Play Simple Pairs Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)
Clear same-rank pairs from nine face-up cards as the stock refills each gap: quick, luck-driven, and the perfect palate cleanser between heavier games.
Simple Pairs Solitaire is the most stripped-down member of the pair-matching family of solitaire games, and it lives up to its name. Nine cards lie face-up on the table; whenever two of them share the same rank — two Jacks, two 5s, it makes no difference which suits — you remove them as a pair.
The clever part is what happens next: the two vacated spaces are refilled automatically from the top of the stock, so the whole 52-card deck gradually streams across just nine visible positions. Because every rank appears four times in the deck, each rank can always pair off in principle — the question is whether the pairs happen to meet on the table at the same time. When the stock is used up, the remaining spaces stay empty; you win if all 52 cards pair away, and you lose the moment no two visible cards share a rank.
There is very little to decide — occasionally three cards of one rank are showing and you choose which two to remove — so a deal takes only a minute or two, and your odds of victory are determined almost entirely by luck. That makes it a perfect palate cleanser between longer, heavier games, and a gentle introduction to trickier pair games such as Nestor or Block Ten.
If matching pairs quickly is what hooked you, Patient Pairs Solitaire and Block Ten Solitaire give you more of it, with a bit more planning involved.
Simple Pairs moves fast and leaves little to decide; original Solitaire slows things down and asks more of you.
If you run into anything odd or have an idea that would make the game better, please contact me.
Enjoy playing!
How to play Simple Pairs Solitaire
Layout:
4 foundation piles: Removed pairs are placed here. The game is won when all 52 cards have reached the foundations.
9 tableau piles: Each pile holds a single face-up card. Remove any two cards of the same rank as a pair. Emptied piles are refilled automatically from the stock.
Stock: The 43 cards left after the deal, face-down. Its only job is to refill empty tableau spaces. There are no redeals.
Foundation:
There are four foundation piles.
The foundations act as the discard area: every pair you remove is moved there automatically. Any two cards may start a pile, and the piles have no size limit.
The top card of each foundation can be moved back into play if another pile will accept it. The game is won when all 52 cards have been moved to the foundations.
Tableau:
Nine tableau piles of one card each. Every card is dealt face-up.
No building is permitted on the tableau.
Any two face-up cards of the same rank may be removed as a pair, regardless of suit. As a result, an 8 of spades may be paired with the 8 of hearts, the 8 of diamonds, or the 8 of clubs.
Each time a pile is emptied, it is immediately refilled with the top card of the stock. Once the stock is empty, spaces remain empty for the rest of the game.
Stock and waste:
There is no waste pile; the 43 cards remaining after the deal make up the stock.
The stock is never dealt by hand. Instead, its top card automatically fills each tableau space the moment a pair is removed. You get only one pass through the stock.
The game ends in a loss when the stock is empty, or cannot help, and no two visible cards share a rank.
