Play Tvete's Grandfather Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)

Learn the game Paul Olav Tvete's own grandfather taught him: an oddly shaped tableau, one pile just a single face-down card, and Yukon-style moves throughout.

This game was taught to Paul Olav Tvete by his grandfather and later found its way into Patience. It's a challenging game: the tableau is oddly shaped (one pile starts as just a single face-down card), and cards move Yukon Solitaire-style, so you can shift any face-up card, along with everything stacked on top of it, to a new column. This game is commonly called "Grandfather." To avoid confusing it with the completely different game Grandfather, I changed the name.

Fancy the plain original instead? Head over to Solitaire.

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

Enjoy the game!

How to play Tvete's Grandfather Solitaire

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 a 7 of clubs is an 8 of clubs.

The top card of each foundation can be moved back into play if another pile will accept it.

Tableau:

The seven tableau piles are uneven, ranging from 1 card up to 11. Every pile except the first deals its top five cards face-up, with the rest face-down beneath them; the first pile is just a single face-down card.

A card can be added to a tableau pile only if it's one rank lower and the same suit as the pile's current top card, so the only card that fits on a 10 of clubs is a 9 of clubs.

Cards on the tableau that are not covered by another card are free to be played onto the foundation or any other tableau pile.

Only kings may fill empty spots in the tableau.

Any face-up card in the tableau may also be moved to another tableau column where it fits, bringing along every card stacked on top of it, regardless of suit or sequence.