Solitaire for Seniors: Free, Large Print Cards

How to turn on Larger text

On a tablet or computer, look for the "A A" button labeled Larger text in the toolbar above the cards; on a narrow toolbar only the "A A" mark shows. On a phone, open the Game menu, the three-line button at the top left of the game, and tap the Larger text row. The same switch is on the Accessibility page, which lists every game that has it. All six solitaires here have it, and it is off until you turn it on.

You can flip it in the middle of a deal: the cards are redrawn where they lie, with nothing reshuffled and no move lost. The first change you will see is in the corner of each card, where the rank grows and its suit sits beside it. The choice is kept on that device for every game that supports the switch, with no account. On a phone the Game menu stays open after you tap the switch, and the deal stays paused behind it, so tap Resume game to carry on.

Klondike: Porch Swing Solitaire in large print

Klondike is what most people mean when they say solitaire. Seven columns are dealt, you build them down in alternating colors (a red 7 on a black 8), turn over the face-down cards, and send all 52 cards to four piles that run from Ace to King in each suit. You tap the stock to turn cards onto a waste pile, either one at a time (Draw 1) or three at a time (Draw 3, the harder traditional game). Draw 1 is the default here, and Today’s deal is always Draw 1.

With Larger text on, every card shows a large index: a rank about one and a half times its usual size in the corner, with its suit beside it and under it, in darker ink. The cards stay the same size and the room goes to what you read: a covered face-up card in a column shows the top 42% of its height instead of 27%, and face-down cards close up to make the space, so the ranks read down a long column. The Draw 3 fan opens wider, so the rank and suit of each turned card show. The counters, hints, buttons and menus get bigger too, and hearts and diamonds stay red, spades and clubs black.

Spider: Dewdrop Garden Solitaire in large print

Spider uses two decks, 104 cards, in ten columns. You can put a card on any card one rank higher, but cards move together only as a run in a single suit, and a finished run from King down to Ace leaves the table. Clear all eight runs to win. When no column is empty, you tap the stock to deal ten more cards, one on every column. With one suit, the default and the best way to learn, every card is a spade. Two suits and four suits make the same game harder, and four suits is the traditional and hardest version.

With Larger text on, every card shows a large index with a taller rank and its suit beside it, the columns show more of each covered card, and the counters, messages, buttons and menus are bigger. Spider columns get long, so the game closes them up to fit the screen, face-down cards first. A column up to 20 cards deep that has closed up still shows every rank at least as big as it does without the switch.

FreeCell: Snowberry Cabin Solitaire in large print

In FreeCell all 52 cards are dealt face up into eight columns, so nothing is hidden and every deal is a planning puzzle. You build down in alternating colors, park a card in one of four free cells to reach the card under it, and send the cards to four piles from Ace to King. Deals are numbered 1 to 32,000, so you can choose a number or open Today’s deal. Almost every deal can be won: our solver won 31,999 of the 32,000 numbered deals and proved that the other one, deal 11982, cannot be won. A new deal is never 11982 unless you choose it.

With Larger text on, every card shows a large index with a big rank in the corner and its suit beside it, the columns show more of each covered card, and the counters, messages, buttons and menus are bigger. A column up to 14 cards deep that closes up to fit still shows every rank at least as big as without the switch. Since no card is face down, the whole table can be read, card by card, before each move.

TriPeaks: Cozy Peaks Solitaire in large print

TriPeaks lays 28 cards in three overlapping peaks, with the bottom row of ten face up. You tap any face-up card that is one rank above or below the card on the waste pile, whatever its suit, and ranks wrap around, so an Ace plays on a King or a Two. When nothing plays you turn a card from the stock. Cozy Peaks adds garden orders from animal neighbors around the hand, but the hand itself follows standard TriPeaks rules. Nothing is timed, and losing a hand never takes away crops or coins.

With Larger text on, every card shows a rank about one and a half times its usual size, with a bigger suit under it in deeper colors. The cards get a little taller to make room, and the orders, coins, messages, buttons and menus are bigger. Cozy Peaks draws each suit in its own shape and color (black spades, red hearts, blue diamonds, green clubs), and keeps those four colors with the switch on.

Golf: Buttercup Links Golf Solitaire in large print

Golf solitaire deals seven columns of five cards, all face up, plus one card to start the waste pile. You tap a column to play its bottom card onto the waste when it is one rank higher or lower, and tap the stock when nothing plays. The stock goes through once. A hole scores one point for each card left in the columns, nine holes make a round, and par is 45. Under the classic rules Aces and Kings do not connect; Rules and deals also offers Queen on King and around the corner. Nothing is timed and undo is unlimited.

With Larger text on, every card shows a large index: a taller rank with its suit beside it and under it, in deeper ink, readable down every column of five. The columns stay as wide as they were. The scorecard, messages, buttons and menus get bigger too. Like Cozy Peaks, Golf draws black spades, red hearts, blue diamonds and green clubs, and the large index keeps those four colors, a shade deeper.

Pyramid: Puffin Bluff Solitaire in large print

Pyramid starts with 28 cards face up in seven overlapping rows. A card is free when no card covers it, and you remove two free cards that add up to 13: an Ace and a Queen, a 2 and a Jack, a 6 and a 7, and so on. A King counts 13 by itself and goes on its own. You win when all 28 pyramid cards are gone, and cards left in the stock and waste do not matter. You choose one, three or unlimited passes through the stock; three is the default.

With Larger text on, every card shows a large index with a big rank in the corner and its suit beside it. The rows of the pyramid spread a little further apart so the rank reads in full on every covered card, and the counters, messages, buttons and menus are bigger.

Settings that set the pace

Draw 1 or Draw 3 is the main pace setting in Klondike. Draw 1 lets you reach every card in the stock on each pass; Draw 3 turns three at a time and only the top card plays, which makes it harder. In Spider, the number of suits (one, two or four) is the dial, and one suit is the default. In Pyramid it is the number of passes through the stock: one is the traditional game and much harder, while three is the default and unlimited is the most relaxed.

Porch Swing, Golf and Pyramid use winnable deals by default: before a deal reaches the table, a solver that can see every card has won it, so a way through exists. Plain shuffles are a setting away. A winnable deal still has to be worked out, and in Porch Swing and Pyramid the way through can depend on cards you have not seen yet. Spider deals are ordinary shuffles, and FreeCell’s numbered deals are the classic set, with one known to be unwinnable.

Hints in Klondike, Spider, Golf and Pyramid use only what you can see, and FreeCell’s hints come from a solver that looks for a whole way to win and says when a move is only a best guess. Undo is unlimited in Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Golf and Pyramid. Cozy Peaks gives three free undos on every hand and sells three more for 50 coins, which are coins you collect in the game. Nothing is timed in Golf or Cozy Peaks. In Klondike, Spider, FreeCell and Pyramid there is a timer, but it is off unless you turn it on. Porch Swing also plays the last cards home by itself once every card is face up.

Which solitaire to start with

Start with Porch Swing Solitaire if you know solitaire as the card game with seven columns and a stock. Leave it on Draw 1 and winnable deals while you get used to the large print cards, then try Draw 3 when you want more of a challenge.

If you like to see every card before you move, FreeCell and Golf are dealt entirely face up. FreeCell is the longer, deeper puzzle; a hole of Golf is short and nothing is timed. If you would rather have the lightest rules, TriPeaks has one thing to do, which is to play a card one up or one down, and Pyramid has one too, which is to make 13. Choose Spider when you want a long game, and begin with one suit.

Larger text changes what is drawn on the cards more than the cards themselves. On an upright screen the cards in Klondike, Spider, FreeCell and Golf keep their size and the room goes to the rank and suit; Cozy Peaks makes its cards a little taller, and Pyramid spreads its rows. The switch costs nothing to try mid-deal, so turn it on in the game you like best.