Play Grandfather's Clock Solitaire Online for Free
Grandfather's Clock is one of the cleanest strategy solitaires on the site. Everything is visible from the start, the clock layout is easy to read, and most of the game comes down to whether you can keep the right cards accessible while the foundations work their way around the dial.
What is Grandfather's Clock Solitaire?
Grandfather's Clock is a single-deck builder with twelve preset foundations arranged like a clock face. The other forty cards are dealt into eight fully visible tableau columns. You build the foundations up by suit until each clock position ends on its correct hour card.
What makes it good is how readable it is. There is no stock, no waste, and no hidden information. If you lose, it usually feels traceable to a few earlier decisions rather than to blind luck.
Grandfather's Clock Solitaire history
Grandfather's Clock first appeared in Victorian-era patience collections and has remained a staple of printed solitaire compendiums for over a century. Its circular foundation layout helped define the visual side of the clock-solitaire family, but the play is much closer to an open builder than to the automatic clock shuttlers. Its high win rate and full information also make it a useful step between lighter patience games and pure strategy builders like FreeCell.
How to play Grandfather's Clock Solitaire
- 12 preset cards are placed on the clock face as foundation bases (see starter table below).
- The remaining 40 cards are dealt into 8 tableau columns of 5, all face-up.
- Build foundations up by suit, wrapping King to Ace when needed.
- Build tableau columns down regardless of suit.
- Only the top card of each tableau column may be moved.
- Any card may be placed on an empty tableau column.
- Win when every clock position shows its correct hour number.
Strategies to win Grandfather's Clock
- Protect at least one empty column: open space is your main source of flexibility, so giving up the last free column too early can trap useful cards.
- Track the wrap foundations early: the first few clock positions need to pass through King back to Ace, so those suit chains deserve more attention than they first appear to.
- Take the short completions when they help the board: some foundations need far fewer cards than others, and finishing them can free tableau movement quickly.
- Do not bury the next needed card in a suit: because only top cards move, one careless placement can hold up an otherwise easy foundation.
- Read ahead before moving for tempo: the game looks forgiving, but pointless tableau motion can close paths you actually needed to keep open.
Grandfather's Clock rules and objective
The goal is to build all 12 clock-face foundations up by suit until each displays its target hour card. Tableau columns build down regardless of suit, and only single top cards can move. Empty columns accept any card. There is no stock, no waste, and no hidden information.
Game setup
| Element | Detail |
|---|---|
| Decks used | 1 standard deck (52 cards) |
| Foundations | 12 preset cards in clock positions, build up by suit |
| Tableau | 8 columns of 5 cards each, all face-up |
| Stock pile | None (all cards visible) |
| Win condition | Each foundation's top card matches its clock hour |
Foundation starter cards (clock positions)
| Clock Position | Starter Card | Target Card |
|---|---|---|
| 1 o'clock | 10♥ | A♥ |
| 2 o'clock | J♠ | 2♠ |
| 3 o'clock | Q♦ | 3♦ |
| 4 o'clock | K♣ | 4♣ |
| 5 o'clock | 2♥ | 5♥ |
| 6 o'clock | 3♠ | 6♠ |
| 7 o'clock | 4♦ | 7♦ |
| 8 o'clock | 5♣ | 8♣ |
| 9 o'clock | 6♥ | 9♥ |
| 10 o'clock | 7♠ | 10♠ |
| 11 o'clock | 8♦ | J♦ |
| 12 o'clock | 9♣ | Q♣ |
Scoring
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Move card to foundation | +10 |
| Move card from foundation to tableau | -15 |
Grandfather's Clock Solitaire variants
Grandfather's Clock sits on the strategic end of the clock family. The related games below either add more moving parts or strip most of the decision-making away.
- Big Ben: two-deck expansion with inner and outer rings, gap filling, and a stock pile.
- Clock Solitaire: automatic shuttler with face-down circular piles and almost no player control.
- Travellers Solitaire: row-based shuttler with the same place-and-reveal pattern in a simpler layout.
- Hidden Cards: a shuttler with a 2x6 grid and a separate Kings pile.
- Four of a Kind: a more forgiving shuttler with a grid layout.
How difficult is Grandfather's Clock Solitaire?
Grandfather's Clock is approachable, but it is still a real strategy game. Because every card is visible, the challenge is not discovering information, it is managing space well enough to keep the right suit chains alive.
What is Grandfather's Clock's win percentage?
Grandfather's Clock Solitaire has an estimated win rate of about 75% with strong play. That makes it one of the more winnable strategy solitaires on the site. The full open information means you can usually see a path forward, even when the board gets tight.
What is the difference between Grandfather's Clock and Big Ben?
Both games use a clock layout, but they create very different pressure. Grandfather's Clock is open, compact, and relatively calm. Big Ben is larger, noisier, and easier to mismanage because the stock and refill rules keep changing the outer ring.
| Feature | Grandfather's Clock | Big Ben |
|---|---|---|
| Decks | 1 (52 cards) | 2 (104 cards) |
| Tableau | 8 columns of 5 | 12 outer-circle piles of 3 |
| Stock | None | 56-card stock |
| Information | Fully open | Partially hidden (stock) |
| Build tableau | Down, any suit | Down, by suit |
| Win rate | About 75% | About 50% |
My take on Grandfather's Clock
I like Grandfather's Clock because it feels fair. The board gives you a lot of information, so when a run goes badly I can usually point to the move that caused it instead of blaming the deal.
The downside is that it can look easier than it really is. Because the layout is so open, it is easy to make a move that seems harmless and only later realize it blocked the exact suit sequence you needed.
Grandfather's Clock Solitaire FAQ
What is the win rate for Grandfather's Clock?
Approximately 75% of deals are solvable with optimal play, making it one of the most winnable strategy solitaires available.
How does foundation wrapping work?
Building continues past King back to Ace and then up through the low ranks. For example, the 4 o'clock foundation (starting with K of Clubs) wraps K, A, 2, 3, 4.
Can I move stacks between tableau columns?
No. Only single top cards may be moved. Stack transfers are not allowed, which is why empty columns are so valuable for temporary storage.
Is there a stock or waste pile?
No. All 52 cards are visible from the start. There is no stock, no waste, and no hidden information. It is a pure open-information strategy game.
What makes Grandfather's Clock different from Clock Patience?
Despite the similar clock themes, they are completely different games. Clock Patience is an automatic shuttler with almost no decisions and a very low win rate. Grandfather's Clock is a strategic builder with full open information and a much higher success rate. The main thing they share is the circular foundation theme.
Other solitaire games I recommend
If you want a larger and busier version of this idea, try Big Ben. If you want a lighter clock-family page, use the related-games list below to move into the more automatic shuttler branch.