Play Zerline Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)
Free your eight Kings first, or nothing moves: this two-deck patience climbs foundations from King to Queen instead of Ace, at a 55% win rate.
Zerline Solitaire is a two-deck patience built around one unusual idea: its foundations do not begin on the Ace. Each of the eight foundations starts with a King and climbs in suit through the Ace and on up to the Queen — thirteen cards that wrap once around the ranks. Freeing the eight Kings from beneath the tableau is the opening problem, and until a King appears nothing at all can be built.
The tableau is wide but shallow. Eight columns of five face-up cards are dealt at the start, and you pack them downward in any suit, one card at a time — sequences never travel as a block. An emptied column can only be refilled by a Queen, the highest card in the game once the Kings have been demoted to the foundation bases, so open columns are rare and valuable, and keeping one clear is often worth more than a hasty foundation play.
A small reserve sits to one side and holds up to four cards. Only tableau cards may be moved into it, and only its top card can be recovered, so it works best as a short-term buffer rather than a permanent dumping ground. With a single pass through the stock and no redeals, the difficulty is moderate — roughly a 55% win rate — and success turns on how patiently you clear the waste and time the release of your Kings.
Rows of Four Solitaire, Kleine Napoleon, and Beleaguered Castle Solitaire are close relatives built on the same kind of reserve play, and if you like two-deck games, Congress Solitaire is worth a look.
If you run into anything odd or have an idea that would make the game better, please contact me.
Enjoy playing!
How to play Zerline Solitaire
Layout:
8 foundation piles: Build up in suit, starting with a King and wrapping through the Ace up to the Queen, until each pile holds thirteen cards.
8 tableau piles: Build down in any suit, one card at a time. Only a Queen may be moved onto an empty column. At the start of the game, each pile is dealt five face-up cards.
Reserve: A holding area for up to four cards. Only accessible tableau cards may be moved here, and only the top card can be played back out to the foundations or tableau.
Stock: Click to turn cards to the waste one at a time. There are no redeals.
Waste: The top card is available for play on the foundations or tableau.
Foundation:
There are eight foundation piles.
Each pile begins with a King. A card can be added only if it's one rank higher and the same suit as the pile's current top card, wrapping from King to Ace so that the order runs King, Ace, Two, and so on up to the Queen. There can be no more than thirteen cards in a pile.
The top card of each foundation can be moved back into play if another pile will accept it.
Tableau:
There are eight tableau piles, each dealt five face-up cards.
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. Only one card may be moved at a time; sequences are not shifted as a group.
Cards that are not covered by another card are free to be played onto a foundation, another tableau pile, or the reserve.
Only a Queen may fill an empty tableau column.
Stock and waste:
The remaining cards form the stock.
When you click the stock, one card is dealt to the waste. The stock is dealt just once; there are no redeals.
The top card of the waste may be played to the tableau or a foundation, but not to the reserve.
