Play Black Hole Solitaire Online for Free
Black Hole Solitaire is the most winnable game in the sequential solitaire family. All 51 cards surround a central black hole (the Ace of Spades). Send every card into the black hole by playing cards one rank up or one rank down from its current top, wrapping freely from King to Ace. No stock, no draws, pure sequencing. Play free, instant, no download required.
What is Black Hole Solitaire?
Black Hole Solitaire is a single-player card game played with one standard 52-card deck. The Ace of Spades is placed face-up in the center of the layout as the black hole. The remaining 51 cards are dealt into 17 columns of three cards each, all face-up. There is no stock and no waste pile. All cards are visible and accessible from the start: only the top card of each column is playable at any given moment.
To play a card, it must be exactly one rank higher or one rank lower than the current top of the black hole pile, with King-to-Ace wrap always active. Tap any eligible column top to send it into the black hole. The new black hole top then becomes the target for the next play. Win by routing all 51 surrounding cards into the black hole.
Black Hole Solitaire history
Black Hole Solitaire was popularized in digital solitaire collections in the 2000s as a showcase for the open-information sequential chain mechanic. Unlike Golf or TriPeaks, where part of the challenge comes from hidden stock cards, Black Hole Solitaire makes all 52 cards visible from the opening layout, making it a pure puzzle rather than a game of partial information. The name plays on the astronomical metaphor: the central Ace of Spades functions as a gravitational singularity that all other cards are drawn into. The game's unusually high win rate (around 85 to 90%) makes it accessible to casual players while still rewarding careful sequencing to avoid dead-lock positions.
How to Play Black Hole Solitaire
Black Hole Solitaire has fewer rules than almost any other solitaire game. All 52 cards are on the table; your job is simply to route them all into the center.
- Place the Ace of Spades face-up in the center of the layout. This is the black hole.
- Deal the remaining 51 cards into 17 columns of three cards each, all face-up, arranged around the black hole.
- Only the top card of each column is playable. A card can be played onto the black hole if it is one rank higher or one rank lower than the current black hole top, with King-to-Ace wrapping allowed in both directions.
- Tap a playable column top to send it onto the black hole pile. The new top of the black hole becomes the next target.
- Continue playing column tops onto the black hole one by one, chaining as long as possible.
- If no column top is one rank away from the black hole top, the game is lost (stuck).
- Win by sending all 51 cards into the black hole.
Strategies to win Black Hole Solitaire
Because all cards are visible at all times, Black Hole Solitaire rewards pure forward planning. The following tactics significantly improve win rates.
- Plan sequences across multiple columns simultaneously. Before playing any card, trace a multi-column chain forward: after playing column A top, which columns become eligible? After those, which follow? Looking three or four steps ahead reveals whether a path leads to a dead end.
- Avoid burying a rank you need immediately. If the black hole top is a 7 and you need a 6 or 8 to continue, check whether your planned move will bury those cards under a column that cannot be unlocked soon. The biggest losses in Black Hole come from locking away a critical connecting rank.
- Keep multiple directions open. Since the sequence wraps in both directions, you can approach any rank from above or below. When one direction is blocked, steer the black hole top in the opposite direction around the rank circle to reach the needed cards.
- Clear short columns early. A column of one card is completely removed after one play, permanently opening its slot. Clearing short columns first reduces the visual complexity of the layout and lets you focus on the harder multi-card columns.
- Use undo to backtrack from dead ends. Because the entire layout is visible, undo is a legitimate planning tool. If you reach a position where no column top connects to the black hole, undo several moves and choose a different branching path.
Black Hole Solitaire rules and objective
The objective is to move all 51 non-ace cards onto the central black hole pile. Cards may be played onto the black hole if they are exactly one rank higher or one rank lower than the current black hole top. The sequence wraps: a King may be played onto an Ace, and an Ace onto a King. Only the top card of each column is available to play. There is no stock and no draw; all cards are in the layout from the start. If no column top can be played on the current black hole top, the game is lost. All 51 cards sent to the black hole is a win.
Game setup
Remove the Ace of Spades from a shuffled 52-card deck and place it face-up in the center. Deal the remaining 51 cards face-up into 17 columns of three cards each, arranged evenly around the center. All cards are visible. Only the top card of each column is playable. No stock is formed.
Black Hole Solitaire variants and similar games
Black Hole Solitaire belongs to the sequential chain removal family alongside Golf and TriPeaks. Here is how they compare on the key structural dimensions:
| Game | Columns / Layout | Stock | Wrap | Win rate |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Black Hole (this game) | 17 cols x 3 + center Ace | None | Always | ~85 to 90% |
| Golf Solitaire | 7 cols x 5 | 17-card stock | No | ~40% |
| TriPeaks Solitaire | 3-peak tableau + stock | 24-card stock | Yes | ~50% |
| Double TriPeaks | 2 full TriPeaks sets | 2-deck stock | Yes | ~45% |
How difficult is Black Hole Solitaire?
Black Hole Solitaire is the easiest game in the sequential solitaire family. The combination of full card visibility, no stock uncertainty, and King-to-Ace wrap removes the biggest sources of unwinnable deals from other variants. Most losses come from preventable logical mistakes rather than bad luck. The high win rate makes Black Hole an ideal game for players who want the satisfying "chain" feel of Golf or TriPeaks without the frustration of stock-dependent losses. That said, the game is not trivial: complex layouts require multi-step lookahead, and premature moves that bury needed ranks do occur. The game rewards patience and forward planning more than most solitaire games.
What is Black Hole Solitaire's win percentage?
Black Hole Solitaire has a win rate of approximately 85 to 90% under optimal or near-optimal play. This is the highest win rate in the sequential removal family and one of the highest in all mainstream solitaire variants. The full-visibility layout means that nearly every deal has a winning solution available if you can find it. The remaining 10 to 15% of losses are deals where the rank distribution creates inescapable dead locks regardless of play order.
What is the difference between Black Hole Solitaire and Golf Solitaire?
Both games belong to the sequential chain removal family, but they differ fundamentally in information structure and win rate. Golf Solitaire has a 17-card face-down stock that introduces hidden information: you cannot know which cards will become available as waste tops when you are stuck. Black Hole Solitaire has no stock at all; all 52 cards are face-up on the table from the start, making it a pure puzzle with complete information. Golf does not wrap (Ace and King are dead ends); Black Hole always wraps. Golf scores on cards remaining (lower is better); Black Hole is a binary win or loss. These differences make Black Hole easier and more puzzle-like, while Golf has more of the tension of an incomplete information game.
Black Hole Solitaire FAQ
Why is the Ace of Spades the black hole?
The Ace of Spades is chosen as the black hole card by convention because it is traditionally the most visually distinctive card in the deck, with a prominent spade pip design. It also serves a practical role: the Ace rank sits at the center of the sequential chain because it connects both to 2 (upward) and to King (downward via wrap), making it a natural hub for the circular rank sequence. Some implementations allow any Ace to serve as the black hole; others fix it specifically to the Ace of Spades for visual consistency. In all cases, the black hole starts the waste pile that all other cards must eventually join.
Can King connect to Ace in Black Hole Solitaire?
Yes, King and Ace always connect in Black Hole Solitaire in both directions. A King can be played onto an Ace at the top of the black hole pile, and an Ace can be played onto a King. This wrap is always active, unlike Golf Solitaire where it is optional or disabled by default. The wrap is one of the key reasons Black Hole has a much higher win rate than Golf: it eliminates the dead-end positions that occur in Golf when a sequence runs into an Ace or King at a critical moment.
What makes a Black Hole Solitaire deal unwinnable?
A Black Hole Solitaire deal becomes unwinnable when the rank distribution in the columns creates an inescapable blockage. This typically happens when the only cards adjacent (in rank) to the current black hole top are all buried under other cards in their columns and cannot be reached in any order of plays. Since all cards are visible, you can sometimes identify an unwinnable deal early: if you can see that every card of a needed rank is blocked by cards that themselves require that same rank to be freed, the deal is stuck. Approximately 10 to 15% of deals fall into this category regardless of how they are played.
How many columns are in Black Hole Solitaire?
Black Hole Solitaire has 17 columns, each containing three cards, arranged around the central black hole position. The 17 columns hold 51 cards (17 times 3), and the Ace of Spades occupies the central black hole position, accounting for all 52 cards in the deck. Only the top card of each column is available to play at any moment. As cards are played to the black hole, the columns shrink to 2, then 1, then 0 cards, progressively simplifying the layout.
Is Black Hole Solitaire a good game for beginners?
Yes, Black Hole Solitaire is an excellent solitaire game for beginners. It has the simplest rules in the sequential removal family: one rule (play one rank up or down, with wrap), one goal (send all cards to the center), no stock to manage, and all cards visible from the start. The high win rate of 85 to 90% means beginners will succeed often enough to stay engaged and learn the planning skills required. It is also a great introduction to the chain-sequencing concept that underlies Golf Solitaire and TriPeaks Solitaire, making it a natural stepping stone to those more challenging variants.