Play 8 x 8 Solitaire Online — Two Decks in an Open Square
8 x 8 is Double Klondike with the staircase flattened into a square. Two decks are dealt face up into eight columns of eight — sixty-four cards you can see from the first second — and the other forty wait in a stock that turns one card at a time to a waste, with unlimited redeals. The tableau builds down in alternating colours, a packed run travels as a unit, and any card may fill an empty column. Eight foundations build up in suit from the ace; win by banking all 104 cards.
Setup
Shuffle two standard 52-card decks together. Deal eight columns of eight cards, every card face up, across the tableau. The remaining forty cards form the stock, face down. Above the tableau sit the stock, the waste and eight foundation spaces — one for each suit, twice over.
Rules
- Foundations build up in suit from ace to king. With two decks, each suit has two foundations; either takes the next card of its suit.
- Tableau columns build down in alternating colours: a red seven on a black eight, a black six on a red seven.
- Runs travel. Any packed sequence — however long — may be moved as a unit onto a card of the right rank and colour.
- Spaces take any card or any packed run. Nothing is reserved for kings.
- Stock: click to turn one card to the waste. The top waste card may be played to the tableau or a foundation.
- Redeals: when the stock is empty, click it to turn the waste over and go again — as many times as you like.
- Win when all eight foundations hold ace through king.
Strategy
With every card in view and the stock circling forever, 8 x 8 is a game you should almost always win — the danger is not a hidden card but a column you bury under a run that has no host. Play it in this order.
- Count both twins. Every card exists twice. Before you build a long run, find both copies of the card it will need next; if both are deep in the stock, the run is a parking lot, not progress.
- Make a space early and keep it working. A column of eight face-up cards is a long climb. Pick the column whose cards all have hosts now, empty it, and use the space to split runs and reach the twins under them.
- Bank the low cards as they surface. Aces and twos of every suit should reach a foundation the moment they show — there is no reason to hold a two in play when either foundation of its suit will take it.
- Do not fear the waste. With unlimited redeals the waste is a second stock. Turn through it once without playing to see the order, then play from it on the next pass, knowing what lies beneath each card.
- Spread the foundations evenly. Eight foundations that all sit at five are better than two at king and six at ace: the middle ranks are where the tableau needs its hosts.
- Any-card spaces are a tool, not a dump. Move a run into a space only when it opens something — the card beneath it, or a column you can then empty.
Where It Sits in the Klondike Family
8 x 8 is the open-square member of the two-deck Klondike line that Big Harp, Open Gargantua, Double Trigon and Inquisitor also belong to: the same alternating-colour build and travelling runs as Klondike, with the second deck doubling the foundations. Its sibling Eight Times Eight plays the identical board with only two redeals; with the stock turning without limit, 8 x 8 is the gentler of the pair and a good first two-deck game.
Other Games to Try
- Double Klondike — the two-deck staircase with hidden cards
- Big Harp — the staircase run the other way, with no redeal
- Inquisitor — two decks built down in suit, three cards a turn
- Whitehead — one deck, open deal, same-colour build
About This Version
8 x 8 runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install it as an app on your phone or computer and it works offline. You get unlimited undo, a hint button that names a legal move, statistics that track your wins and times, and seeded deals: every game has a seed you can replay, so a board you enjoyed (or lost) can be played again exactly.