How to Play Agnes Sorel Solitaire
What Is Agnes Sorel Solitaire?
Agnes Sorel is a one-deck solitaire with two habits that set it apart from Klondike. First, the foundations do not start on an Ace: a single card is turned up at the deal, and whatever rank it happens to be becomes the starting rank for all four foundations. If that card is the 8 of hearts, every foundation begins on an 8, climbs through 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King — and then wraps round to the Ace and carries on up to the 7. Second, the columns build down in the same colour rather than alternating ones, so a red 7 goes on a red 8 and a black 7 will not. Every card is dealt face up, so nothing is hidden and nothing has to be guessed. The goal is to bring all 52 cards onto the four foundations.
The Layout
One standard 52-card deck is dealt into three areas:
- The foundations. Four piles across the top. One of them starts with the base card dealt at setup; the other three stay empty until you turn up another card of that same rank. Each builds up in suit and wraps from King round to Ace.
- The tableau. Seven columns dealt in a staircase: 1 card in the first, 2 in the second, up to 7 in the seventh — 28 cards in total, every one of them face up.
- The stock. The remaining 23 cards, face down in the corner. Clicking it deals a whole row: one card onto the end of every column.
There is no reserve and no waste pile. This is the difference that defines the game — everything the stock gives you lands straight on the tableau, where you have to deal with it immediately.
How to Move Cards
- To a foundation, when the card is the next rank that pile needs, in the same suit. Remember the sequence wraps: with a base rank of 8, the King is followed by the Ace, then the 2, and the pile finishes on the 7. An empty foundation only ever accepts the base rank.
- Onto a tableau column, when the card is one rank lower and the same colour — a red 6 onto a red 7, a black Jack onto a black Queen. Suit does not matter, only rank and colour, so the 6 of hearts and the 6 of diamonds are interchangeable. The columns do not wrap: nothing can be placed on an Ace.
- As a group, when the cards already form a proper run — descending in rank and all one colour, with no gaps. A run may pass through the Ace–King turn, so a tidy 2, Ace, King of one colour moves as a single piece. Grab the top card of the run and the whole packet travels with it.
- Into an empty column, and here Agnes Sorel is generous: any card or any valid run may fill a gap. An empty column is a genuine work space, not the near-useless hole it is in Agnes Bernauer.
The Stock
The stock does not turn cards one at a time. Each click deals a full row — one face-up card onto the bottom of each of the seven columns — and it deals over empty columns too, so a gap you have opened will be filled whether you wanted it filled or not. With 23 cards you get three full rows of seven and a final short row of two, and then the stock is gone. There are no redeals.
That is what makes the game bite. Every row buries seven cards you had carefully exposed and drops seven new problems on top of them. A tidy board becomes a messy one in a single click, so the question before every deal is not "what will I get?" but "can I survive being covered?"
How to Win
You win when all 52 cards have reached the four foundations, each running thirteen cards from the base rank up and around through the King–Ace turn. Because everything is face up from the first moment, Agnes Sorel is a game of calculation rather than luck — there is no flip to hope for, only the question of whether you can find the order the cards have to come out in.
Playing on This Site
Drag and drop any card or valid run, or double-click (double-tap on touch) a card to send it to a foundation when it fits. The buttons above the table give you a New deal, Undo, Redo, a Hint when you are stuck, and Auto-finish for the closing stretch. Undo is unlimited, which matters more here than in most games: with full information on the table, backing up to test a different order is simply how the game is meant to be analysed. Every deal has a seed number, so you can replay a layout or share it with a friend.
Agnes Sorel Solitaire
Play for the Row, Not for the Move
Every stock click covers all seven columns at once, and you only get four of them. The board you have now is the board you are working with; the next row will not rescue it.
- Before you deal, ask what you would lose if all seven column ends were buried. Anything you can play now and will want in ten moves, play now.
- Because dealing is a bulk event rather than a trickle, it pays to run a position dry — squeeze out every foundation card and every useful build before you touch the stock.
- Keep at least one column short. A short column is cheap to dig back out after a row lands on it; a nine-card column is not.
Same Colour Halves Your Options — Plan Around It
Klondike instincts will lose you games here. Alternating colours give you two suits to build with at every step; same-colour building gives you two as well, but they are the same two, so the reds and the blacks form two nearly separate economies.
- Think in colour pairs: hearts and diamonds are one pool, spades and clubs the other. A red 7 needs a red 8, and there are only two of those in the deck.
- When a colour dries up in a region of the board, no amount of shuffling the other colour will fix it. Spot that early and spend a gap on it instead.
- The columns wrap, in the opposite direction to the foundations: after an Ace comes a King, so a red King drops onto a red Ace and the run carries straight on down. An exposed Ace is no longer a dead end — a King of the same colour will sit on it — but think before you cover one, because that Ace is the card its foundation wants first.
Empty Columns Are Real Assets — But They Leak
Unlike Agnes Bernauer, a gap here takes any card, which makes it the most valuable thing on the table. The catch is that the stock deals into empty columns as well.
- Use a gap the same turn you make it wherever you can. A gap you leave open until the next deal is a gap the stock will spend for you, on a card of its choosing.
- The best use of a gap is unloading a blocker — an Ace, or a card whose colour has no home — not parking something you will want back immediately.
- Emptying the first column is worth more than emptying the seventh, because the short final row of two cards lands on the leftmost columns. Know where that row will fall before you plan around it.
Read the Base Rank First
The starting rank changes with every deal, and thinking in Aces will cost you games.
- Fix the base rank in your mind before your first move. If the base is a 10, the Ace is the fifth card each suit needs, not the first.
- The card one below the base rank is the last card each foundation wants. Four of those have to sit somewhere until the very end — decide where early.
- Cards of the base rank are the most valuable in the deck: each one opens a new foundation. Dig them out ahead of almost anything else.
Everything Is Visible — So Actually Look
- Trace the order a column has to come apart in. If two cards you need sit in the same column in the wrong order, you need a gap to break the tie, and you need it before the next deal.
- Count the base-rank cards and see what is sitting on top of them. That single scan will tell you whether the deal is worth playing carefully or worth restarting.
- Use Undo as a thinking tool. With full information, playing a line out and rewinding it is not cheating — it is the intended method.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why do the foundations not start with an Ace?
That is the defining rule of the Agnes games. A single card is dealt to a foundation at setup, and its rank becomes the starting rank for all four foundations. If it is a 5, every foundation begins on a 5. The starting rank changes with every new deal.
What happens when a foundation reaches the King?
It wraps round to the Ace and keeps climbing. With a base rank of 8, a foundation runs 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, then A, 2, 3, and finishes on the 7 — thirteen cards in all, exactly one full suit.
How do I build on the tableau?
Descending in rank and in the SAME colour: a red 6 onto a red 7, a black 9 onto a black 10. This is the big difference from Klondike and from Agnes Bernauer, which both build down in alternating colours. Suit does not matter — the 6 of hearts and the 6 of diamonds are interchangeable.
Do the columns wrap from Ace to King?
No. Only the foundations wrap. Nothing can be placed on an Ace in the tableau, so an exposed Ace blocks its column until its foundation is ready to take it.
How does the stock work?
Each click deals a full row: one face-up card onto the bottom of every column. There is no waste pile and no reserve. The stock holds 23 cards, so you get three full rows of seven and a final short row of two that lands on the first two columns.
Does the stock deal onto empty columns?
Yes. Unlike Spider Solitaire, there is no rule requiring you to fill your gaps before dealing — but the stock will fill them for you, with whatever card comes next. That is why a gap is best spent the moment you make it.
Are there any redeals?
No. Once the 23 stock cards are dealt there is nothing to recycle, so the whole game has to be planned around four clicks of the stock.
What can I place in an empty tableau column?
Any card, or any properly sequenced run. Empty columns are genuinely useful here — a real difference from Agnes Bernauer, where a gap accepts only the single rank one below the base card.
Can I move more than one card at a time?
Yes, as long as they already form a valid run: descending in rank and all the same colour, with no gaps. Grab the top card of the run and the whole packet moves with it.
Are any cards face down?
Only the stock. All 28 tableau cards and the base card are dealt face up, so the game rewards calculation rather than luck — every problem in the deal is visible from the first move.
How is it different from Agnes Bernauer?
Both use a dealt base rank with wrapping foundations and deal everything face up. Agnes Sorel has no reserve, deals its stock straight onto the tableau in rows of seven, builds down in the same colour, and lets any card fill an empty column. Agnes Bernauer feeds a seven-cell reserve instead, builds down in alternating colours, and allows only one rank — base minus one — into a gap.
Is Agnes Sorel hard?
Yes, harder than Klondike. Full information helps a lot, but same-colour building halves your options and a stock that buries all seven columns at once with no redeals is unforgiving. Expect to lose more deals than you win.
Is it free to play?
Yes, completely free. Nothing to download and no sign-up needed. Open the page and the cards are dealt.
What is a seed?
A seed is the number identifying one particular shuffle. Every deal has its own seed, so you can replay a deal you want another attempt at, or share it with a friend and both play the identical layout.