Golf Solitaire FAQ

Golf Solitaire is a single-player card-matching game played with one standard 52-card deck. Seven columns of five face-up cards sit above a single foundation pile. You clear the tableau by playing cards that are exactly one rank higher or lower than the foundation’s top card, regardless of suit. Emptying all seven columns wins the hand.

Yes. playgolfsolitaire.app is completely free and runs entirely in your browser. There is nothing to buy, download, or install, and there are no interruptive video ads, premium tiers, or paywalls. Open the page and a game is already dealt.

No. The game is the website — a 100% browser-based build with no app store download and no sign-up. Your stats are saved locally in your browser, so there is no login to manage.

Golf Solitaire is a member of the same rank-matching family as Tri Peaks and Pyramid, and the "golf" name comes from the game being played in rounds, or "holes," in its traditional pen-and-paper scoring — lowest total score across nine deals wins, just like golf itself. It became a fixture of digital solitaire collections through the 1990s and 2000s alongside Klondike and FreeCell.

It is the same core game — seven columns, a single foundation, one-rank matching, one pass through the stock — offered in both Classic and Relaxed rulesets. This build adds unlimited undo, a hint that points to a real move, chain-based scoring, synthesized sound, and a layout that works on phones.

Deal seven columns of five face-up cards (35 cards) and flip one more card to start the foundation. The other sixteen cards form the stock. Play the top card of any column onto the foundation when its rank is one away from the foundation’s top card. When nothing matches, turn the stock once for a new foundation card. Win by clearing every column; the stock does not need to be empty.

Classic follows the traditional rule that an Ace and a King are never adjacent, so a King can only connect to a Queen and an Ace only to a 2. Relaxed adds the common house rule of "turning the corner": an Ace and a King count as one rank apart, so you can chain straight between them. Relaxed noticeably raises how many deals you can clear. Stats are tracked separately for each.

Every card played to the foundation is worth 10 points. Chaining plays without drawing from the stock adds a growing bonus — 5 extra for the second card in a row, 10 extra for the third, and so on. Drawing from the stock resets the chain but never subtracts points. Clearing the tableau adds 5 points for every card still left in the stock, rewarding a clean, efficient clear.

No. The foundation only ever shows its top card, and once a tableau card lands there it stays. There is no way to pull a card back down to the tableau — undo is the only way to reverse a move.

Tap or click the top card of any column that is one rank away from the foundation and it plays immediately. You can also drag a playable card to the foundation for a more tactile feel; an illegal card snaps back. On the keyboard, Space turns the stock, U undoes, H shows a hint, N deals a new game, and M toggles sound.

Golf Solitaire never reaches a fully deterministic endgame the way Klondike does once its hidden cards are revealed — every remaining column top still has to actually match the foundation, and that keeps changing your options as you play. Instead, use Hint whenever you want a nudge toward a legal move.

Once. Golf Solitaire deals sixteen stock cards after the tableau and foundation are set, and each one can only be turned a single time in a given game. There is no recycling a used pile the way Klondike allows.

No. Because the tableau can never be reordered and the stock runs only once, many deals genuinely have no path to clearing all seven columns, and you cannot always tell in advance. Public results across large samples put human win rates for Classic Golf Solitaire in the range of roughly 15-30%; Relaxed mode, which lets an Ace and King connect, wins noticeably more often. If you get stuck, deal a new game.

Check every column for a legal match before you ever touch the stock — a missed tableau match is the most common way a winnable deal is lost. Favor columns with more cards buried beneath the top one, remember a chain of ranks can move forward and backward through the same numbers, and use undo to test a line before committing to it.

Look across all seven columns before doing anything else. Play any card that matches the foundation, prioritizing the column with the most cards stacked beneath its top card, and keep chaining as long as a match exists before you ever turn the stock.

The current streak counts consecutive wins in one ruleset. Dealing a new game before clearing the current one, or getting stuck because no moves remain, resets that ruleset’s current streak to zero. Your longest streak is kept as a separate best.

Your best score, best time, best move count, longest chain, games played, and win streak are saved locally in your browser for both Classic and Relaxed. Nothing is sent to a server and there is no account. Because the save lives on the device, a different phone, a new browser profile, or cleared site data looks like a fresh start. A game in progress is not saved if you close the tab.

Yes. The layout is built for touch: tap a matching column card and it plays immediately, or drag it to the foundation if you prefer. All seven tableau columns and the foundation fit on one portrait screen, and dealing a new game is instant with no page reload.

The game needs a connection to load the page the first time. After that, some browsers may keep the tab playable without a network, but there is no dedicated offline app or installer.

Open Stats from the game menu and use Reset progress, then confirm with the second tap. That clears best score, best time, best moves, longest chain, games played, and streaks for both Classic and Relaxed on this browser. It cannot be undone.

Any current browser with JavaScript: Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari on desktop, plus their mobile versions. If cards do not respond, update the browser, allow scripts for this site, and reload.