My Original Solitaire Games

Here is a small sample of the hundreds of solitaire games I have invented.

My First Original Game: Three's Company

My first original game was written for version 2.0 of Pretty Good Solitaire back in 1995. I had added the games Busy Aces and Deuces and thoought about extending the idea for these games to a game with with foundations starting with 3's. Thus, the game Three's Company was born. It's still a good game, challenging enough that it cannot be won all the time, but easy enough to give the player a fighting chance to win. The main difference between Three's Company and the games Busy Aces and Deuces is the ability to move groups of cards as a unit. This makes the game easier, but there are also fewer tableau piles, making it harder.

Learn more about Three's Company »

Aces and Kings

Aces and Kings is one of my favorites among the games I have invented. Invented in 1996, it was adapted from a game in an old solitaire book. The rules in the book were all messed up, so I had to change them around to make a playable game. It is very challenging but also rather unique. It also requires strategy, particular careful switching of cards from the Ace foundations to the King foundations (and vice versa) to help bring new cards into play. Definitely a game worth playing.

Demons and Thieves

Demons and Thieves is without a doubt the most popular of the solitaire games I have invented. Invented in 1996, it combines the tableau of the game Canfield (also called Demon) with the tableau of the game Forty Thieves. The result is a rich game with lots of possibilities and in its basic version it is probably too easy (but people seem to like that). It has spawned a number of variations that make it harder.

Lady Jane

Lady Jane is a 2 deck version of Klondike that I invented back in 1996. It is named after our cat Lady Jane. It is a very easy game.

Antares

Antares is a cross between FreeCell and Scorpion. After the success of the split tableau in Demons and Thieves, I took FreeCell and Scorpion and combined them together to make Antares. Like Demons and Thieves, it is one of my most successful original games.

Thieves of Egypt

Thieves of Egypt is a Forty Thieves type game with an unusual tableau. While most Forty Thieves type games have the same number of cards dealt to each pile, Thieves of Egypt mixes it up by having a Pyramid shaped tableau. The result is a fun game a little different from the Forty Thieves type.

Agnes Three

When I started Pretty Good Solitaire, there weren't many 3 deck solitaire games in existence. Most of them I had to create. Agnes Threee is a 3 deck version of the 2 deck game Agnes Bernauer, a classic Klondike type solitaire game (Klondike is the standard 7 pile solitaire games everybody knows). Agnes Three turned out to be my most popular 3 deck invention, even more popular than the more normal Triple Klondike game.