Solitaire card games you can play alone [single-player]
If you’re bored with nothing to do on your own, don’t you have a deck of playing cards in your room?
Playing cards often have the image of being a party game you play boisterously with a crowd, but this time, let’s try playing with cards by yourself!
We’re introducing plenty of solo-friendly games—from classic single-player staples to fortune-telling-style activities and even options that don’t rely on the numbers at all.
You might just find yourself hooked on solo card play…!
Even when it’s called “fortune-telling,” many of these can be enjoyed like simple matching or number-based games.
Give them a try!
- Single-player games: a roundup of time-killing games
- Recommended ways to kill time that you can do alone at home
- Types of playing cards and how to play
- [Fun For Solo Adults] How to Enjoy Your Time at Home
- A card game for two players
- So Addictive! A Collection of Solo Activities and Ideas to Make Your Free Time More Fun
- Cool playing card magic. Card tricks of various difficulty levels.
- [Easy] Recommended Playing Card Games Kids Can Enjoy Too
- [Elementary School] Quick and Easy! Indoor Recreational Activities Perfect for Lower Grades
- [Easy] A Beginner’s Guide to Card Magic: Tricks Even Elementary School Kids Can Do Right Away
- [For Elementary School Students] Cipher Quiz: Fun Puzzle Riddles
- [By Difficulty] Simple Card Magic Tricks Using Playing Cards
- Simple card magic. Tricks you can do with self-working methods or a little sleight of hand.
Solitaire Card Games You Can Play Alone (11–20)
compatibility fortune-telling
It might be a good idea to try a compatibility reading with playing cards for someone you’re interested in.
Use a total of 21 cards: the Ace through 10 of Spades, the Ace through 10 of Hearts, and the Joker.
Shuffle well and lay them out in a pyramid with two cards at the top, then split the pyramid down the middle into left and right.
Assign the left side to Spades and the right side to Hearts.
Flip over the one remaining card, place it in its correct side, then take the card from that spot and repeat the process.
When the Joker appears, stop.
Judge your compatibility by the number and ratio of cards you revealed.
Erase the playing cards
A party trick you can do with just one playing card: a one-shot gag where you “make the card you’re holding disappear.” You hold an ordinary, ungimmicked card, and in an instant it vanishes… then reappears.
The method is very simple: you pinch the card with your index finger and pinky, and flip your middle and ring fingers, which are placed on the back of the card, around to hold it against the back of your hand.
The key is to subtly shake your hand so the small details aren’t visible and it looks natural.
Card throwing
It’s not a card game; it’s a way to use playing cards as a prop and throw them for fun.
If you learn it as a kind of party trick, you can do it anywhere as long as there are cards—it’s a cool skill to have! While there’s a method that uses a wrist snap, this one relies on finger strength, letting you throw the card stylishly with minimal hand movement.
You hold the card pinched between your thumb and index finger, then flick it with your middle finger placed along the side to launch it.
It has more power than you’d expect, and the card flies in a very cool way.
Monte Cristo
A love fortune-telling game for women using playing cards: Monte Cristo.
First, think of one man you like.
Take the 5 and 6 cards from each suit and arrange them in a diamond shape.
The remaining cards form the deck; flip them over one by one.
If the card you flip is a 4, place it on the 5 of the same suit; if it’s a 7, place it on the 6 of the same suit.
In this way, stack cards from 4 up to Ace on top of the 5, and stack cards from 7 up to Queen on top of the 6.
Place Kings in the center of the arranged cards.
If a drawn card can’t be placed, discard it face up.
You may also use the top card of the discard pile when it becomes playable.
Repeat this process until you run out of cards in hand; then take the discard pile as your new hand and continue the same procedure.
If you can arrange all the cards in the first cycle, your compatibility is excellent; in the second cycle, it’s average; in the third cycle or more, it’s poor.
Card magic
How about learning some card magic for just-in-case moments? Magic only really shines when you have someone to perform for, but when you’re alone and have time, practice! If you search video sites, you’ll find tons of tricks—from simple ones even kids can do to those that make people say, “Huh? How did you do that? Do it again!” If you carry a deck of cards, you can perform anytime, so it never hurts to have a few tricks memorized.
The more you know, the better!
Ace up
A game very similar to solitaire: Ace Up.
Lay out three rows of seven cards each, and turn face up only the seven cards on the bottom row.
Then, as in solitaire, rearrange the cards so that they alternate in color and the numbers are in sequence.
If you can’t make any more moves, draw seven cards from the remaining deck and place one beneath each column.
At this point, it’s okay if the numbers are not in sequence.
When an Ace appears, move it off the tableau just like in solitaire, and from then on build cards off the tableau in numerical order by suit.
If the deck runs out and you still can’t lay out each suit off the tableau, you lose.
If you manage to place all cards off the tableau neatly in numerical order by suit, you win!
Royal Marriage
Let me introduce a card game called Royal Marriage.
In this game, also known as the King’s Marriage, you remove the King and Queen of Hearts from the deck, shuffle the remaining cards, then place the King on top and the Queen on the bottom.
Lay out 10 cards on the table starting with the King, and remove any sequence of two or fewer cards that is sandwiched between cards of the same rank or the same suit.
You cannot remove sequences of three or more.
Continue placing cards from the deck, and if you use up all the cards so that only the King and Queen remain, you win.
Solo speed
Solo Speed is a one-player version of the two-player card game Speed.
There’s no opponent, but you still divide the deck into two piles as if there were two players.
Place four cards face up in front of you for your side only.
At the call of “Speed,” turn over one card from your own draw pile and one card from the opponent’s pile you set aside, and place both in the center.
If any of your four front cards can follow either of the center cards in sequence, place it onto the center.
When any of your four front cards are used up, immediately refill that spot by drawing one card at a time from your draw pile.
If none of your four front cards can be played to the center, call “Speed” again and deal new center cards from each pile.
Repeat this process, and whoever runs out of cards first wins.
Try this as practice for playing the two-player version!
Quadrille
A men’s playing-card love fortune-telling game: Quadrille.
Remove all 5s and 6s from each suit and arrange them in a diamond shape.
Turn over the remaining cards one by one, placing any 4s above the 5s and any 6s above the 7s, grouped by suit.
In this manner, place the cards from 4 up to A and K above the 5s, and from 7 up to J above the 6s.
If a drawn card cannot be placed anywhere, discard it; if the top card of the discard pile becomes placeable later, you may place it.
Put every Queen, regardless of suit, in the center of the diamond you’ve built.
Even if you run out of cards in hand, if there are discards left, go through them again.
If you manage to place all cards including discards in the first pass, your compatibility with the person you like is excellent; if you succeed on the second pass, it’s average; if it takes three or more passes, your love will not be fulfilled.
In conclusion
Did you find a single-player card game you’d like to try? If you were wondering what to do with a deck of cards in hand, I’m sure something here fit the bill. Some might make you think, “You can play that alone?” but I hope something on this list helps you pass the time on your own!