Double Solitaire turns the classic solo card game into a two-player race. Each player builds a Klondike layout with their own standard 52-card deck, then competes to play cards onto one shared set of center piles. You will learn the setup, the rules, and how to win the head-to-head version. A note on the faster Nerts card game, also called Racing Demon, follows at the end.

What You Need to Play

Each player needs a standard 52-card deck. Use two decks with different backs so you can tell whose cards are whose after they hit the center piles. Clear enough table space for two Klondike layouts side by side, plus a shared area between them.

Each player deals a standard Klondike layout:

  • 28 cards across seven columns. The first column gets one card, the second gets two, and so on up to seven. Only the top card of each column is face up.
  • The remaining 24 cards become that player's stock, face down.

Do not set aside a waste pile at the start. You will turn stock cards three at a time during play.

Setting Up the Shared Foundations

Where the Center Piles Go

Leave four spaces in the middle of the table. These are the shared piles where you build up from Ace to King in each suit. Either player may play onto any pile at any time, as long as the card follows the normal Klondike order: Ace, then 2, then 3, and so on to King.

Starting the Center Piles

Do not place Aces at the start. The first Ace that appears, from either player's tableau or stock, opens an empty space. After that, race to add the next card in sequence.

Basic Rules of Play

Moving Cards in Your Own Area

Touch only your own tableau and stock. Leave the other player's layout alone. Within your tableau:

  • Move a face-up card, or a sequence of face-up cards, from one column to another. Place it on a card of the opposite color and the next higher rank.
  • Turn over the top card of a column when it becomes empty.
  • Move a King, or a sequence starting with a King, to an empty column.

Playing to the Center

At any moment, play the top card of any column in your tableau, or the top card of your stock after turning it, onto a shared pile. It must be the next rank and suit needed. This is how you score.

There is no turn order. Both players play simultaneously, as fast as possible. Keep going until both players are stuck or every card sits on the center piles.

How to Win

Count your cards on the center piles when play stops. The player with the higher count wins. The different card backs make the count easy.

Some groups play until all cards from both decks reach the center piles, but that is rare. Most games end when both players are stuck with no moves left in either tableau or stock. Count your contribution at that point.

Turning Klondike Into a Two-Player Race

Double Solitaire is competitive solitaire. The shared center piles change everything. In single-player Klondike, you alone use the four suit piles. Here, both players race to claim spots on them.

Only one card of a given rank and suit fits each pile. Only one Ace of Spades can go on the Spades pile. Get there first and you block the other player from scoring that card. Move fast, and plan moves that free high-value cards early.

Work your own tableau to expose hidden cards, just as in regular Klondike. Because play is simultaneous, watch both your layout and the center piles to see what is available.

A Note on Nerts (Racing Demon)

Nerts, also called Racing Demon, is a faster relative. Each player has a 13-card pile, the Nerts pile, and tries to empty it first. Players race cards from their hand onto shared center piles, similar to Double Solitaire. There is no tableau building, so the game moves much faster. Choose Nerts when you want a shorter, more frantic game.

Both games turn solitaire into a social contest where speed and awareness matter as much as strategy.

Variations and House Rules

Double Solitaire rules are not standardized. Adjust them to suit your group. Common variations:

  • Turn stock cards one at a time instead of three.
  • Allow a player to steal a center pile spot by playing a card of the same rank and suit before the other player's card lands. Rare, but some groups use it.
  • Play multiple rounds and add up scores across rounds.

Agree on the rules before starting. The game works best when everyone understands the shared center piles and the limit on touching only your own cards.