There are some card games you play to think through and plan ten moves ahead, and then there are other card games you play because you want something simple, calming, and quietly satisfying.
Wish Solitaire is exactly that kind of game.
Wish Solitaire is a one-player card game that’s perfect for kids but still fun for adults who just want to sit down with a deck of cards and let the game unfold. There’s very minimal strategy to wrestle with or agonize over and no pressure to play it right. You flip cards, watch for matches, and settle into a steady rhythm.
If you’re looking for an easy solitaire game that’s perfect for filling in a few calm minutes without screens, Wish Solitaire is a lovely place to start.
Wish Solitaire is the kind of card game you play when you don’t want to think too hard. It’s easy for kids to learn, relaxing for adults, and plays out in a smooth, steady rhythm. You flip cards, look for matches, and enjoy a few calm, screen-free minutes with nothing to figure out or optimize.
Watch how to play here and find the full rules written out below!
Goal: Clear the tableau by matching pairs of cards.
What You Need:
1 standard deck of playing cards with all 2s – 6s removed
Favorite Decks of Playing Cards
The Deal
Shuffle the 32 card deck together, it will consists of only the 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, and Ace cards
Create eight piles of four face down cards.
Flip over the top card of each pile to start.
How to Play Wish Solitaire
Players will look for matches among the eight face up cards.
Suits do not matter, you are merely matching cards by rank.
When you see a pair of two matching cards, remove them and set them in the discard pile.
Then flip over the top card of those piles.
Continue looking for and removing matches from the piles until you either have removed all the cards or have no more pairs to remove.
Winning
You win Wish Solitaire when you have removed all 32 cards. If you no longer have any matches to remove you lose.
Common Questions
What if I have three matching cards face up?
If you have, for example, three 8’s face up, you must choose only two of the 8’s to remove. You cannot remove three cards at the same time. Each card removed must be in a matching pair.
Why not play with the whole deck?
Wish solitaire is played with a stripped deck for mathematical and playability reasons. A stripped down deck is much faster to play repeatedly despite losing; quickly reshuffle, deal, and play again.
Mathematically, if you play with more ranks, the depth of the piles increases and reduces the probability that matches will appear. If you increase the number of piles from 8 to say 10, you reduce the challenge. The sweet spot for any game is finding where it stays in the “often fails, sometimes succeeds” category vs “almost always fails.” A stripped down deck keeps Wish Solitaire in that former category.
All that said, you are warmly invited to experiment with the rules and adjust the game! Card games have endured precisely because players enjoy making them their own, and any house rules you add to Wish Solitaire would simply join that tradition! You can also choose to use any 8 ranks that you’d like to form your deck. It’s a great way to practice identifying numbers.
If you enjoyed this post on How To Play Wish Solitaire, then you may also enjoy:
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