Play Kingsdown Eights Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)
Kingsdown Eights showers four fresh cards onto all eight reserve fans with every stock click, thirty-two cards at once, for a moderate 65% win rate across two decks.
Kingsdown Eights Solitaire is a traditional two-deck patience built entirely around the number eight: eight foundations, eight tableau piles, and eight reserve fans of four cards each. Like most old patiences, it has come down to us without a named inventor.
Its signature move is the deal. Instead of turning cards onto a waste pile, every click on the stock showers four fresh cards onto each of the eight reserve fans — thirty-two cards in one gesture. The sixty-four-card stock is gone after exactly two such deals, so their timing is the heart of the game: deal too soon and you bury reserve cards you were about to free.
Across two decks, this moderate variant clears about 65% of the time. Careful sequencing wins more often than luck does.
Alternate this with Saxony Solitaire or Agnes Bernauer Solitaire for a change of pace.
When you want the timing pressure without the four-card deluge, the classic Solitaire is right there.
If you run into anything odd or have an idea that would make the game better, please contact me.
Enjoy playing!
How to play Kingsdown Eights Solitaire
Layout:
8 foundation piles: Build up in suit from Ace to King.
8 tableau piles: Build down in alternating colors. Only one card may be moved at a time. Any card can fill a space. At the start of the game, each pile is dealt one card face-up.
8 reserve piles: Each fan is dealt four face-up cards at the start. Only the top card is playable.
Stock: Each click deals four cards onto every reserve fan. There are no redeals.
Foundation:
There are eight foundation piles.
The foundations are begun with the Aces as they become available. 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. With two decks in play, two piles of each suit are built.
The top card of a foundation may be moved back to the tableau if you need it.
Tableau:
Eight tableau piles of one card each. Every card is dealt 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 red 7s.
Cards on the tableau that are not covered by another card are free to be played onto the foundations or any other tableau pile.
Any card can fill an empty tableau space.
Only one card may be moved at a time; sequences are not permitted.
Reserve:
There are eight reserve fans, each dealt four face-up cards at the start of the game.
The top card of each fan may be played to the foundations or the tableau. Cards may never be moved into the reserve by hand — only the stock replenishes it.
Because every deal drops four new cards onto each fan, it pays to empty the reserves as far as possible before clicking the stock.
Stock:
The remaining 64 cards form the stock; there is no waste pile.
When you click on the stock, four cards are dealt face-up onto each of the eight reserve fans — 32 cards at once. Two clicks exhaust the stock, and there are no redeals.
