Play Push-Pin Solitaire

What is Push-Pin Solitaire?

Push-Pin Solitaire is a two-deck Royal Marriage variant where you deal single cards into a line and remove blockers between matching endpoints. Because two decks are in play, rank duplication is denser and sequence timing becomes more volatile than one-deck eliminators.

Push-Pin Solitaire history

Push-Pin evolved from Royal Marriage as a heavier, longer-form eliminator challenge. The same endpoint logic remains, but the expanded deck size introduces more temporary dead zones and delayed chain clears. It became a favored variant for players who wanted Royal Marriage tension with deeper card-density planning.

How to play Push-Pin Solitaire

The line starts with the anchor queen, and cards are dealt one at a time to the right. Eliminate cards whenever valid endpoint patterns appear.

Deal one card from stock to the right edge of the line.
Check groups where outer cards match by rank or suit with one or two cards between them.
Remove the in-between card(s), close the gap, and re-check for newly exposed elimination windows.
Continue dealing and eliminating until stock is empty and no legal push-out remains.
Win by reaching a royal-pair finish under the variant objective.

Strategies to win Push-Pin Solitaire

Delay low-value single removals if they destroy a near-future two-card chain window.
Track suit clusters near anchors to increase late-game royal closure probability.
Favor removals that reduce line fragmentation over removals that only trim count.
Re-scan immediately after each elimination because two-deck layouts create hidden cascades often.

Push-Pin Solitaire rules and objective

You may remove one or two cards when they lie between matching endpoint cards. Cards are dealt singly from stock, and line compaction after each removal is mandatory. Objective: finish with the required royal closure state for this two-deck variant.

Game setup

Element	Setup
Deck	2 standard decks (104 cards)
Anchor card	Q♥ starts face-up on table
Bottom stock target	K♥ anchor reserved for end-state closure
Dealing rule	One card at a time to line right edge
Removal rule	Discard 1 or 2 cards between matching endpoints

Push-Pin variants and similar games

Push-Pin is closest to Royal Marriage but with double-deck volatility. If you want stricter special-case push-out logic, The Queen and Her Lad adds a harder line-control layer.

How difficult is Push-Pin Solitaire?

Push-Pin is hard. Two-deck duplication can create many apparent options, but only a small subset preserves royal-endgame structure. Mis-timed removals often produce long dead lines with no high-value endpoint windows.

What is Push-Pin Solitaire win percentage?

A practical win percentage target for Push-Pin is about 9%. Advanced players can push higher when they optimize chain-first removals and keep heart-anchor routes clean through the final third of the stock.

What is the difference between Push-Pin Solitaire and Accordion Solitaire?

Push-Pin is a stock-driven endpoint eliminator where cards are discarded from between matching outer cards. Accordion has no stock after setup and uses pile-over-pile merges one-left or three-left. Push-Pin is timing and line-structure management; Accordion is positional compression geometry.

Push-Pin Solitaire FAQ

What is the best opening strategy for Push-Pin Solitaire?

In the opening phase, prioritize removals that keep heart endpoints and duplicated royal ranks accessible. A short-term discard that blocks a probable chain often costs more than it gains.

Should I always remove two cards when that option appears?

Not always. Two-card removals are powerful, but you should skip them when they erase a stronger follow-up window that clears more cards in sequence.

Why does Push-Pin feel harder than Royal Marriage?

The second deck increases duplicate noise and makes endpoint matching less predictive. You see more legal windows, but many produce weak line shape for the final closure.

Can Push-Pin Solitaire deadlock even with cards still in stock?

Yes. You can reach stretches where newly dealt cards fail to create matching endpoints and no mid-line discard is legal. That is normal for high-variance eliminator games.

What is a good Push-Pin completion benchmark?

A strong benchmark is consistently reaching late-stock endgame with a compact line under 12 piles before final closure attempts. That usually indicates correct elimination timing.

Push-Pin Solitaire