Cruel is a single-deck patience with a punishing reputation. The four Aces start on the foundations; the remaining 48 cards are dealt face-up into twelve piles of four. Build the tableau piles down by same suit, but only the top card of each pile is movable — and only one card at a time. The redeal mechanic lets you re-collect and redistribute the tableau when you're stuck, but only without shuffling, so the same blockages can return. Free in your browser, no sign-up. Works offline once the page has loaded.
Goal: build all four foundations from Ace to King by suit.
Cruel appears in patience anthologies from the early 20th century onward. The name reflects the game's reputation — the strict same-suit, single-card-move, no-shuffle-on-redeal combination leaves few ways around a blocked pile. The variant has remained niche but is included in many digital solitaire packages, often alongside related variants like Perpetual Motion, which uses a similar redeal mechanic without preserving order.
This Cruel runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install as an app on your phone or computer; once installed it works offline. Unlimited undo, statistics, and a daily challenge that gives every player the same deal that day.
The name reflects the game's reputation. The combination of strict same-suit building, single-card moves, and a redeal that preserves card order leaves few ways around a blocked pile. A redeal does not shuffle, so the same blockages often come back.
When you're stuck, click to redeal. The cards are collected pile-by-pile (top card of each pile first, then bottom-up), and re-dealt back into twelve piles of four. The order is preserved — no shuffle. The same blockages often return, which is why Cruel earns its name.
No. Only the top card of each tableau pile is movable, and only one card at a time. There are no group moves and no super-moves. This is the rule that makes Cruel so much harder than FreeCell or Klondike.
No. Jan Wolter ran a solver on the first million Cruel deals of his Politaire site and found winning lines in about three quarters of them. That is a ceiling for perfect play. People win fewer, because the order-preserving redeal brings the same blockages back.
Cruel doesn't allow filling empty piles between redeals. Empty space is permanent until the next redeal, when the cards are redistributed across all twelve piles. This is part of the constraint that gives the game its difficulty.