Although two person solitaire might sound like an oxymoron, it’s actually quite fun. It gives two players the opportunity to work together to win the game. The basic play works just like individual games of solitaire, but once the aces (and higher) are put up, either player can play on them or borrow down cards they need. However, they can’t cheat and play cards on the other player’s game. Both players have to get all their cards up to win. Two person solitaire is easiest with a basic solitaire game, but it also works with many solitaire variations.
Setting Up
Sit facing each other.
Remove the jokers from both decks.
Shuffle each deck individually. Have each player set up an individual game as follows.
Place one card face up and six cards face down in a row.
Place one card face up and five cards face down on top of the first row, skipping the first face-up card.
Continue placing the cards in this pattern until all of the piles have a face-up card on top.
Place the rest of the cards face down in a stockpile.
Players can use their own set-up and stockpile, but cannot swap cards with each other except as described below.
Playing Two Person Solitaire
Put any face-up aces in the area between the two games. The object of the game is to get all the cards of each suit (spades, diamonds, hearts, clubs) in order on these foundations, starting with the aces and ending with the eight kings. Either player can play on any of the foundations, or borrow a card from the foundations as needed.
Place the face-up cards in the set-up in numerical order from highest to lowest, alternating red and black suits. For example, you can place a 3 of diamonds on a 4 of spades.
You can also move a series of cards. For example, if you have a 10 of spades-9 of hearts-8 of clubs in a pile, you can move all three cards onto a red Jack.
When a pile no longer has a face-up card, turn over the top card from the pile underneath.
When you have used up all the cards in a pile, you can put a king in the empty space.
If you cannot play any of the face-up cards, turn over the first 3 cards from the stockpile. You can then use the face-up card on the stockpile.
If you can’t use the face-up card from the stockpile, turn over 3 more cards from the stockpile. Keep repeating this as many times as necessary. When you get to the end of the stockpile, turn it over and start again.
Continue playing until you win by playing all the cards from both players on the foundations, or sort the two decks and try again.
Things You'll Need:
- two standard decks of cards
- table large enough for two games of solitaire
- two chairs
Tip
Use two decks of cards with backs that look very different from each other (such as one red and one blue). This will make sorting the decks much easier when the game is finished.
Remember that both players have to get all their cards on the foundations to win, so work together. If there is only one ace of clubs on the foundation and you both have a 2 of clubs, use strategy to decide whose card would benefit both players the most.
Tips
- Use two decks of cards with backs that look very different from each other (such as one red and one blue). This will make sorting the decks much easier when the game is finished.
- Remember that both players have to get all their cards on the foundations to win, so work together. If there is only one ace of clubs on the foundation and you both have a 2 of clubs, use strategy to decide whose card would benefit both players the most.
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