Play Castle of Indolence Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)

Half the deck piles into the tableau, half sits in reserve, and suit never matters anywhere on the board. Two decks, medium difficulty, 65% to win.

Thomas Warfield's version of a nineteenth-century game was documented in George A. Bonaventure's 1932 collection of solitaire games. It's a two-deck game: 52 cards go to the tableau, another 52 to the reserve, and suit doesn't matter anywhere on the board. It's a medium game, with a 65% chance of winning, played with two decks, and your result comes down mostly to skill.

It plays much like Beleaguered Castle Solitaire.

For a change of pace after this one, spend some time with Spider Solitaire instead.

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

Have a good time playing!

How to play Castle of Indolence Solitaire

Layout:

8 foundation piles: Build up from Ace to King regardless of suit.

8 tableau piles: Build down regardless of suit. Only the top card of each pile is playable. Any card may fill an open space. At the start of the game, four piles are dealt seven cards and four are dealt six, all face-up.

4 reserve piles: The top card can be played on the foundations or tableau. At the start of the game, each pile is given 13 cards.

Foundation:

There are eight foundation piles.

Any ace may be placed on any empty foundation pile.

A card can be added to a 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 4 is a 5. 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.

Reserve:

There are four reserve piles, each dealt thirteen cards to start. The top card in each pile is face-up; the rest are face-down. Nothing can be moved into the reserves. Each reserve's top card can be played to the tableau or the foundation.

Tableau:

There are eight tableau piles: four dealt seven cards, four dealt six, all 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 only card that fits on a 5 is a 4.

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.

Only one card can be moved at a time, though super moves let you shift a whole sequence at once when there are enough empty tableau piles to fake the same result one card at a time.