Play Cruel Solitaire Online

Cruel appeared in Microsoft's 1990 Entertainment Pack for Windows 3.0. Its name fits a deal where the four Aces start on foundations, the other cards fill twelve face-up piles, and empty piles cannot accept cards. You can redeal the tableau without a shuffle as often as you like. The new layout depends on the card moves you made before gathering it, so a useful move can set up a future opening. Try a deal and watch how a redeal changes the exposed cards.

1. Put the four Aces on their suit foundations. Deal the remaining 48 cards into twelve face-up piles of four.
2. Select the exposed card of a pile. Place it on the exposed card one rank higher in the same suit, or onto its foundation if it is the next rank above that foundation's top.
3. Move only one card at a time. An empty pile cannot receive a card during normal play.
4. Press Redeal whenever you want to gather the remaining tableau cards in pile order and deal them back four at a time without shuffling.
5. Repeat moves and redeals until all four foundations reach King. Undo a move to try a different arrangement.

• Foundations start at Ace and ascend by suit to King.
• The twelve tableau piles descend by suit. Only their exposed top cards may move.
• Empty tableau piles cannot be filled during normal moves.
• Redeals are unlimited and do not shuffle. Remaining cards retain their gathered order.
• A redeal without intervening useful changes may reproduce the same position.

• Release low cards for the foundations before stacking a long same-suit run over them.
• Think about the next redeal. Moving one exposed card changes the lengths of two piles and therefore changes where later cards land.
• Do not expect an empty pile to behave like a free cell. It has no place for a moved card.
• Watch the first pile. A card buried under its higher same-suit neighbor can become very hard to free.
• If a redeal repeats the same layout, make a legal card move before redealing again or undo and choose another route.

• La Belle Lucie: La Belle Lucie also builds same-suit fans but limits the number of redeals.
• Baker's Dozen: Baker's Dozen has thirteen piles and no redeal.

• Unlimited redeals invite experiments, but repeating the same layout without changing a pile will not produce a new card to play.
• The tableau stays visible. You can inspect which card lies immediately below a top card before deciding whether to move it.
• Same-suit builds create specific dependencies. A Five of clubs fits on a Six of clubs, while a Five of hearts needs a different destination.
• No shuffle makes the redeal deterministic. If you record the pile order, you can work out which cards will appear on top next.
• One small move can change the next whole layout. Shifting a card before gathering the tableau can move a pile boundary and release a needed low card.

Play Cruel for free here. Move exposed cards one at a time, redeal without a shuffle, and use Undo when an arrangement traps the next card you need. Every redeal keeps the remaining cards in their gathered order. Try moving a different pile top before collecting the cards again, then compare which foundation cards become available.

Cruel makes the redeal part of the puzzle rather than a random reset. Build foundations, alter pile lengths before gathering, and notice when the same layout repeats. A different sequence of exposed moves may release the missing card.

• Cruel solitaire history and rules
• Cruel rules, PySol