Free daily card games

Card games without the luck

Eight card and tile games a day, and the deal is the same for everybody, which is what makes a leaderboard possible in games that are usually about luck. A twenty-card solitaire and a FreeCell deal, each with a perfect line that is the proven minimum, a mahjong solitaire on all 144 tiles, a poker solitaire where every row and column is a hand, ten Jacks or Better video poker hands where every hold is valued exactly, ten hands of blackjack off one fixed shoe, five cribbage throws valued exactly, and a double dummy bridge problem with all four hands face up.

Taire deals twenty cards face up in two suits and asks for the shortest line that clears them; the minimum is proved before the deal ships, so the target is honest. Hands deals twenty-five cards one at a time into a five by five grid, and every row and every column scores as a poker hand, so each card has to be placed before you see the next. Cell is FreeCell: thirty-two cards face up, a few free cells and a proven minimum line, with a run moving as one move. Mahj is mahjong solitaire on the full 144 tiles: clear the board in pairs of free tiles, on a layout that changes each weekday, against the clock. Hold is Jacks or Better video poker: ten hands, and every hold is valued exactly over every possible draw, so the best hold is a fact even though the draw is luck.

Shoe is ten hands of blackjack off one fixed shoe, the same cards in the same order for everyone, with par set by the book line, so counting what you have seen is how you beat it. Crib is the cribbage throw: six cards, two to the crib, and every choice valued over every cut card and every crib. Finesse is a double dummy problem: all four hands face up, one suit trumps, you play South and dummy against two perfect defenders, and the contract names the tricks you need.

Where to start

Hands if you know poker hands. Hold if you play video poker. Shoe if you want to count. Taire or Cell if you like a solitaire with an answer. Mahj if you grew up on mahjong tiles. Crib if you have ever played cribbage. Finesse is the deepest and worth a slow first sitting.