Addiction Solitaire Variations and Relatives
Few solitaire games go by as many names as this one. The version in our free Addiction Solitaire game is the one most people met on a computer: four rows, Aces removed, three shuffles. At the kitchen table the same game has been played for generations as Gaps or Montana, with small differences from house to house. This page covers the house rules you can switch on in our game, and then the wider family.
House Rules in Our Game
Open Settings and look under "House rules: shuffles". There are three choices. A change takes effect with your next deal, and your statistics are kept separately for each one, because a win with no shuffles is a very different feat from a win with as many as you like.
Three Shuffles (Standard)
This is the usual rule and the one we recommend. When no card can move, you may shuffle the cards that are not yet in place, up to three times in a game. Cards already in order from the 2 at the start of their row stay where they are. After each shuffle, every row has one gap right after its last card in place.
Three shuffles make a well-balanced game. You will win often enough to keep coming back and lose often enough that a win feels earned. New games under this rule are chosen from deals that our computer player has managed to finish, so you are never handed a hopeless one.
Unlimited Shuffles
Shuffle as often as you need. Since every shuffle keeps the cards in place and usually lets you add a few more, you will finish almost every deal sooner or later. This is a calm, unhurried way to play, and a good way to learn: you can concentrate on spotting chains of moves without worrying about running out of chances.
If you like a little challenge with this rule, count your shuffles and try to beat your own best. The win message tells you how many you used.
No Shuffles
One deal, and what you see is what you get. This is how the strictest players play, and it is hard. Most deals simply cannot be finished without a shuffle, because sooner or later the gaps drift behind the Kings and there is no way to pull them back. We do not hide that: with this rule, new games are dealt at random and many are unwinnable.
So play it for the score instead. The game always shows how many cards you have in place. Getting 20 of 48 with no shuffle is respectable, and 30 is excellent. Because Undo is unlimited, you can also treat a deal as a puzzle and hunt for the line that gets the most cards home.
Shuffling early. Some players only allow a shuffle when no card can move. Our game lets you shuffle whenever you like, but it asks first if you still have moves, since an early shuffle usually wastes one. If you press Shuffle by mistake, Undo gives it back.
The Gaps Family
All of these games share the same heart: the deck laid out in rows, four empty places, and the rule that a gap takes the next card up in suit from its left-hand neighbor. They differ in the details around the edges.
| Game | Redeals | Where the gaps go after a redeal | Other differences |
|---|---|---|---|
| Addiction (this game) | 3 | One per row, right after the cards in place | None |
| Montana | Usually 2 | One per row, right after the cards in place | Fewer redeals make it harder |
| Gaps | 2 or 3, by house | Often the Aces are shuffled back in and removed again, so the gaps fall at random | More luck in each redeal |
| Spaces | 2 | Varies | Another name for the same game |
| Red Moon | 2 | One per row, after the cards in place | Starts with the Aces already in the first column and the gaps next to them; rows run Ace to King |
| Blue Moon | 2 | One per row, after the cards in place | Aces are moved to the first column after the deal; rows run Ace to King |
| Paganini | None, traditionally | Not applicable | Two decks in eight rows; Aces start the rows |
Montana
Montana is the name you are most likely to find in a book of card games. The moves are identical to ours. The usual difference is that you get only two redeals instead of three, which lowers your chances noticeably. If you want to play Montana here, choose three shuffles and simply stop yourself after two.
Gaps
Gaps is the common name in Britain and in many families. In one popular way of playing, the redeal works differently: the four Aces are picked up along with the out-of-place cards, everything is shuffled and dealt back to fill the rows, and then the Aces are removed again. The gaps therefore turn up wherever the Aces happened to land, not neatly after each row's run. That makes each redeal more of a gamble. A gap might land behind a King straight away.
Our game uses the kinder rule, with each gap placed where its row needs it. It rewards the work you did before the shuffle and leaves less to chance.
Red Moon and Blue Moon
In these two, the Aces are not thrown away. They sit in the first column, one per row, and each row is built from Ace up to King. Since the first column is already settled, there is no "any 2" decision to make; the gaps start in the second column and take the 2 that matches the Ace beside them. Blue Moon deals the cards first and then moves the Aces to the front; Red Moon places the Aces first. Both feel a little more guided than Addiction, because the suit of each row is fixed from the start.
Paganini
A big, slow relative played with two decks laid out in eight rows of thirteen. Aces are moved to the start of the rows as they become available and each row is built up in suit from there. With 104 cards on the table it needs a large surface and a good deal of patience, and traditionally there is no redeal at all.
A Note on Direction
All the books describe the rows as running left to right. On a phone, our game turns the table a quarter so that each suit runs from top to bottom instead, with the 2 at the top. Thirteen cards across a small screen would be too tiny to read; thirteen down the screen can be large and clear. The rule is unchanged. A gap takes the next card up in suit from the card before it, and "before" simply means "above".
Deal Numbers
Every deal in our game has a number from 1 to 999,999, shown above the table. The number fixes the deal and also the outcome of each shuffle, so two people who type the same number in Settings and make the same moves will see exactly the same cards. It is a nice way to compare notes with a friend: "I got 41 in place on deal 48213. Can you finish it?"
The full rules are on the Addiction Solitaire rules page, and advice on playing well is in the strategy guide.