How does a set clear?

The pile must hold four cards: three whose values total eighteen, and exactly one jack, queen or king. Three cards totalling eighteen with no court card will not clear.

Which three cards total eighteen?

From two to ten with no rank repeated there are eight triples: 2-7-9, 2-6-10, 3-5-10, 3-6-9, 3-7-8, 4-5-9, 4-6-8 and 5-6-7.

Why was my card refused?

One of four reasons: the pile already holds that rank, it already holds a court card, the card would push the total past eighteen, or two low cards are down and yours does not land on eighteen exactly.

Can I pair cards on the board?

No. Eighteens has no board removals at all. Every card leaves either as a lone ace or as part of a set on the pile.

Why has my board stopped refilling?

The pile is holding something. The talon waits until the set of four completes, so plan the whole set before you place the first card.

Is Eighteens actually winnable?

Yes, but rarely without care. An automatic player following the hints cleared 99 of the 104 cards at best over 400 deals without winning. With unlimited undo it becomes a solvable puzzle rather than a gamble.

Eighteens Solitaire - Play Online & 100% Free

Play Eighteens Solitaire — Three Cards to Eighteen, Plus a Court Card

Eighteens is the hardest game in this family, and the most unusual. It uses two decks, and nothing is ever paired on the board at all. Twelve cards are dealt face-up as twelve piles of one, with a talon of ninety-two behind them. There are only two moves. An ace is removed on its own with one click. Every other card goes onto a single pile that holds at most four cards, and that pile leaves the game when it holds three cards adding up to eighteen plus exactly one jack, queen or king. While the pile holds anything the talon waits, so choosing what to start a set with is the whole game. Also known as Steel Wheels. Free in your browser, no sign-up, and it works offline once the page has loaded.

How Do You Play Eighteens?

Goal: Play Eighteens Solitaire free online. Two decks, twelve piles, no pairing: build sets of three cards totalling eighteen plus one court card, and drop the aces.

Setup

Two decks: 104 cards in all.
Board: 12 cards face-up as twelve piles of one, in a three-by-four rectangle.
Talon: the remaining 92 cards, face-down beside the board.
The pile: one reserve pile holding at most four cards, below the board.

Rules

Card values are ace 1, pip cards their face value, jack 11, queen 12, king 13.
Nothing is ever paired on the board. There are no board removals at all.
An ace is removed on its own with one click. Aces never go on the pile.
Any other exposed card may be moved to the pile, subject to four conditions.
The pile refuses a card of a rank it already holds.
The pile takes exactly one jack, queen or king. A second court card is refused.
The pile refuses a low card that would push its running total past eighteen.
With two low cards already down, a third must land on exactly eighteen. Anything less is refused.
The pile clears when it holds four cards: three totalling eighteen, plus one court card.
The talon waits. While the pile holds anything, no emptied board pile refills.
You win when the talon, the board and the pile are all empty.

What's the Best Eighteens Strategy?

Take every ace immediately. There are eight of them, they cost nothing, and each one frees a pile so the talon can bring down a fresh card. There is never a reason to leave one.
Look for the whole set before you start it. This is the game. Once a card is on the pile the talon stops, so you are working from the eleven cards still showing. Find three that total eighteen — and check their ranks differ — before you commit the first.
Learn the triples. Three distinct values from two to ten totalling eighteen: 2-7-9, 2-6-10, 3-5-10, 3-6-9, 3-7-8, 4-5-9, 4-6-8 and 5-6-7. There are only eight of them, and knowing them turns a search into a glance.
Watch for repeated ranks. With two decks the board often shows the same value twice, and the pile refuses a rank it already holds. A board of four nines is a board of one nine.
Use undo without shame. The talon freeze makes a wrong first card fatal, and the game is built to be replayed from the branch rather than from the deal. Treat it as a puzzle.

A Short History

Eighteens, also catalogued as Steel Wheels, is the most demanding member of the pairing family and the only two-deck one. Its arithmetic is remarkably tidy: the 104 cards divide into eight aces, seventy-two cards of value two to ten, and twenty-four court cards — and twenty-four sets of three low cards plus one court card consume the seventy-two and the twenty-four exactly. Nothing in the deck is surplus, which is a strong sign the rules are as intended. What makes it hard is the frozen talon. New cards reach the board only through a pile that a move has emptied, so if the twelve cards showing hold no three low cards totalling eighteen with distinct ranks, the deal is over where it stands. Testing this version over four hundred deals, an automatic player following the game's own hints cleared as many as ninety-nine of the hundred and four cards but never quite won — which is a fair measure of how tight it is, and why unlimited undo turns it from a coin toss into a genuine puzzle. The open-source PySolFC collection, whose rules this version follows, rates it mostly luck and declines to offer a hint for it at all.

About This Version

This Eighteens runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install it 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.

Other Solitaire Games to Try

Fifteens — one deck, and a pile that clears on a total of fifteen
Tens — pairs to ten, and a reserve wanting four of a kind
Nines — pairs to nine, a solo nine, and four slots
Thirteens — pairs to thirteen on a row of ten piles