How Solitaire24 works
rules · scoring · daily · duels · ranks · fair playThe game
Solitaire24 is classic Klondike: build the four foundations up from Ace to King, one per suit. On the board you stack cards downward in alternating colors, move any face-up run between columns, and only Kings may start an empty column. Face-down cards flip automatically when uncovered.
Turn 1 vs Turn 3
The draw mode decides how many cards each stock draw deals. Turn 3 deals three but only the top one is playable, meaningfully harder, and it scores more. Stock passthroughs are unlimited and counted.
- Every deal is a seed. The number in the status bar (e.g. deal #48213) fully determines the shuffle. Share /deal/48213 with anyone and they play the identical game. That's the core of everything competitive here.
- Winnable by default. New deals come from a pool the solver has proven winnable. Purists can switch to fully random deals in Settings.
- Drag or tap. Tapping a card auto-plays it to its best legal destination (foundation first). Undo is unlimited in solo play. Hint suggests the first productive move. Pausing hides the board, so no planning on a stopped clock.
- Solvable? asks the solver whether your current position can still be won. "Not solvable" is a mathematical proof that it can't. Undo is the only way back (the red banner's Undo to winnable rewinds you to the most recent provably-winnable point). "Too deep to tell" means the position was too tangled to prove either way, which is rare and usually resolves after a few more moves.
Scoring - the exact rules
Time is the primary measure of a game, moves the secondary one. Every mode uses those two numbers, but each mode ranks differently:
| Mode | What counts | Where it shows |
|---|---|---|
| Solo | Score (formula below), personal bests, win % | Your stats - solo is practice; no global solo board |
| Daily Deal | Completion time (server-measured), fewer moves breaks ties | Today's leaderboard + percentile |
| Duels | Win / loss / draw → Glicko-2 rating; no score | Duel ratings board + your tier (Two → Ace) |
The score formula - solo & daily wins
Worked example - a 2:00 win with 100 moves
The same game on Turn 1 scores 11,600. Turn 3 pays a premium because the draw rule is genuinely harder. A slow, grindy win never scores less than 250: a win is a win. Your Best score stat takes your highest single score across solo and daily wins; duels never produce a score.
Watertightness: the score is computed on the server from your validated move log, the same formula the client shows you. Logs are replayed through the game engine move by move; illegal or impossibly-fast logs are rejected outright.
The Daily Deal
- One global deal per day per draw mode, rotating at 00:00 UTC, so everyone plays the same shuffle, always solver-verified winnable.
- One scored attempt per day (per mode). Your clock starts the moment the deal is dealt and is measured server-side. Pausing hides the board but does not stop the daily clock, and reloading resumes the same attempt. Nobody can study the board off-clock; that's what keeps the board fair.
- Ranking is fastest time first; fewer moves breaks ties. Your percentile compares you with everyone who finished today.
- Streak = consecutive days with at least one recorded game - solo, daily or duel, win or lose (a game counts once it has five moves). Miss a full day and it resets; the ▲ marker means nothing is on the books yet today and the streak is at risk.
- After your scored attempt: unlimited unscored replays, and a shareable result:
Duels & ratings
- 1v1, identical deal, race to finish. Quick match pairs you near your rating; friend rooms are a link, with no account needed to accept.
- 5-minute cap. If neither player finishes: most cards on the foundations wins → fewer moves → draw.
- Disconnecting gives your opponent the win after a 30-second grace (reconnect within it and play on). Rematch redeals a fresh seed with the same opponent.
Every duel is rated with Glicko-2, separately for Turn 1 and Turn 3. You start at 1500; beating stronger opponents moves you more; your rating is provisional for your first 10 games. Ratings only move on duels. Solo and daily never touch them.
Tiers
Everyone starts at 1500; the median active player lands around Ten/Jack.
What the Ranks page shows
- One board: duel ratings - persistent Glicko-2 with tiers, per draw mode. Today's Daily leaderboard lives on the Daily page, next to your attempt.
- Solo scores are deliberately not a leaderboard: unlimited attempts on unlimited deals can't be ranked fairly. Competitive play happens where everyone faces the same cards - the daily and duels.
Collectibles: Crowns and Decks
Two badge sets ride next to your name on every leaderboard, in duels and on your account. They share one eight-step material ladder - stone, copper, silver, gold, emerald, sapphire, amethyst, obsidian - so the colour tells you the level whichever emblem is carrying it.
Crowns track the highest duel rating you have ever reached, across both draw modes. Peak, not current: once you have stood at 1900 the Emerald Crown is yours for good, even if a losing run drops you back. The entry Stone Crown needs one finished rated duel, so nobody gets a badge just for having a rating.
Decks count every recorded game - solo, daily and duels, wins and losses alike. A game is recorded once it reaches five moves and an ending, the same rule the play streak uses, so opening a board and walking away never counts.
The top of each set is meant to take years, not weeks. Obsidian sits at a 2,200 peak rating and 15,000 games; at a steady fifteen games a day that Deck is a three-year project, and the Crown is rarer still. Nothing expires and nothing is ever taken away.
Fair play
- Every submitted game is a move log, each action with a timestamp. The server replays your entire log through the same rules engine that runs in your browser; anything illegal is rejected, and sub-human timing patterns are flagged.
- The daily seed is only delivered when your scored attempt starts, and your daily time is measured on the server from that moment.
- Duel state is server-authoritative end to end, so your opponent's progress bar and miniature board are built from server-verified moves only.
FAQ
Why did my win only score 250?
The formula bottomed out. Roughly, anything slower than ~10–12 minutes with a high move count. 250 is the floor for any win. Speed and economy are what score.
What is Glicko-2, actually?
A chess-style rating system (used by Lichess, among others) that tracks not just your rating but how certain it is. New players swing fast while the system locates them (that's the provisional badge), then settle. Beating a stronger player pays more, a draw counts as half a win, and long inactivity makes your rating a little more movable when you return.
Why is my daily clock already running when I come back?
The daily clock is server-side and starts the first time the deal is dealt to you. Pauses, page reloads and coming back later don't stop it, which is what keeps the leaderboard honest. During a scored attempt the status-bar clock shows this server clock, so what you see is exactly what ranks you.
What does "Not solvable" mean? The deal was winnable!
It was, from the start. A wrong move can bury a card you needed and make the current position unwinnable. The solver proves this. Use undo (or the Undo to winnable button) to get back; the clock is the only cost.
What does "Too deep to tell" mean?
The solver explores hundreds of thousands of positions per check; a few tangled mid-game positions exceed that budget without a proof either way. Play a move or two and check again.
Does closing the tab mid-game count as a loss?
Once a game has 5+ moves, yes: leaving the page records it as an abandoned game (score 0), exactly like dealing a new game mid-hand. Games under 5 moves simply vanish, so peeking at a deal costs nothing.
Do undo and hint affect my score or time?
They cost you nothing but clock time and moves. Hint is disabled during a scored daily attempt; undo is always allowed. Duels have neither.
Who are the BOT opponents in duels?
When nobody near your rating is in the queue, you're matched with a practice bot - always labeled BOT in the duel bar. Bots play the same deal through the same rules at a pace that matches their rating, hold real ratings that rise and fall with results (so they stay at your level), and never appear on the leaderboard. Bot duels are rated for you like any other.
What happens if I disconnect mid-duel?
You have 30 seconds to reconnect and resume where you were. After that your opponent wins by forfeit, and it's a rated result.
Can two people really get the same shuffle?
Yes, a deal number fully determines the deck order, forever. That's how duels, the daily, and shared deal links all work.
Is anything pay-to-win?
No. Nothing purchasable affects deals, scores, times or ratings.
Still curious? Play today's Daily Deal or start a duel.