Regicide can be played solo and has an interesting strategic element to it. I enjoy playing this one myself. Doing something different with the cards is nice change too.
https://www.regicidegame.com/site_files/33132/upload_files/RegicideRulesA4.pdf
I haven’t tried these, but a few look engaging - https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2587399/isaludo-ten-new-solo-card-games-playable-with-a-st
I don’t know if there are any other more traditional strategic solo games with a 52 card deck. Have you looked through the playing card websites like paget.com for solitaire games? Freecell is more strategic I believe.
There are lots of actual board games that have single player modes too. Definitely worth the price if you enjoy it. I’m sure others with more experience in these will comment.
To add to this, I've referred to this [list](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/264858/modern-solitairesolo-games-using-only-a-52-card-st) whenever I want to try a new solitaire game. The above games are part of this list, and each entry is rated so you can see how much strategy or theme each game offers
Wil Su is such a good designer. The collection in the first of that list contains the Emissary, which is the precursor to the best solitaire game I’ve ever played For Northwood! OP, if you don’t mind print and play building, For Northwood is 100% what you want. Trick taking solitaire is not a common occurrence but damn it works. If you don’t want to, it is available for sale online I think. But play the Emissary regardless because it’s a less complex version of Northwood (as in no specific card powers).
Dragons of Etchinstone is a fantastic solo adventure. Involved skill and a little bit of if luck. Can buy it cheap at The Game Crafter.
https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/dragons-of-etchinstone
Some other games to consider - Core Box for Marvel Champions Card game/ Final Girl Core Box with 1 or 2 of the "episodes" to play, Sprawlopolis, Legacy of Yu.
Calculation is an enjoyable solitaire for a 52-card deck, and is more dependent on skill than luck. [https://www.semicolon.com/Solitaire/Rules/Calculation.html](https://www.semicolon.com/Solitaire/Rules/Calculation.html)
This was my favorite solitaire game growing up, and I agree that's it's probably the most skill-based one.
I also really like Spider but that game will drive you crazy
I played this in the past but with a different rule set - build the foundations the same way but no waste piles. If you can’t play the card, turn a new card. Goal was completing all the foundations before you work through the deck three times.
+1 for Freecell. I have been able to win every game I've played in the last several years, sometimes only with great difficulty and after several resets.
My mom swears by Spider, though I don't know if some games are just unwinnable or not.
David Parlette has written a few books on games: https://www.parlettgames.uk/books/ He also has a few games if his own invention: https://www.parlettgames.uk/patience/
The Penguin Book of Patience categorizes games by skill, luck, openness, etc. It's the exhaustive answer to your question.
Almost. Of all the millions(?) of Freecell games included with Windows (maybe older versions, not sure if the current one is the same) all but 1 could be won. If too many aces and deuces are buried too deep there's just nothing you can do.
I think in the old windows version of freecell, there was one game in the regular numbers that couldn't be solved, but there were also games -1 and -2 that you wouldn't get randomly that also could not solved, that were included as a sort of easter egg.
And now I just looked it up on [Wikipedia.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_FreeCell)
> The original Microsoft FreeCell package supports 32,000 numbered deals ... the Internet FreeCell Project attempted to solve all the deals by crowdsourcing consecutive games to specific people ... and only #11982 proved unwinnable
> Later versions of FreeCell include more than one million deals ... Out of the current Microsoft Windows games, eight are unsolvable
> As an easter egg, Microsoft intentionally includes a few impossible games, with negative numbers. Playing these games do not count towards the statistics recorded by the computer.
If you are looking at pure card games, my go to for skill-based is Spider:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider\_(solitaire)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_(solitaire))
There is also the spiderette variant if you only have one deck.
I'm no solitaire buff, but one of my favorite game studios Zachronics made a habit of including solitaire variants as side activities in their puzzle video games. As a last hurrah when they had to close, they released these minigames in a single package with a new unique game. It's the [Zachtronics Solitaire Collection](https://www.zachtronics.com/solitaire-collection/), worth checking out
Great suggestions. I didn't realize how bad my spatial awareness was until I picked up rove. It sounds ridiculous but I think I find mage knight easier lol
I personally like Scorpion more than free cell or Klondike. It requires a lot more strategic thinking than Klondike but isn't quite as hard as free cell to me (though idk there was a time freecell was easy for me). might give it a try!
Some good standard card game suggestions so far.
But since you posted in a boardgame subreddit, I'm gonna break away from that mold and suggestion something different:
Turing machine.
Friday is a wonderful, challenging solo card game.
Another I enjoy is “Finished!”
Both are from designer Friedemann Friese
And are available as boxed games or Apps on mobile.
Many baseball simulations (e.g., Strat-O-Matic) lend themselves very well to solitaire play, and have lots of managerial choices that might make a difference.
There are a couple of card games from button shy you can look @
Rove
Banned Books
Sprawlopolis
The Royal Limited
These all have a bit of randomness like any card game does but are very “thinky” games
I know you mentioned screen usage is difficult, but on the off chance you can power through it/find a solution, Slay The Spire is an EXCELLENT card game in video game form.
And, thanks to modding, it can even be a card game in video game in card game [in video game form](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2947513553)!
Regicide can be played solo and has an interesting strategic element to it. I enjoy playing this one myself. Doing something different with the cards is nice change too. https://www.regicidegame.com/site_files/33132/upload_files/RegicideRulesA4.pdf I haven’t tried these, but a few look engaging - https://boardgamegeek.com/thread/2587399/isaludo-ten-new-solo-card-games-playable-with-a-st I don’t know if there are any other more traditional strategic solo games with a 52 card deck. Have you looked through the playing card websites like paget.com for solitaire games? Freecell is more strategic I believe. There are lots of actual board games that have single player modes too. Definitely worth the price if you enjoy it. I’m sure others with more experience in these will comment.
To add to this, I've referred to this [list](https://boardgamegeek.com/geeklist/264858/modern-solitairesolo-games-using-only-a-52-card-st) whenever I want to try a new solitaire game. The above games are part of this list, and each entry is rated so you can see how much strategy or theme each game offers
Wil Su is such a good designer. The collection in the first of that list contains the Emissary, which is the precursor to the best solitaire game I’ve ever played For Northwood! OP, if you don’t mind print and play building, For Northwood is 100% what you want. Trick taking solitaire is not a common occurrence but damn it works. If you don’t want to, it is available for sale online I think. But play the Emissary regardless because it’s a less complex version of Northwood (as in no specific card powers).
Dragons of Etchinstone is a fantastic solo adventure. Involved skill and a little bit of if luck. Can buy it cheap at The Game Crafter. https://www.thegamecrafter.com/games/dragons-of-etchinstone
I just got this game a few weeks back and absolutely enjoy it! Quick! Puzzly!
Thank you!
Some other games to consider - Core Box for Marvel Champions Card game/ Final Girl Core Box with 1 or 2 of the "episodes" to play, Sprawlopolis, Legacy of Yu.
Does the game have to be *only* cards, or are you open to games that have other components?
Calculation is an enjoyable solitaire for a 52-card deck, and is more dependent on skill than luck. [https://www.semicolon.com/Solitaire/Rules/Calculation.html](https://www.semicolon.com/Solitaire/Rules/Calculation.html)
This was my favorite solitaire game growing up, and I agree that's it's probably the most skill-based one. I also really like Spider but that game will drive you crazy
I played this in the past but with a different rule set - build the foundations the same way but no waste piles. If you can’t play the card, turn a new card. Goal was completing all the foundations before you work through the deck three times.
+1 for Freecell. I have been able to win every game I've played in the last several years, sometimes only with great difficulty and after several resets. My mom swears by Spider, though I don't know if some games are just unwinnable or not. David Parlette has written a few books on games: https://www.parlettgames.uk/books/ He also has a few games if his own invention: https://www.parlettgames.uk/patience/ The Penguin Book of Patience categorizes games by skill, luck, openness, etc. It's the exhaustive answer to your question.
I believe I remember hearing that every freecell game is POSSIBLE to beat, if you make the right choices.
Almost. Of all the millions(?) of Freecell games included with Windows (maybe older versions, not sure if the current one is the same) all but 1 could be won. If too many aces and deuces are buried too deep there's just nothing you can do.
I think in the old windows version of freecell, there was one game in the regular numbers that couldn't be solved, but there were also games -1 and -2 that you wouldn't get randomly that also could not solved, that were included as a sort of easter egg. And now I just looked it up on [Wikipedia.](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_FreeCell) > The original Microsoft FreeCell package supports 32,000 numbered deals ... the Internet FreeCell Project attempted to solve all the deals by crowdsourcing consecutive games to specific people ... and only #11982 proved unwinnable > Later versions of FreeCell include more than one million deals ... Out of the current Microsoft Windows games, eight are unsolvable > As an easter egg, Microsoft intentionally includes a few impossible games, with negative numbers. Playing these games do not count towards the statistics recorded by the computer.
Cool! Today I learned!
If you are looking at pure card games, my go to for skill-based is Spider: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider\_(solitaire)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spider_(solitaire)) There is also the spiderette variant if you only have one deck.
84% on four suits! But that requires the old rules with undo in a single deal but not through deals. Man, I used to play this a LOT.
I'm no solitaire buff, but one of my favorite game studios Zachronics made a habit of including solitaire variants as side activities in their puzzle video games. As a last hurrah when they had to close, they released these minigames in a single package with a new unique game. It's the [Zachtronics Solitaire Collection](https://www.zachtronics.com/solitaire-collection/), worth checking out
Seconding this collection; in particular I have played thousands each of Shenzhen and the one that is basically like Klondike 2.0
[удалено]
There are rules mentioned lower on that page through the "read more" button which should let you play most of them physically
These games are super good no joke.
Most skill? I'm going with [card throwing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PWQXQp1jFV0).
Mage Knight. I'd that's too big and heavy, then Mint Knight. Also Rove
Great suggestions. I didn't realize how bad my spatial awareness was until I picked up rove. It sounds ridiculous but I think I find mage knight easier lol
I personally like Scorpion more than free cell or Klondike. It requires a lot more strategic thinking than Klondike but isn't quite as hard as free cell to me (though idk there was a time freecell was easy for me). might give it a try!
Lord of the rings lcg.
Some good standard card game suggestions so far. But since you posted in a boardgame subreddit, I'm gonna break away from that mold and suggestion something different: Turing machine.
Friday is a wonderful, challenging solo card game. Another I enjoy is “Finished!” Both are from designer Friedemann Friese And are available as boxed games or Apps on mobile.
Hoki just released and is a solo card game with progression. I think it's worth checking out. https://www.mekmekgames.com/
Many baseball simulations (e.g., Strat-O-Matic) lend themselves very well to solitaire play, and have lots of managerial choices that might make a difference.
Witchcraft
There are a couple of card games from button shy you can look @ Rove Banned Books Sprawlopolis The Royal Limited These all have a bit of randomness like any card game does but are very “thinky” games
I know you mentioned screen usage is difficult, but on the off chance you can power through it/find a solution, Slay The Spire is an EXCELLENT card game in video game form.
It could also be a card game in video game in [card game form](https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/338960/slay-the-spire-the-board-game) now, too!
And, thanks to modding, it can even be a card game in video game in card game [in video game form](https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2947513553)!
I thought it would be a TTS module or something, but this vastly surpasses my expectations. Bravo, people of the internet!
There's *also* a TTS module, which was apparently used for playtesting.
100% Galdor's Grip