Zen Solitaire

Seven columns, one face-up card each, and a deck that's waiting to be sorted - that's all Zen Solitaire needs to pull you in for five minutes or fifty. It's Klondike at heart, the same game your grandparents played with a real deck, just cleaner and quieter on a screen.

The rules are the ones you already half-remember: build down in alternating colors across the columns, flip what you can, and feed the lucky cards up into four foundation piles running Ace to King. No timers screaming at you, no penalties for thinking it over - just cards, logic, and the small satisfying click of a sequence falling into place.

If you've burned hours on Klondike, classic Patience, or any Solitaire games before this, you'll feel at home immediately. Mirra Games built it to reward attention rather than speed, so it works just as well as a proper sit-down session as it does a quick break between tabs.

Want something with more moving parts once you've cleared the table? Browse the rest of the Cards games on the site, or try Durak for a completely different kind of card logic.

Sort the full 52-card deck into four foundation piles, one per suit, built up in order from Ace to King. You start with seven columns of cards, only the top card of each turned face-up.

Click and move cards between columns, stacking them in descending order and alternating colors as you go. Any face-up card that fits a foundation pile can be sent up immediately. Uncovering a face-down card in a column opens up a new move, so it's worth chasing those over rearranging what's already visible.

Tip: don't rush cards to the foundations the moment they're available - sometimes holding a card in the columns keeps your options open for the next move.