Double Solitaire Rules — The Complete 2-Player Solitaire Guide

Double Solitaire — also called 2-Player Solitaire or Multiplayer Solitaire — is the classic head-to-head version of Klondike. Two players, two decks, two tableaus, eight shared foundations in the middle, and a real-time race to play more cards to those foundations than your opponent. It's been played around kitchen tables for over a century, and it remains one of the most fun, fast, and competitive ways to use a deck of cards with a second person.

This guide covers the complete Double Solitaire rules: setup, gameplay, scoring, strategy, and the most common rule variations.

What You Need

Two players.
Two standard 52-card decks — and critically, the two decks must have different-colored or different-patterned backs so you can separate them at the end of the game.
A flat surface large enough for two Klondike layouts side by side with space for 8 foundation piles in the middle.
About 15 minutes.

Setup

Each player takes one deck and shuffles it thoroughly.
Each player deals their own Klondike tableau in front of themselves:
- Column 1: 1 card face-up.
- Column 2: 1 face-down + 1 face-up on top.
- Column 3: 2 face-down + 1 face-up.
- Column 4: 3 face-down + 1 face-up.
- Column 5: 4 face-down + 1 face-up.
- Column 6: 5 face-down + 1 face-up.
- Column 7: 6 face-down + 1 face-up.
Each player's remaining 24 cards go face-down to the upper-left of their tableau as their personal stock pile.
Leave the space between the two players empty — this is where the shared foundations will go. There will be 8 foundations total (one for each suit, from each deck), but they only appear when an Ace gets played there.

How to Play — The Rules

Real-time play (standard)

The standard version of Double Solitaire is played simultaneously in real time. There are no turns. Both players move at the same time, racing to make moves before the opponent claims the same foundation slot or blocks a play. Speed and accuracy both matter — moving fast but carelessly costs you.

What you can do on your turn (which is "always")

Play within your own tableau. Build descending sequences in alternating colors, just like normal Klondike (red 6 on black 7, etc.). Move stacks of correctly-sequenced cards together.
Draw from your stock. Flip cards from your stock pile (one or three at a time, by mutual agreement before the game starts).
Play to the shared foundations. Any Ace from either player's tableau or waste pile can start a new foundation in the middle. After an Ace is placed, either player can play the matching suit's 2, then 3, then 4, etc., regardless of which deck the card came from.
Place Kings in your own empty columns. Same as standard Klondike.

What you cannot do

You cannot play onto your opponent's tableau. The two tableaus are private workspaces.
You cannot take cards back from the shared foundations. Once a card is on a foundation, it stays there — even if your opponent put it there.
You cannot block your opponent by hovering. "First card down" wins any contested foundation slot.

How to Win — Scoring

The game ends when:

One player runs out of cards entirely — they cleared their entire tableau and stock to the foundations. That player wins automatically.
Or both players agree no more moves are possible. This is more common.

To score: each player separates the cards on the shared foundations by deck back. Whoever contributed more cards to the shared foundations wins. Some scoring variants:

Standard: 1 point per card on the foundations from your deck. Highest total wins.
Race scoring: First to clear their personal stock and tableau entirely wins, regardless of foundation count.
Negative scoring: 1 point per card on foundations, minus 5 per card stranded in your tableau. Encourages aggressive play.
Cumulative tournament: Play multiple hands; the first to 100 points across hands wins the match.

Strategy — Winning Double Solitaire

1. Foundations are everything — build aggressively

In single-player Klondike, the conventional wisdom is "don't rush cards to foundations because you might need them in the tableau." That changes in Double Solitaire. The foundations are the scoring system. Move cards to foundations as fast as possible, even at the cost of harder tableau play, because every card you don't move is a card your opponent could move instead.

2. Watch your opponent's tableau

Glance at their face-up cards regularly. Are they about to free an Ace? You may want to expose your own matching 2 quickly to claim the foundation slot first. Are they sitting on a low card you need? You can't take it, but you might need to find another way to reach the same foundation rank.

3. Race the low cards

Aces, 2s, and 3s are critical because they're the foundation entry points. If both players have an Ace of Hearts, only one of them gets that slot. Play your low cards first, even if it means making suboptimal tableau moves.

4. Empty columns matter less

In single-player Klondike, an empty column is gold for reorganizing. In Double Solitaire, time spent reorganizing is time your opponent spends scoring. Empty columns are useful, but only if they immediately enable a foundation play.

5. Talk less, play more

The temptation to comment on plays is constant. Resist. Every second you spend talking is a second you're not moving cards.

Variations

Turn-based Double Solitaire

For a calmer game, alternate full turns. On your turn you can make any number of legal moves until you draw from the stock — drawing ends your turn. This removes the speed component and rewards pure planning.

Double Solitaire with stock-pile sharing

A house-rule variant where a player who's exhausted their stock can flip from their opponent's stock pile, with the opponent's permission. Adds a cooperation layer to an otherwise competitive game.

Three-player or four-player Solitaire

The same idea scales: each player deals their own Klondike, all share the foundations in the middle. With more decks the foundations can pile up to four copies of each suit. Works best with three or four players who all know the rules — beginners get overwhelmed.

Double Spider

Same concept, but each player deals a Spider Solitaire 1-Suit tableau (54 cards in 10 columns, 50 in stock) and the goal is to remove more complete same-suit King-to-Ace runs than your opponent. Longer games (30+ minutes) but rewards careful planning.

How to Practice for Double Solitaire

Solo practice translates directly to Double Solitaire skill. Three drills:

Speed Klondike. Play Klondike Turn 1 against a stopwatch. Try to beat your previous time on the same daily deal. The reflexes you build transfer to Double.
Foundation-rushing. Play Klondike with the explicit rule "always send to foundation if legal" — even when it's normally bad strategy. This trains the Double Solitaire instinct of prioritizing foundation plays over tableau optimization.
FreeCell for planning. FreeCell teaches forward planning that helps you spot the move-to-foundation chain in advance.

Online Alternatives — Same Spirit, Different Format

solitaire.fyi doesn't currently host live multiplayer Double Solitaire, but you can replicate the head-to-head feeling several ways:

Daily Challenge race. Both players load the Daily Klondike at the same time. Same deal, race for fastest completion or fewest moves.
Same-seed FreeCell race. Play the same FreeCell seed against a friend over voice or video. FreeCell is nearly always solvable, so the question becomes who solves it faster.
Double Klondike solo challenge. Play Double Klondike — the two-deck single-player variant — and compare scores or completion times with a friend.
Spider 2-Suit head-to-head. Both play Spider 2 Suits on the daily challenge — first to clear all eight runs wins.

Quick Reference — Double Solitaire Rules Summary

Players: 2 (extends to 3–4 with more decks).
Decks: 2 standard decks, different backs.
Setup: Each player deals a private Klondike tableau (7 columns, 28 cards) and keeps a private 24-card stock.
Shared: 8 foundation piles in the middle (one per suit, per deck).
Play: Real-time, simultaneous. No turns.
Tableau building: Descending, alternating colors (standard Klondike).
Foundation building: Ascending by suit from Ace, on shared piles.
Empty columns: Kings only (in your own tableau).
Win: Most cards on shared foundations, or first to clear all your cards.
Game length: ~10–20 minutes.

Want to sharpen up before your next Double Solitaire match? Play Klondike free online → or try the Daily Challenge for a guaranteed identical deal you can race against a friend.

Double Solitaire Rules — The Complete 2-Player Solitaire Guide — Frequently Asked Questions

What is Double Solitaire?

Double Solitaire is the classic 2-player version of Klondike Solitaire. Each player deals their own Klondike tableau using their own deck (with distinguishable backs), and both players share a common set of foundation piles in the middle. Players race in real time to play cards onto the shared foundations — whoever places more cards there wins. It's also called 2-Player Solitaire, Multiplayer Solitaire, or just "Double."

How do you set up Double Solitaire?

Each player needs a 52-card deck with a different-colored back, so cards on the shared foundations can be sorted out at the end. Each player deals a standard Klondike tableau in front of themselves: 7 columns, 1 to 7 cards each, only the top card face-up. The remaining 24 cards become each player's own stock pile. Leave the space between you both open for the shared foundations — there will be 8 of them, two per suit.

How do you play Double Solitaire turn by turn?

Most rule sets use simultaneous real-time play (no turns). Both players move at once: you can play cards from your tableau or stock onto your own tableau (alternating colors, descending), or onto any of the 8 shared foundations (same suit, ascending from Ace). The first card of each suit creates a new foundation in the middle. The race is to play more cards to the shared foundations than your opponent.

Can you play cards from one tableau to the other in Double Solitaire?

No. Each player's tableau is private — you can only build sequences on your own columns. The shared space is the foundations. Some house-rule variants allow playing onto an opponent's exposed Aces or 2s, but the standard rules keep the tableaus separate.

How do you win Double Solitaire?

When neither player can make any more moves (or by mutual agreement), each player counts how many of their cards ended up on the shared foundations. Cards still in your tableau or stock don't count — only those that crossed over to the foundations. The player with more foundation cards wins. If you ran out of cards entirely (cleared your tableau and stock to the foundations), you win automatically.

What is the difference between Double Solitaire and Double Klondike?

Double Solitaire is a 2-player version of Klondike — two players, two decks, two tableaus, shared foundations, head-to-head race. Double Klondike is a single-player solitaire game that uses two decks and a wider 9-column tableau with 8 foundations. Confusingly, both share the "double" name. Double Solitaire is what you want for a 2-player game with cards. Double Klondike is what you want for a longer single-player puzzle.

Can I play Double Solitaire online?

There's no live multiplayer mode on solitaire.fyi yet, but you can replicate the experience by both playing the same shuffled deal of <a href="/double-klondike/">Double Klondike</a>, <a href="/freecell/">FreeCell</a>, or <a href="/spider/">Spider</a> at the same time and racing for the fastest completion. Use the Daily Challenge for a guaranteed identical deal each day.

How long does a game of Double Solitaire take?

A typical game runs 10–20 minutes. Real-time play means it moves faster than two solo Klondike games combined. If both players are skilled, expect 15 minutes; absolute beginners may take longer because of more pauses to verify legal moves.