moved to a vacant pile. A card can be added to an aces 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 a 7 of clubs is an 8 of clubs. There can be no more than 13 cards in a pile.
The Kings Foundation
There are four piles in the kings foundation, one per suit. Any King may be moved to a vacant pile. A card can be added to a kings foundation pile only if it's one rank lower and the same suit as the pile's current top card, so the only card that fits on a 7 of spades is a 6 of spades. There can be no more than 13 cards in a pile.
Cards cannot be removed from any foundation once they have been placed on it.
Tableau:
There are twenty tableau piles of one card each. Every card is dealt face-up.
No building is permitted on the tableau; a tableau card's only destination is the foundations.
Empty tableau spots are immediately refilled with the top card of the stock; you cannot fill them yourself, and once the stock runs out they stay empty.
Only one card may be moved at a time; sequences are not permitted.
Stock:
After the deal, the remaining 84 cards make up the stock.
The top card of the stock is always face-up and can be played directly to any tableau pile or a foundation — there is no waste pile. There is only one pass through the stock; once it is empty, it stays empty.
