Learn Golf Solitaire: Tutorial

A free card can go onto the waste if it is one rank higher or one rank lower than the waste card. Suits and colours don't matter.

With the 6 of clubs on the waste, two cards fit: the 7 of spades at the end of column 1 and the 5 of hearts at the end of column 3. Tap a card that fits to play it.

Each card you play becomes the new waste card, so plays link into a run, and a run may change direction at any time.

Here the 7 of spades, 8 of diamonds, 7 of hearts and 6 of spades all came off column 1: up, up, down, down. The 6 of spades is now on the waste, and the 5 of hearts in column 3 can follow it.

Look at the card behind the one you play: it shows where the run can go next.

After the 5 of hearts and the 4 of clubs from column 5, nothing fits: no free card is a 3 or a 5.

When you are stuck, tap the stock to turn its top card onto the waste. That card is the new one to play on. You may turn a card whenever you like, but each stock card is turned only once: there is no second pass through the stock.

The stock gave the queen of diamonds. Four free cards fit now: the kings at the end of columns 2 and 5 and the jacks at the end of columns 3 and 4.

Be careful with kings. In the standard rules nothing can be played on a king, so a king on the waste ends your run and you must turn a stock card. Aces are low: only a 2 goes on an ace.

The jack of diamonds is the better play here: it uncovers the 10 of clubs in column 3, and the 10 of hearts in column 1 can follow it.

Two easier rules can be chosen in the setup: a queen may follow a king, or kings and aces may follow each other.

The run went on: jack of diamonds, then the 10 of hearts, which empties column 1, then the 9 of spades, 8 of clubs and 7 of diamonds from column 6.

Columns only shrink, and an empty column stays empty. Your score is the number of cards still in the columns, 24 here; the Cards left counter shows it as you play.

No free card fits the 7 of diamonds, so it is time to turn the stock again.

The deal ends when the stock is empty and no free card fits the waste. Here the last stock card was the ace of hearts, and the free cards, the 5 of spades and the 3 of clubs, can't go on it.

The game is over with 3 cards left in the columns, a score of 3. The game tells you that no moves are left, and you can start a new deal.

You win as soon as all 35 cards are gone from the columns, even with cards still in the stock. Each stock card you didn't need counts one point below zero: this deal was cleared with 2 stock cards left, a score of -2.

As in golf, the lower the score, the better, which is how the game got its name. Plan your runs, play kings late and turn the stock only when you must.