Questions and answers

Yes. Cards & Puzzles is free to use and needs no account.

No. Open a game and play.

In your browser, on this device. Clearing your browser's site data deletes them, so download a backup from your stats page to keep them.

One deal per game each day, the same for everyone. Your stats show which daily deals you have won.

Yes, on this site. Our solver won each deal before it was added to the game's list, knowing where every card and tile is. You still have to find the way, and Hint helps when you are stuck.

No. Each one has exactly one solution, and our solver finished it using only techniques a person can follow, from singles at easy to wings and fish at expert.

No. Our solver cleared each board from its start square with sure steps only before it went into the game, and your first click is always safe.

Yes. We grade every deal by how hard it is to finish: card deals by how often a simple, casual way of playing wins them, Minesweeper boards by how many tricky steps they need. New players start with easy deals; two wins in a row bring harder ones, two unfinished deals easier ones. You can also pick a level yourself under Settings.

Not in general: some shuffles can't be won however you play. Every deal on this site can be: our solver won each one before it was added to the list, knowing where every card is. You still have to find the way.

In draw 1 you turn one card at a time from the stock and can play any of them. In draw 3 you turn three and can only play the top one, so many cards stay out of reach until a later pass. Draw 3 is harder.

Two of every three cards you turn are covered, so you can't play them on this pass. You need the right card on top at the right time, which takes planning across passes.

Yes. Each deal in the list was won by our solver in draw 3, knowing where every card is. Some need careful play with the stock.

One suit. It teaches the moves without suit problems. Two suits adds planning, and four suits is the hardest Spider.

Yes. Our solver won each deal before it was added, knowing where every card is. It doesn't mean a deal is easy, only that a way through exists.

Cards still build on any card one rank higher, but a run moves together only if it is all one suit. Half the cards are hearts, so you have to sort the suits apart as you go.

Yes. Our solver won each one before it was added to the list, knowing where every card is.

Many shuffles can, with perfect play. On this site every deal can: our solver won each one before it went into the list, knowing where every card is. Expect to use Undo.

For a hint the solver searches for a line that still wins from your position. In 4-suit Spider that takes more work; if it runs out of time it shows a useful move instead and says so.

Almost every shuffle can be won with one deck and four free cells. Every deal on this site can: our solver won each one before it was added.

A run moves only when there is room to move it card by card. With 2 empty free cells and no empty column you can move 3 cards; with 1 empty column too, 6. The message under the board tells you how many fit.

Yukon has no stock: all 52 cards are on the table from the start. And you can move any face-up card together with the cards on top of it, in order or not. In Klondike only ordered runs move.

Not every shuffle can be won. Every deal on this site can: our solver won each one before it was added, knowing where the face-down cards are.

No. Our solver, which tries every line, wins about four deals in ten. Every deal on this site is one of those: it was won before it was added.

A Queen goes on a King, and a King on a Queen. Aces and Kings don't connect, so an Ace never goes on a King or the other way round.

Most shuffles can be won when you know where every card is; not all of them. Every deal on this site was won by our solver before it was added.

Yes. In TriPeaks the ranks wrap around: a King goes on an Ace or a Queen, and an Ace on a King or a 2.

No. Our solver, which tries every line and knows the stock, wins about two shuffles in three with three passes. Every deal on this site is one it won before it was added.

Yes. The waste's top card is free, so it pairs with a free pyramid card or goes on its own if it is a King.

No. Each computer player decides from its own cards and what everyone at the table has seen: the cards played, who could not follow suit, and the cards it passed. Hard players also count the cards played.

No. Here hearts are broken only when a heart is played on a trick. The Queen of spades counts 13 points but does not open hearts for leading.

No. Each computer player decides from its own cards and what everyone at the table has seen: the bids, the cards played, who could not follow suit and the tricks taken. Hard players count the cards played and imagine where the rest could be.

Not here. You bid after seeing your cards. Blind Nil, where a player bids Nil before looking, is a house rule many tables leave out.

Bags. Each trick over your contract is worth 1 point but also adds a bag, and when your team's bags reach 10 you lose 100 points. The bag count carries over from round to round.

No. It decides from its own cards, the discard pile, how many cards you hold and the suits you had to draw on. Hard play imagines where the unseen cards could be; it never looks at your hand or the stock.

Not here: you draw only when no card in your hand fits. Some tables allow drawing anyway; this one keeps the game moving.

Because it is the most useful card in the game: it fits on anything and lets you choose the suit. Holding one to the end of a round is the risk you take for that power, so play it before the other player can go out.

No. It decides from its own cards, the discard pile, the size of the stock and the cards you took from the discard pile. It never looks at your hand or the order of the stock.

Yes. You may knock when your deadwood after the discard is 10 or less.

The game does: it finds the arrangement of your cards with the least deadwood, and lays off your loose cards on the knocker's melds wherever they fit, so you always get the lowest count your hand allows.

No. Each computer player decides from its own cards, the turned card, the calls and the cards played. Hard players count the cards and imagine where the rest could be; they never see another hand or the cards left face down.

With hearts as trump, the jack of diamonds is the left bower: it becomes the second-highest heart. You play it when hearts are led, and you can't use it to follow a diamond lead.

Not in this version. Going alone (playing without your partner for 4 points) is a common rule; in this version every round is played by all four players.

No. It decides from its own six cards, the starter, the cards played and the scores. It never looks at your hand or the crib.

No. The game counts every pegging point and the show for you, and the summary shows how each hand was scored. There is no "muggins" (taking points the other player missed).

That is the standard rule: a flush in the hand counts with four cards of one suit, but the crib needs all four crib cards and the starter in one suit.

Yes. Our generator removes clues from a full grid one pair at a time and keeps a removal only while a brute-force search still finds exactly one solution. Every listed puzzle was checked again before it went into the game.

No. Each puzzle here can be solved to the end by reasoning alone. Our own solver, which only uses techniques a person can follow, finished every puzzle in the list.

Easy, if you are new to Sudoku or want a quick game. Move to medium when easy puzzles feel automatic, then hard once you are comfortable with notes.

One puzzle per level each day, the same for everyone. Your stats show which daily puzzles you have won.

Both are solved with singles only. Medium starts with fewer clues (27 to 34 instead of 36 to 41), so sure cells are rarer and harder to spot.

A digit that fits in only one cell of a row, column or box, even though that cell could take other digits too. Since the digit has to go somewhere in that unit, it goes there.

On medium puzzles notes help in crowded boxes, but many players solve them without. On hard and expert puzzles you will need them.

Two cells in one box that are the only places for a digit in that box, both on the same row or column. The digit must be in one of them, so you can remove it from the rest of that row or column.

No. Every hard puzzle here can be finished with singles, pointing, box-line reduction and pairs. If you feel you must guess, look for a pair you haven't noted yet, or ask for a hint.

A digit that, on two rows, fits only in the same two columns. It must take one cell in each of those columns on those rows, so it can be removed from the rest of both columns. It also works with rows and columns swapped.

Not on this site. Every expert puzzle was solved by our step-by-step solver with the techniques named on this page, without trial and error.

A Sudoku with one solution needs at least 17 clues; a computer search in 2012 showed that no 16-clue puzzle exists. Our expert puzzles have 23 to 34, most often 26 or 28: how hard a puzzle is depends far more on the techniques it needs than on its clue count.

Expert puzzles need triples, quads or an X-Wing at most. Every master puzzle needs at least one technique beyond those: an XY-Wing, an XYZ-Wing, a Swordfish or a Jellyfish.

No. Every master puzzle was solved by our step-by-step solver with named techniques only, without trial and error.

Not really: they have 24 to 34 clues, most often 26 or 28, about the same as expert. What makes them harder is the technique they need, not the number of clues.

Not in general: a random stack is often impossible to clear. Every deal on this site can be: each one is built from a way to clear it, and our solver cleared it again before it was added.

Nothing lies on it, and its left or its right side is open. A tile in the middle of a row is stuck until a tile at one end of its row is gone.

No. Any flower matches any other flower, and any season any other season. All other tiles need their exact twin.

It counts as a move and only appears when no free pair is left. The tiles stay where they are; only the faces are mixed, into an order that can still be cleared.

Three: the courtyard (80 tiles), the wall (48) and the four towers (4 tiles each, 16 in all).

Yes. Each deal is built from a way to clear it, and our solver cleared it again on its own before it was added to the list.

Not at the start: 36 tiles are free against the turtle's 35, with a few more free pairs. It gets harder later, when the last courtyard tiles sit under the wall's middle.

Three: the wings on the ground (84 tiles), the upper wings (48) and the body on top (12).

Yes. Each deal is built from a way to clear it, and our solver cleared it again on its own before it was added to the list.

Yes. It starts with 52 free tiles and about 17 kinds with a free pair, so you rarely get stuck early. The trap is taking easy pairs that a buried tile needed later.

It is shallower, two layers instead of five, but it starts tighter: 28 free tiles against the turtle's 35, and fewer free pairs. The long rows make the order of play matter.

Yes. Each deal is built from a way to clear it, and our solver cleared it again on its own before it was added to the list.

The rows across the bridge run 16 tiles from one tower's outer side to the other's, and they open only from their two ends.

No. Before a board goes into the game, our solver plays it from its start square using only sure steps, the kind a person can follow, and keeps it only if it clears every safe square. Boards that end in a coin flip are left out.

Yes. Wherever you click first, the board opens its start area, which never has a mine in or next to it. If your first click lands on a mine, the mine stays covered and the game goes on.

Press and hold a square until the flag appears, or switch on Flag mode below the board so that every tap places or removes a flag.

Yes. We grade every board by how hard it is to finish: card deals by how often a simple, casual way of playing wins them, Minesweeper boards by how many tricky steps they need. New players start with easy boards; two wins in a row bring harder ones, two unfinished boards easier ones. You can also pick a level yourself under Settings.

One board per level each day, the same for everyone. Your stats show which daily boards you have won.

Tapping an open number that already has as many flags around it as its value. Every other covered square around it opens at once. If a flag is wrong, one of those squares is a mine and the game ends.

A 30-column board would make each square too small to tap on a phone held upright. Turned on its side it is 16 columns wide. It is the same board; only the way it is drawn changes.

On random boards, partly luck: many end in a guess. Here it is skill alone, because every board can be cleared by reasoning from its start square.

No. The daily boards are on the beginner, intermediate and expert pages, where everyone plays the same size.

Yes, in one record for all custom sizes: games, wins and streaks. Fastest times mix sizes, so compare them with care.

At midnight where you are. Each game has one daily deal, puzzle or board per day, and everyone who plays that game on that date gets the same one.

Yes. Daily games come from the same lists as every other game here: each deal was won by our solver, each Sudoku has one solution, and no Minesweeper board needs a guess.

Your streak counts the days in a row on which you won at least one daily game, in any game. It is saved in this browser. If you miss a day it starts again; nothing else happens.

Easy and medium puzzles here need only singles. Hard adds pointing, box-line reduction and pairs. Expert adds triples, quads and the X-Wing. Master needs at least one XY-Wing, XYZ-Wing, Swordfish or Jellyfish.

Not on this site. Every puzzle we list was solved to the end by our solver using only the techniques on this page, so a logical path always exists.

From our own puzzles. Each guide builds one of the puzzles you can play here, runs our solver on it step by step and stops at the first step that needs the technique, then shows the board at that moment.

Our solver won 71.3 % of the first 1,402 draw-1 deals it tried and 73.7 % of draw-3 deals, within a search of 100,000 positions per deal. Deals it gave up on may still be winnable, so these are lower bounds for our rules, not exact odds.

For Golf our search tries every line of play, so a deal it can't win can't be won. Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Yukon, TriPeaks and Pyramid have far too many lines to try them all, so the solver stops at a limit. A deal it didn't finish might still have a winning line it never reached.

Yes. The table can be downloaded as a CSV file, and every deal can be played here: the deal lists are the deals our solver won, numbered from 1 to 1000 per game.