People searching for AARP free games are usually asking one of two questions: can I play these without paying anything? and do I have to join AARP first? This page answers both plainly, then shows what a free alternative looks like if you would rather skip the sign-up entirely.
We should be straight about who is writing this. TrySolitaire is a free games site, so we are not a neutral party — we would like you to play here. We are also not affiliated with AARP in any way. What follows is a fair account of how the AARP games section is arranged, and an honest comparison rather than a sales pitch.
Most AARP games are free to play, and you do not need to be an AARP member to play them. You do not need to be over 50 either — the age rule applies to membership, not to the games.
Two things sit behind a payment. AARP publishes a members-only games category, so a smaller set of titles is reserved for people who pay the annual membership. And members see fewer advertisements than everyone else, because the free catalogue is advertising-supported.
AARP's games section is broad and covers most of the categories an older player is likely to want:
These run in a browser. There is nothing to download and nothing to install, which matters if you are setting a computer up for a parent and do not want to manage software on it.
The free catalogue is genuinely free. It is not a trial, and it does not stop after a set number of games.
This is where most of the confusion in the search results comes from, so it is worth separating carefully. AARP has two different things you can sign up for, and only one of them costs money.
An AARP online account is free. Creating one costs nothing. It is what saves your scores between visits, keeps your progress in a long puzzle, puts you on the daily and all-time leaderboards, and collects AARP Rewards points. If you want a score history, this is the thing you need — not a membership.
An AARP membership is paid. It is an annual subscription covering the whole organisation — the magazine, the discounts, the advocacy work — and the members-only games are one small benefit inside it. Nobody joins AARP for the games, and it would be a strange reason to. Current pricing is on aarp.org; we will not quote a figure here because it changes and is often discounted.
So: free games need neither. Saved scores need the free account. The members-only shelf needs the paid membership.
For a games player specifically, membership buys three things: access to the titles in the members category, a lighter advertising load, and rewards points that are worth more inside AARP's own rewards programme.
Whether that is worth an annual fee depends entirely on whether you want the rest of AARP. If you are already a member, the games are a nice extra you have already paid for. If you are not, the free catalogue is large enough that most people never reach the paywall.
An honest side-by-side. The two sites are built for different things, and neither wins outright.
| AARP Games | TrySolitaire | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost to play | Free, with a members-only tier | Free, with no tier |
| Account needed | No, but needed to save scores | No, and scores save without one |
| Number of games | A curated selection across categories | 301 card and puzzle games |
| Solitaire variants | A handful of the well-known ones | Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, TriPeaks, Yukon, Canfield, Forty Thieves and many more |
| Leaderboards | Yes, tied to your account | Yes — a daily board and an all-time board |
| Rewards points | AARP Rewards points, redeemable | Achievements and levels, not redeemable |
| Crosswords | Yes | No |
| Where progress is stored | In your AARP account | In your browser, or in a free account |
| Statistics across devices | Yes, with an account | Yes, with a free account |
| Age focus | Built for the over-50s | Open to everyone, with a section written for seniors |
The genuine advantages on AARP's side are the crosswords, which we do not have at all, and the rewards points, which you can redeem inside AARP's own programme. We have achievements and player levels, but they are for satisfaction only and cannot be exchanged for anything. The genuine advantages on our side are the size of the card-game catalogue, and the absence of any paid tier.
Leaderboards are a draw on both sites. Ours run across every game rather than one at a time: a rolling 24-hour board for the last day of play, and an all-time board for lifetime wins, with your own rank shown against the field.
One structural difference is worth naming, because it works differently from AARP. AARP requires an account before it stores anything. We record your statistics from the first game with no account at all, keeping them in your own browser. If you then create a free account, the play you have banked so far is carried up into it, and your statistics follow you to any device you sign in on. So an account is optional here rather than the price of entry — but if you never create one, clearing your browser data clears your history.
Stay with AARP games if you are already a member, you want crosswords, or you want rewards points you can actually redeem. Those are real advantages and we do not match them.
Try us instead if you mainly want card games, you want to start playing before you decide about an account, or you have hit a title reserved for members and do not want to join to play it. If you like a leaderboard, we have one either way.
Use both is a perfectly sensible answer too. They are free.
TrySolitaire runs 301 card and puzzle games in a browser. No account is required, there is no membership tier, nothing to download and no age requirement. Every game is available to every visitor on the first click.
You can still have the extras if you want them. Your statistics, achievements and level start recording on your first game without any account. Creating a free account is optional, and it carries all of that to any other device you sign in on. The daily and all-time leaderboards run across every game on the site.
The classics are all here: Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid and TriPeaks, along with Mahjong and Sudoku. Each has unlimited undo and a hint button, and the board scales with the size of your window, so a larger window gives you larger cards.
If you are choosing games for an older player, or for a parent, we have written two pages specifically about that: solitaire for seniors and games for elderly parents.
Play Solitaire Free — No Sign-UpMost of them are. The solitaire, mahjongg, sudoku, word and arcade catalogue is free to anyone. AARP also publishes a members-only category, so a smaller set of titles needs a paid membership.
Not for the free catalogue. Membership is only needed for the members-only titles. Saving your scores needs a free AARP account, which is a different thing and costs nothing.
No. The age guideline applies to AARP membership. The free games are open to any visitor.
Yes. You simply will not keep a score history or appear on a leaderboard.
Yes, both, in the free catalogue. We also run solitaire and mahjong free, with no account.
TrySolitaire is one: 301 games, no membership tier, and no account needed to start. We have leaderboards too, and a free optional account that carries your statistics between devices. The honest trade is that we have no crosswords, and our achievements cannot be redeemed for anything the way AARP Rewards points can.
No. We are an independent free games site and have no relationship with AARP. AARP is a trademark of its owner and is used here only to refer to their service. For anything about membership or their games, go to aarp.org.