Play Penta Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)

Send three piles climbing and three falling, wrapping every rank around, in this two-deck Busy Aces spinoff. Chase even odds: about a 50% win rate, mixing skill with a little luck.

Another Busy Aces Solitaire variant from Thomas Warfield, Penta Solitaire splits its tableau in half: three piles build down and three build up, both wrapping around the ranks as they go. Expect a fair fight: it's medium difficulty, and you'll win about 50% of the time. The game uses two decks, and your odds come down mostly to skill, with a bit of luck mixed in.

Other games in the same numbered family include Deuces, Three's Company, Fours Up Solitaire, Sixes and Sevens, Eights Down, Cast Out Nines, Dimes, and Jacks in the Box.

If you enjoy Penta, try the original Solitaire, a classic card game.

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

Have fun!

How to play Penta Solitaire

Layout:

8 foundation piles: 4 piles on the left build up regardless of suit, from Fives up to Kings, then wrap around through Aces up to Fours. 4 piles on the right build down regardless of suit, from Fives down to Aces, then wrap around through Kings down to Sixes. The Fives are dealt here at the start of the game.

6 tableau piles: The first three piles build down regardless of suit, wrapping from Ace to King as needed. The other three piles build up regardless of suit, wrapping from King to Ace as needed. Only one card can be moved at a time. Any card can fill an empty pile. At the start of the game, each pile is dealt one card face-up.

Stock: Click to deal 1 card to the waste. There are no redeals.

Waste: The top card is available for play on the foundations or tableau.

Foundation:

There are two kinds of foundation piles.

The Left Foundation

There are four piles on the left foundation. Any 5 can be moved into an empty pile here. A card can be added to a left foundation pile only if it's one rank higher than the pile's current top card, regardless of suit, so the only card that fits on a 2 is a 3. A pile can hold no more than 13 cards. Cards can be moved back off the left foundation into play.

The Right Foundation

There are four piles on the right foundation. Any 5 can be moved into an empty pile here. A card can be added to a right foundation pile only if it's one rank lower than the pile's current top card, regardless of suit, so the only card that fits on a King is a Queen. A pile can hold no more than 13 cards. Cards can be moved back off the right foundation into play, too.

Stock and waste:

There's one waste pile, and the remaining cards make up the stock.

Click the stock to deal one card to the waste. You only get one pass through the stock.

The top waste card can be played to the left tableau, the right tableau, or a foundation.