Play Single Rail Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)

Squeeze the whole Forty Thieves family into four single-card piles and one pass through 48 stocked cards, a tiny board that plays far harder than it looks.

Single Rail Solitaire is the one-deck little brother of Double Rail and belongs to the Forty Thieves family of solitaire games. The layout could hardly be smaller: just four tableau piles of a single card each, with the other 48 cards waiting face-down in the stock.

The tableau itself is unusually generous for a Forty Thieves relative. You build down regardless of suit, sequences may be moved as a group, and any card can fill an empty space. The squeeze comes from the stock: cards are turned over one at a time, there is only one pass, and with just four piles to work with, most of the deck rushes past you with nowhere to land.

That makes Single Rail a difficult game despite its friendly rules. It is played with a single deck, and your odds of victory are mostly determined by luck, though careful play tips the scales — empty the stock as slowly as you can, keep a space open for awkward cards, and dig for the Aces before the waste swallows the cards you need above them.

Both Double Rail Solitaire and Forty Thieves Solitaire belong to the same Forty Thieves family.

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

Enjoy playing!

How to play Single Rail Solitaire

Layout:

4 foundation piles: Build up from Ace to King in the same suit.

4 tableau piles: Build down regardless of suit. Cards can be moved in groups if they are in sequence down, regardless of suit. Any card can fill a space. At the start of the game, each pile is dealt one card.

Stock: Click to turn over one card at a time to the waste pile. There are no redeals.

Waste: The top card can be played on the foundations or tableau.

Foundation:

There are four foundation piles.

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 the 9 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:

Four tableau piles hold a single card each, and every card is dealt face-up.

A card can be added to a tableau pile only if it's one rank lower than the pile's current top card, regardless of suit, so the cards that fit on an 8 of spades are any 7.

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 in downward sequence, regardless of suit, may be moved together from one tableau pile to another.

Stock and waste:

There is one waste pile and the remaining cards make up the stock.

When you click on the stock, one card from the stock is dealt to the waste. There is only one pass through the stock.

The top card of the waste can be played to the tableau or foundation.