Wasp Solitaire
Play Wasp Solitaire free online and build four complete suits from King to Ace. Its useful twist is the empty column: any face-up card or group can move there. That gives you a place to set cards aside while you uncover others. Start in the board above, or follow the card examples below to learn how a move works.
How to play Wasp Solitaire
Wasp uses all four suits of a single 52-card deck. Most cards begin in seven columns, with three held in reserve. Your task is to turn the scattered cards into four unbroken runs, one for each suit. There is no separate area to collect Aces.
- Build downward within a suit. Place an 8 of clubs on a 9 of clubs, for example. A different suit or a gap in rank makes that landing invalid.
- Move from any face-up card. Pick the card you want to place. Everything overlapping it toward the exposed end of its column travels along, in the same order.
- Use empty columns freely. Any face-up card can start an empty column, with or without attached cards. It does not have to be a King.
- Finish four full suit runs. Arrange each suit as King, Queen, Jack, 10 and so on down to Ace. Completed runs stay on the board; there are no foundation piles.
How does the deal start?
Seven columns each receive seven cards. In each of the first four columns, three cards start face down beneath four visible cards. The last three columns are fully face up. That puts 49 cards in the columns: 37 visible and 12 hidden. The remaining three cards form a reserve.
One card leads the group
The cards behind your chosen card can have mixed ranks and suits. Only the chosen card has to fit the destination. Once the group moves away, any hidden card left at the end of its old column turns face up.
Can an Ace go on a King?
No. An Ace fits only on the 2 of its own suit or in an empty column. Nothing fits on an Ace. A King needs an empty column, because there is no card ranked above it.
Any card can fill an empty column
You can clear a column by moving all its cards elsewhere. The resulting space accepts a face-up card of any rank, along with the cards it carries. This is useful when a group has no matching card to land on: move it into the space to reach the card underneath.
For this example, the exposed Jack of diamonds can next receive the 10 of diamonds. You cannot add a card directly to the covered 4 of spades.
Deal the three reserve cards
The reserve is a single deal of three cards: one onto each of the first three columns, starting from the left. You choose when to use it. It remains available even when a column is empty.
Use the reserve card symbol below the board, showing 3. On wider screens it also says Deal. All three cards arrive together, face up. You cannot choose their columns, draw them separately or deal again.
Look at the ends of the first three columns before dealing. A new card might provide a useful match or cover one you were about to use. Undo can take back the whole reserve deal.
Use the space to free a card
Before filling an empty column, decide what the move will reveal. Then look for a way to move the parked group out again. If you fill the space without gaining access to another card, you may simply exchange one blocked column for another.
Five choices to check
A useful move makes another card available or joins cards that belong together. Check these possibilities before making a long series of moves.
- Look for a column you can clear. Columns five, six and seven begin fully visible, so you can inspect their whole groups before deciding where to move them.
- Check the landing card before moving a group. After it lands, the last card of that group becomes the exposed end of the receiving column.
- Give a hidden card a route out. An empty column can hold the group covering it, but consider how you will move that group onward afterward.
- Keep an eye on Aces. Nothing can land on an Ace, so an exposed Ace closes that end of a column until you move it or the group containing it.
- Compare reserve timing with Undo. Dealing changes the first three columns at once; inspect useful moves there before covering their end cards.
Help while you play
- Move cards
- Drag the face-up card that begins your chosen group onto the destination. With 1-Tap Move on in Settings, tapping a card lets the game choose a legal move.
- Choose an empty column yourself
- Switch off 1-Tap Move in Settings. Tap the leading card, then the empty column. Use the same two-tap method to choose an occupied destination.
- Undo
- Go back one step, including any hidden card revealed by that move. Undo also restores the reserve after you deal it.
- Hint
- Ask for a suggested card move or reserve deal. A suggestion does not certify a winning route: the search has a limit.
- Restart and New Game
- Restart, inside the game menu, resets your current deal. Choose New Game for a fresh arrangement of cards.
- Settings
- Adjust the available card appearance, display and sound choices to suit how you play.
Will my position be saved?
Wasp can keep your unfinished game in this browser on this device. Return here to resume if browser storage is available. Clearing the site's data or ending a private browsing session can erase the save.
Watch how to play Wasp Solitaire
Follow the deal, move a mixed group, and see how any card can use an empty column.
Duration: 1 minute 26 seconds.
In this video
The video's win figure comes from a limited solver study, explained below. It is not your predicted chance of winning.
Wasp and Scorpion: the rule that changes
In Scorpion Solitaire, only a King can begin an empty column. Wasp removes that restriction. Both games use the same seven-column deal, same-suit landings, mixed group moves and three-card reserve. Wasp permits more ways to rearrange a position, but an empty column does not guarantee a solution.
Spider Solitaire has ten columns and two decks. Its completed suit runs leave the board, while Wasp's four runs remain in the seven columns. Wasp also lets you move a mixed group that Spider would require you to sort first.
What does the 77.9% figure mean?
In a study of 1,000 random Wasp deals, a computer search found a winning sequence for 779 deals (77.9%). That establishes a lower bound for that sample, not a win rate for players or proof about every possible deal. A search that runs out of time has not proved a deal impossible.
The corresponding Scorpion sample had 128 confirmed wins out of 1,000. See the win-rate study and method for the scope and limits of those figures. Wasp deals on this page are random, without a promise that each can be solved.
Wasp Solitaire questions
What makes Wasp different from Scorpion?
An empty Wasp column accepts any rank. Scorpion requires a King. That single change gives Wasp extra ways to move groups aside; the initial deal and the four King-to-Ace goal runs are the same.
Must a group already be in order to move?
No. Choose any face-up card and take the cards following it toward the column end. Those attached cards can be mixed. To land on another card, the card you chose must be one rank lower and of the same suit.
Can I deal with an empty column?
Yes. Empty columns do not block the reserve. Its three cards go to columns one, two and three, including an empty one if present. You can use the reserve once per deal, or Undo that action to take it back.
Why does a finished suit stay on the board?
Wasp completes its four King-to-Ace runs within the columns. The cards do not move to foundations or disappear. Finish the other three suits to complete the game.
Is every Wasp deal winnable?
This page deals random cards and does not guarantee a solution. A limited computer study solved 779 of 1,000 sample deals (77.9%); that is a sample result, not a personal win probability. Hints also use a limited search.
Can I play Wasp free without an account?
Yes. The game runs here in your browser without installing an app or creating an account. You can use Undo, hints and the card display settings while playing as a guest.
Try freeing one card
Back at your board, choose a card you want to uncover. If you have an empty column, see whether moving the group that covers it would help. Try the move and inspect the new position; use Undo if it closes off a better option.
