Play Eights Down Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)
Watch all eight Eights land on the foundations at the start, build down through the Two, Ace, and King to finish on Nine, and climb the tableau the other way. Two decks, 30% odds.
Eights Down Solitaire is a member of the Busy Aces family of two-deck games, and it is essentially Deuces turned upside down. Instead of starting the foundations with Twos and climbing upward, all eight Eights are dealt to the foundations at the start of the game, and each pile is built downward in suit, running past the Two, Ace, and King before finishing on the Nine. The tableau works in the opposite direction and builds upward in suit, which forces you to keep an eye on both ends of every sequence at once.
Expect to win about 30% of your deals over time, a medium difficulty that owes something to the two decks in play and the second pass the stock allows, which brings a bit of chance alongside the skill.
If the flipped foundations appealed to you, Deuces Solitaire and Busy Aces Solitaire explore the same family.
If you enjoy Eights Down Solitaire, try the classic original Solitaire.
If you run into anything odd or have an idea that would make the game better, please contact me.
Enjoy playing!
How to play Eights Down Solitaire
Layout:
8 foundation piles: Build down in suit from the Eight, running past the Ace and King, until each pile has 13 cards and ends on the Nine. The eight Eights are dealt here at the start of the game.
6 tableau piles: Build up in suit. Any card can be used to fill empty piles. At the start of the game, each pile is dealt one card.
Stock: Click to turn over 1 card at a time to the waste. There is one redeal, so you get two passes through the stock.
Waste: Top card available for play on the foundations or tableau.
Foundation:
There are eight foundation piles.
Each foundation pile starts with an Eight.
A card can be added to a foundation pile only if it's one rank lower and the same suit as the pile's current top card. The sequence runs 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace, King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, so the only card that fits on a 2 of spades is an Ace 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:
Six tableau piles of one card each, all dealt face-up.
A card can be added to a tableau 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 4 of diamonds is a 5 of diamonds. An Ace may be placed on a King of the same suit and a 2 on an Ace, but nothing may be placed on a 7, since the Eights are the low cards.
Cards on the tableau that are not covered by another card are free to be played onto the foundation or any other tableau pile.
Any card can fill an empty slot in the tableau.
Groups of cards that ascend in the same suit may be moved from one tableau pile to another as a unit.
Stock and waste:
There is one waste pile, and the remaining cards comprise the stock.
When you click the stock, one card is dealt to the waste. When the stock runs out, the waste is flipped over to form a new stock, giving you one more pass through the stock.
The top card of the waste can be played to the tableau or foundation.
