Gaps Solitaire — also known as Montana Solitaire or Spaces — is one of the most visually distinctive solitaire puzzles in the classic card-game canon. The entire 52-card deck is laid out in a four-by-thirteen grid, all cards face up from the start. The four Aces are removed to create four gaps, and your goal is to slide cards into those gaps one at a time until all four rows run 2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-J-Q-K in the same suit from left to right. With a win rate hovering around 15% and only three redeals allowed, Gaps rewards systematic thinking over luck.
What is Gaps Solitaire?
Gaps Solitaire is a single-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. The full deck is dealt face-up in four rows of thirteen cards each. The four Aces are then removed, leaving four gaps in the grid. From there, you fill each gap by sliding in the card that belongs there: one rank higher and the same suit as the card immediately to the left of the gap. Twos can fill a gap at the far-left position in any row.
Win conditions require all four rows to be complete same-suit sequences from 2 through King, left to right. When no gap can be legally filled, you may call a redeal: all cards not already in a locked position are collected, shuffled, and redealt into the remaining non-locked spots. You are allowed three redeals per game.
The game belongs to the same family as other positional-puzzle solitaires where the board itself is the puzzle rather than a pile system. Unlike most solitaire games, there is no stock pile and no waste pile — every card is visible at all times, making Gaps a game of pure skill and planning.
Win rate in Gaps Solitaire is approximately 15% with optimal play. The main source of difficulty is the King problem: a King in the wrong position can block the gap to its right permanently until a redeal reshuffles the board, because no card can legally be placed to the right of a King.
How to play Gaps Solitaire
Step 1 — Remove the Aces
The game starts with all 52 cards dealt in a 4x13 grid. The four Aces are immediately removed, leaving four gaps in the grid. Note where each gap is — a gap adjacent to a Two of any suit is immediately actionable. Gaps at the far left of a row accept any Two of any suit.
Step 2 — Move a card into a gap
A gap can receive exactly one card: the card that is one rank higher and the same suit as the card to the gap's immediate left. If the gap is in column 1 (leftmost), any Two fills it. You can only move a card into a gap — you cannot swap two cards or move to a non-gap position.
Step 3 — Chain moves while you can
When you fill a gap, a new gap appears where the card just came from. The new gap may immediately be fillable too, creating a chain. Plan chains before you click: filling a gap with a 5 of Hearts creates a new gap that might want the 6 of Hearts — check the board before acting.
Step 4 — Identify locked sequences
A sequence is locked when a row starts from column 1 with a Two and runs unbroken in the correct suit. Locked cards cannot be redealt, so each redeal preserves your progress at the left end of each row. The longer your locked sequences, the better positioned you are after a redeal.
Step 5 — Use redeals wisely
When no gap can be filled, you may call a redeal. All unlocked cards are shuffled and redealt into the remaining positions. You get three redeals total. Before calling a redeal, make every legal move first — even moves that do not seem useful can extend locked sequences, preserving more progress through the reshuffle.
The Gaps Solitaire play area
The Gaps Solitaire board is a four-row grid of thirteen columns, displaying all 52 cards (minus the four removed Aces) in a flat two-dimensional layout. All cards are face-up from the moment the game begins, making this a pure information game with no hidden cards.
Gaps appear as highlighted empty cells in the grid. When you select a card, the gaps it can legally fill are highlighted in gold. Locked sequences are shaded green to visually separate safe progress from moveable cards.
The Redeal button is shown with a counter indicating how many redeals remain. Clicking it reshuffles all non-locked cards, so use it only when no legal move remains.
Available moves in Gaps Solitaire
Gaps Solitaire has just two legal move types, making it one of the simplest solitaire games in terms of move vocabulary — but one of the deepest in terms of planning.
Fill a gap. Select a card and place it in a valid gap. A gap at column 0 accepts any 2. A gap at column C accepts the card that is exactly one rank higher and the same suit as the card in column C-1 of the same row. No other placements are legal.
Call a redeal. When no gap can be legally filled, click Redeal. All cards not in a locked left-edge sequence are collected, shuffled, and re-placed into the unlocked positions. You may call up to three redeals per game.
Gaps Solitaire strategy
Prioritize placing Twos in column 1
A Two in column 1 locks that card immediately, regardless of suit. Since locked cards survive redeals, getting a Two into each row's leftmost position early is the highest-leverage move you can make. If multiple column-1 gaps exist and you have multiple Twos available, fill them all before doing anything else.
Avoid stranding Kings
A King anywhere in the interior blocks the gap to its right permanently — no card can go to the right of a King. When you have a choice, prefer moves that do not place Kings in columns 1 through 11. A King in column 12 is the only safe interior position for a King.
Plan chains of two or three moves
Each move creates a new gap. Before clicking, trace the chain: if filling gap A brings card X to A, where does that leave a new gap, and what card fills that gap? A chain of three correct moves builds locked sequence length far faster than isolated single moves. Always look two to three steps ahead.
Maximize locked sequences before redealing
The more cards in locked sequences when you redeal, the fewer cards are shuffled and the less entropy you introduce. Before calling redeal, exhaust every possible move — even seemingly unhelpful ones — to extend locked sequences. Five locked cards is five fewer random cards in the reshuffle pool.
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Odds of winning Gaps Solitaire
Gaps Solitaire has a win rate of approximately 15% with skilled play. This makes it one of the harder classic solitaire variants — comparable to Scorpion and considerably harder than Baker's Dozen (~90%) or Klondike Turn-1 (~30-50%). The low win rate is not primarily from bad luck: most deals are theoretically winnable, but the decision tree is large and mistakes compound quickly.
The main killer is the King problem. Kings must land in column 12 to allow the final card of that row to be placed. A King stranded in columns 1 through 11 blocks a gap permanently until a redeal. Even with three redeals, repeatedly drawing Kings into interior positions can make a deal very difficult.
Three redeals give skilled players enough chances to recover from early mistakes. Players who reach the third redeal with eight or more locked cards per row have a reasonable chance of winning; those reaching the third redeal with fewer than five locked per row rarely succeed.
History of Gaps Solitaire
Gaps Solitaire appears in early twentieth-century card game references under the name Montana — a reference to the wide open spaces of the American West, matching the expansive grid layout. It is listed in David Parlett's encyclopedic A History of Card Games and The Penguin Book of Card Games, which standardized the three-redeal rule now used by most digital implementations.
The game is also known as Spaces in British game books, and as Montana Solitaire on many digital platforms. All three names refer to the same game with the same rules; the variation in names reflects parallel popularization in different regions rather than any meaningful rule difference.
Digital versions of Gaps became widely available in the 1990s and early 2000s as part of card game bundles. Its grid layout translates unusually well to screens — the 4x13 board fits naturally on a monitor and all cards are always visible without scrolling or overlapping stacks.
Frequently asked questions
What is Gaps Solitaire?
- Gaps Solitaire (also called Montana Solitaire or Spaces) is a single-player card game where all 52 cards are laid out in a 4x13 grid, the four Aces are removed to create gaps, and you slide cards into gaps to build four rows from 2 through King in the same suit. You get three redeals when stuck.
How many redeals do you get in Gaps Solitaire?
- The standard rule is three redeals. When no gap can be filled, you may call a redeal: all unlocked cards are shuffled and re-placed into the non-locked positions. Locked sequences (correct left-to-right runs from column 1) survive every redeal. After the third redeal, if you cannot complete the board, the game ends.
What is a locked sequence in Gaps Solitaire?
- A locked sequence is a continuous correct run of cards starting from column 1 of a row. For example, if row 3 has 2-of-Hearts, 3-of-Hearts, 4-of-Hearts in columns 1, 2, 3, those three cards are locked — they stay in place during a redeal. The goal is to maximize locked sequence length before redealing.
Why can I not place a card to the right of a King?
- Kings are rank 13 — the highest rank. There is no rank 14 to complete a sequence after a King, so the gap immediately to the right of a King can never be filled. This makes Kings in interior positions dangerous: they permanently block the gap on their right side until a redeal.
What is the win rate for Gaps Solitaire?
- Approximately 15% with skilled play. Most of the difficulty comes from King placement: Kings must land in column 12 to allow the row to be completed. Three redeals give enough chances to recover, but mistakes compound quickly.
Can any Two go in the leftmost gap?
- Yes — any gap in column 1 (the leftmost column of a row) can be filled with any Two of any suit. This is the only place in Gaps Solitaire where suit does not constrain the move. Filling column 1 with a Two immediately locks that card, making it one of the highest-priority moves available.
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