Which pairs add up to nine?

Ace with eight, two with seven, three with six, and four with five. The nine itself goes alone, and the ten, jack, queen and king go to the reserve slots.

Why does the nine leave on its own?

Because it already equals the target. The same idea gives Thirteens its solo king and Pyramid its solo king — the card that matches the sum needs no partner.

What goes in the four slots?

One ten, one jack, one queen and one king. A second card of a rank already parked is refused, so a set is always four different ranks.

Is that not the same as Tens?

No, it is the opposite. Tens wants four cards of one rank; Nines wants one of each of four ranks. The two games look alike and play very differently.

Why has my board stopped refilling?

A card is sitting in a slot. Nines holds the talon back while any slot is occupied, so nothing refills until the set of four is complete.

Are all Nines deals winnable?

No. Following the hints wins about one deal in ten. Taking nines promptly and waiting for several high cards before opening a set improves that a good deal.

Nines Solitaire - Play Online & 100% Free

Play Nines Solitaire — Pair to Nine, Drop the Nines, Park the Rest

Nines gives every card in the pack exactly one way out, and that is what makes it satisfying. Nine cards are dealt face-up as nine piles of one in a three-by-three square, with a talon of forty-three behind them. Two exposed cards leave together when their values add up to nine — ace with eight, two with seven, three with six, four with five. A nine is worth nine on its own and leaves alone. The ten, jack, queen and king go to four slots below the board, one of each rank, and a full set leaves together. While any slot is occupied the talon waits. Free in your browser, no sign-up, and it works offline once the page has loaded.

How Do You Play Nines?

Goal: remove all 52 cards in pairs that total nine, nines on their own, and reserve sets of ten, jack, queen and king.

Setup

Board: 9 cards face-up as 9 piles of one, laid out in a three-by-three square.
Talon: the remaining 43 cards, face-down beside the board.
Reserve: four slots below the board, for a ten, a jack, a queen and a king.
No foundations and no building. Cards only ever leave the game; nothing is stacked on anything.

Rules

Card values are ace 1, pip cards their face value, jack 11, queen 12, king 13.
Click two exposed cards whose values add up to nine to remove them both: A+8, 2+7, 3+6 and 4+5.
A nine is worth nine by itself. One click removes it — it needs no partner.
A ten, jack, queen or king cannot pair. One click sends it to a free slot.
The four slots hold one of each rank — a ten, a jack, a queen and a king. A second jack is refused.
When all four slots are filled, the set leaves the game and the slots open again.
The talon waits. While any slot holds a card, no emptied pile refills.
You win when the talon, the board and the slots are all empty. You lose when no move of any kind is left.

What's the Best Nines Strategy?

Take a nine the instant it appears. It costs nothing, it frees a pile, and — if the slots are empty — it brings a fresh card down. There is never a reason to leave one.
Know that every card has a route out. Ace through eight pair, the nine goes alone, and ten through king fill the slots. Nothing in the deck is dead, so a stuck board is always a matter of timing rather than a bad deck.
Do not open a set on a single high card. Parking a lone queen stops the talon, and the ten, jack and king have to be found from a board that is no longer refilling.
Count the high cards on the board before committing. Nine piles is a small window. Two or three of the four ranks showing at once is the moment to start.
The nine is your release valve during a lock. While the talon waits, a solo nine is the cheapest move available and it costs you no pairing card.

A Short History

Nines is the most orderly game in the Elevens line, and the reason is a small piece of arithmetic. Because the target sum is nine, the ranks divide cleanly into three groups that do not overlap at all: ace through eight pair with each other, the nine matches the target on its own, and the ten, jack, queen and king are exactly the four ranks that cannot reach it. The reserve is built to take one of each, so every card in the deck has one route out and no rank is ever stranded by the rules themselves. The open-source PySolFC collection, whose rules this version follows, arrives at this by an interesting route: its Nines class inherits from Tens but overrides the reserve condition back to Elevens' — one of each rank rather than four of a kind — so reading the family by inheritance alone would get the game exactly backwards. What it does keep from Tens is the held-back talon, which is what stops the tidy structure from making the game easy.

About This Version

This Nines 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

Tens — pairs to ten, and a reserve that wants four of a kind
Elevens — pairs to eleven, with a talon that never waits
Thirteens — pairs to thirteen, and a solo king
Pyramid — the classic pair-to-thirteen triangle