How Many Cards Are in Solitaire? Deck Sizes

Quick Answer: Standard Klondike solitaire uses exactly 52 cards from a single deck — no jokers. Of those 52 cards, 28 are dealt face-down into seven tableau columns and 24 go to the stock pile. Spider solitaire uses two decks combined for a total of 104 cards. FreeCell, Pyramid, and Yukon each use one standard 52-card deck.

One of the first questions new players ask is simply: "How many cards does solitaire use?" The answer depends on which variant you are playing. This guide breaks down card counts for every major solitaire game, explains how those cards are distributed across the playing field, and helps you understand why different deck sizes create fundamentally different gameplay experiences.

The Standard 52-Card Deck

Before covering specific games, it helps to understand what a standard deck contains.

Definition: A standard deck contains 52 playing cards divided into four suits: Hearts (red), Diamonds (red), Clubs (black), and Spades (black). Each suit contains 13 cards ranked Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, and King.

Playing cards in their current four-suit format arrived in Europe from the Islamic world during the 14th century. The familiar Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades suits became standard in France and later spread globally. For a deeper dive into card history, see our history of playing cards guide.

Solitaire games never use jokers unless the specific ruleset calls for it (which is rare). All mainstream solitaire variants use only the 52 base cards.

Klondike Solitaire: 52 Cards Explained

Klondike solitaire — the game most people picture when they hear "solitaire" — uses exactly one standard deck (52 cards).

How the 52 Cards Are Distributed

| Area | Number of Cards | Details | |------|----------------|---------| | Tableau (7 columns) | 28 cards | Columns 1–7 with 1–7 cards each | | Stock pile | 24 cards | Face-down, drawn during play | | Foundation (4 piles) | 0 cards at start | Built up Ace→King as game progresses | | Waste pile | 0 cards at start | Cards from stock that cannot be played |

Tableau breakdown by column:

• Column 1: 1 card
• Column 2: 2 cards
• Column 3: 3 cards
• Column 4: 4 cards
• Column 5: 5 cards
• Column 6: 6 cards
• Column 7: 7 cards
• Total: 28 cards (1+2+3+4+5+6+7 = 28)

The remaining 52 − 28 = 24 cards form the stock pile. As you play through the stock, cards move to the waste pile, and eventually all 52 cards (ideally) end up on the four foundation piles for a win.

FreeCell: 52 Cards, All Face-Up

FreeCell also uses a single 52-card deck, but the distribution is radically different from Klondike.

In FreeCell, all 52 cards are dealt face-up into eight tableau columns at the start of the game:

• Columns 1–4: 7 cards each (28 total)
• Columns 5–8: 6 cards each (24 total)
• Total: 52 cards face-up

There is no stock pile in FreeCell. Every card is visible from the first move, which is why FreeCell rewards pure planning over luck. Four "free cells" in the top-left corner hold one card each as temporary storage — they do not count as additional cards.

According to FreeCell research summarized on [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience_(game), all but one of the 32,000 most common deals in Microsoft FreeCell are solvable, giving the game a theoretical win rate above 99.999%.

Spider Solitaire: 104 Cards (Two Decks)

Spider solitaire is the major exception to the single-deck rule. It uses two complete 52-card decks shuffled together for a total of 104 cards.

How Spider's 104 Cards Work

| Area | Number of Cards | |------|----------------| | Tableau (10 columns) | 54 cards | | Stock (5 rows of 10) | 50 cards | | Foundation (8 piles) | 0 at start |

Spider deals cards into 10 tableau columns:

• Columns 1–4: 6 cards each (24 total)
• Columns 5–10: 5 cards each (30 total)
• Total in tableau: 54 cards

The remaining 50 cards form 5 groups of 10, dealt one row at a time to the tableau when the player chooses to draw from the stock.

The two-deck format means Spider has 8 foundation piles (one for each suit in each deck — or two per suit). To win, you must complete all 8 foundation sequences of 13 cards each.

Spider comes in three difficulty modes based on how many suits are active:

• 1-suit mode: Only Spades from both decks (easiest)
• 2-suit mode: Spades and Hearts (moderate)
• 4-suit mode: All four suits active (hardest, win rate around 30–40%)

Pyramid Solitaire: 52 Cards in a Triangle

Pyramid solitaire uses a single 52-card deck arranged in a distinctive triangular (pyramid) layout.

Pyramid Card Distribution

| Area | Number of Cards | |------|----------------| | Pyramid (7 rows) | 28 cards | | Stock pile | 24 cards | | Waste pile | 0 at start |

The pyramid rows contain:

• Row 1 (top): 1 card
• Row 2: 2 cards
• Row 3: 3 cards
• Row 4: 4 cards
• Row 5: 5 cards
• Row 6: 6 cards
• Row 7 (bottom): 7 cards
• Total: 28 cards

Interestingly, this is the same 28/24 split as Klondike, but the arrangement is completely different. In Pyramid, you remove pairs of cards that add up to 13 (e.g., King alone = 13, Queen + Ace = 13, Jack + 2 = 13, 10 + 3 = 13, etc.). Kings are removed alone.

Yukon Solitaire: 52 Cards, All Visible

Yukon solitaire uses one 52-card deck like Klondike, but deals all cards to the tableau with no stock pile:

| Column | Total Cards | Face-Down | Face-Up | |--------|------------|-----------|---------| | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | | 2 | 6 | 1 | 5 | | 3 | 7 | 2 | 5 | | 4 | 8 | 3 | 5 | | 5 | 9 | 4 | 5 | | 6 | 10 | 5 | 5 | | 7 | 11 | 6 | 5 | | Total | 52 | 21 | 31 |

With no stock pile, Yukon requires you to work entirely with the cards on the tableau. The challenge is great — but all information (apart from face-down cards) is present from deal.

Other Variants and Their Deck Counts

| Game | Decks Used | Total Cards | |------|-----------|------------| | Klondike | 1 | 52 | | FreeCell | 1 | 52 | | Spider | 2 | 104 | | Pyramid | 1 | 52 | | Yukon | 1 | 52 | | Double Klondike | 2 | 104 | | Canfield | 1 | 52 | | Forty Thieves | 2 | 104 | | Golf Solitaire | 1 | 52 | | Accordion | 1 | 52 |

Players in California and New York who enjoy larger, more complex games often gravitate toward two-deck variants like Spider or Forty Thieves. Two-deck games typically take longer but offer richer strategic depth.

For a comprehensive overview of all major variants, see our solitaire game variations overview.

Why Deck Size Matters for Gameplay

The number of cards directly affects three things:

1. Game length: More cards means more moves and longer play sessions. Spider's 104-card games average 20–30 minutes for experienced players vs. 5–10 minutes for Klondike.

2. Complexity: Two-deck games introduce duplicate cards, which means you may have two red Queens of Hearts — one visible, one hidden. Tracking duplicates requires more mental effort.

3. Winability: More cards generally means lower win rates for most players. Spider 4-suit is one of the hardest variants precisely because of the complex interactions between 104 cards.

For solitaire rules across all variants, the [Solitaire Variants Library](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patience_(game) is the gold standard reference used by card game organizations worldwide.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many cards are used in standard solitaire?

Standard Klondike solitaire uses 52 cards from a single deck, with no jokers. Of these, 28 are dealt to the seven-column tableau and the remaining 24 form the stock pile.

Does Spider solitaire use 1 or 2 decks?

Spider solitaire uses two complete 52-card decks shuffled together, totaling 104 cards. This gives the game its larger 10-column tableau and 5 stock draws of 10 cards each.

Are jokers included in solitaire?

No. Standard solitaire games do not use jokers. All variants use only the 52 base cards (or multiples of 52 for two-deck games). Jokers are removed from the deck before playing.

How many face-down cards are in solitaire at the start?

In Klondike solitaire, 21 of the 28 tableau cards start face-down, with only 7 face-up (one per column). Uncovering those 21 hidden cards is a primary goal of early gameplay.

What solitaire game uses the most cards?

Among common variants, Spider solitaire and Forty Thieves use the most cards — 104 each (two 52-card decks). If you count very large variants, some multi-deck patience games use 3 or 4 decks, but these are rare and not widely played online.

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💡 Gameplay Rule Clarification (2026)

Remember that low-value cards (Aces and Twos) should always be moved to the foundations immediately as they serve no strategic building purpose on the tableau. Pace your draws to prevent early card congestion.