How does the pile clear?

In one of two ways. If it holds only low cards, it clears when they total fifteen. If it holds any ten or court card, it clears only when it holds one each of the ten, jack, queen and king.

Why will my pile not clear?

Almost certainly because it holds both a low card and a high one. The completion test branches on which kind is present, so a mixed pile fails both tests and can never leave. Undo back to before the mix.

Which cards pair on the board?

Only a six with a nine and a seven with an eight. Both cards must be a nine or lower, so a five with a ten is refused even though it totals fifteen.

Can I put any card on the pile?

Yes. The pile refuses nothing, which is the source's own rule and the reason the game rewards care. Nothing stops you burying a live pile.

Why has my board stopped refilling?

The pile is holding something. The talon waits while the pile is occupied, so nothing refills until the pile clears.

Are all Fifteens deals winnable?

No. Following the hints wins roughly a quarter of deals. Planning the pile one card ahead, and using undo, does considerably better.

Fifteens Solitaire - Play Online & 100% Free

Play Fifteens Solitaire — Build a Pile That Adds Up to Fifteen

Fifteens is a single-deck patience with an unusual shape: most of the game happens on one growing pile beside the board rather than on the board itself. Sixteen cards are dealt face-up as sixteen piles of one in a four-by-four square, with a talon of thirty-six behind them. You may pair two exposed cards that add up to fifteen when both are a nine or lower — which leaves just two pairs, six with nine and seven with eight. Everything else goes onto the pile, which takes any card at all and clears itself the moment its cards total fifteen. If instead it is holding high cards, it clears when it holds one each of the ten, jack, queen and king. While the pile holds anything, the talon waits. Free in your browser, no sign-up, and it works offline once the page has loaded.

How Do You Play Fifteens?

Goal: Play Fifteens Solitaire free online. Build one growing pile that clears whenever it totals fifteen, and pair sixes with nines and sevens with eights on the board.

Setup

Board: 16 cards face-up as sixteen piles of one, in a four-by-four square.
Talon: the remaining 36 cards, face-down beside the board.
The pile: one reserve pile with no size limit, below the board.
No foundations and no building. Cards only ever leave the game.

Rules

Card values are ace 1, pip cards their face value, jack 11, queen 12, king 13.
Click two exposed cards that add up to fifteen when both are a nine or lower. That is 6+9 and 7+8, and nothing else.
A five and a ten total fifteen but do not pair — the ten is above nine.
Any exposed card may be moved to the pile instead. The pile refuses nothing.
The pile clears when its cards total fifteen — two cards, three cards, or more.
If the pile holds a ten or a court card, it clears only on the full set: one ten, one jack, one queen and one king.
A mixed pile can never clear. Once a low card and a high card sit together, no addition will ever finish it.
The talon waits. While the pile holds anything, no emptied board pile refills.
A card with two destinations asks: tap it, then tap the pile or the partner you meant.
You win when the talon, the board and the pile are all empty.

What's the Best Fifteens Strategy?

Never mix high and low on the pile. This is the one rule that decides most games. The pile clears on a total of fifteen or on the ten-jack-queen-king set, and a pile holding both kinds fails both tests for ever. Decide which kind of set you are building before the second card goes on.
Watch the running total. The pile shows its sum. Once it is past fifteen the pile is dead, so count before you commit: a nine and a five leave room for exactly a one, and nothing else.
Take the board pairs when you see them. A six with a nine or a seven with an eight clears two cards without touching the pile and without freezing the talon. They are the cheapest moves in the game.
Small cards are your change. Aces, twos and threes let you land on fifteen exactly from an awkward total. Do not spend them early on sets that a larger card would have closed.
The high set is a whole strategy of its own. There are four tens and twelve court cards, so the board will clog with them. Clearing one ten-jack-queen-king set removes four blockers at a stroke, and it is often the right way out of a stuck board.

A Short History

Fifteens sits at an interesting point in the family of pairing patiences. Its relatives — Elevens, Tens, Nines — all use a fixed row of slots that collect the ranks their sum cannot reach. Fifteens replaces that with a single growing pile and an arithmetic goal, which changes the game entirely. In the others you are matching; here you are packing. The board pair rule is deliberately narrow, only six-with-nine and seven-with-eight, so the pile carries almost all the play, and the pile is the most permissive object in the family: it accepts any card you give it, including one that ruins it. The open-source PySolFC collection, whose rules this version follows, writes no restriction on it at all, and that permissiveness is the game. It rates Fifteens as mostly luck, which undersells it a little — the decision of which set to build, and when to spend a small card, is a real one, and the mixed-pile trap catches every new player exactly once.

About This Version

This Fifteens 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

Eighteens — two decks, and a pile that wants eighteen plus a court card
Elevens — pairs to eleven, with slots instead of a pile
Thirteens — pairs to thirteen on a row of ten piles
Pyramid — the classic pair-to-thirteen triangle