Westcliff Solitaire takes Easthaven's rule set and spreads it across ten columns instead of seven. The same core mechanics apply — alternating-color descending tableau, one card at a time, stock dealing to all columns simultaneously — but the wider board changes the character of the game. With ten columns of four cards each, 40 cards are dealt at the start and only 12 remain in the stock. That tighter stock means fewer chances to dig out buried cards, but the extra columns give you more room to maneuver.
What is Westcliff Solitaire?
Westcliff Solitaire is a single-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. Ten tableau columns each start with three face-down cards and one face-up card on top — 40 cards in total. The remaining 12 cards form a small stock. Four foundation piles build from Ace to King by suit.
Westcliff belongs to the same Klondike-family cluster as Easthaven, sharing the same alternating-color descending-rank tableau rule and the same single-card movement restriction. The critical difference from Easthaven is the board width: ten columns versus seven. The stock mechanic is also different in scale — Westcliff's 12-card stock can only produce one full deal to all ten columns, with two cards left over. Easthaven's 24-card stock supports three full deals.
Westcliff Solitaire has a slightly higher win rate than Easthaven at around 20–25%, which makes intuitive sense: more columns means more immediate placement options when a card arrives, and the extra working space can relieve column-clogging situations that would deadlock the narrower Easthaven board.
How to play Westcliff Solitaire
Step 1 — Deal the board
Ten tableau columns each receive three face-down cards followed by one face-up card on top. That deals 40 of the 52 cards. The remaining 12 cards go to the stock pile face-down. Four empty foundation slots wait for Aces.
Step 2 — Build tableau columns down by alternating colors
Place cards onto columns in descending rank and alternating color — a red 7 on a black 8, a black King on an empty column. Only one card moves at a time. Sequences do not travel together.
Step 3 — Use the stock to deal to all columns
Click the stock to deal one card face-up to each of the ten columns. The 12-card stock supports exactly one full deal of ten (the remaining 2 cards cannot be dealt unless all columns are populated). As in Easthaven, you cannot deal if any column is empty.
Step 4 — Build foundations up by suit
Send Aces to foundations immediately. Continue building each foundation upward in the same suit. Keeping foundations balanced across suits preserves more tableau options.
Step 5 — Flip face-down cards
Clearing the top card of a column automatically flips the face-down card underneath. Working through the three face-down cards in each column is the central challenge of Westcliff Solitaire.
Step 6 — Win the game
Build all four foundations from Ace through King. With a ~20–25% win rate, completing a Westcliff Solitaire game represents genuine skill.
The Westcliff play area
Westcliff Solitaire uses a ten-column tableau — the same width as Spider Solitaire — giving the board a wider, flatter appearance compared to Easthaven. The stock pile sits in the upper-left with only 12 cards; this noticeably smaller reserve visually signals how few draws remain. Four foundation piles run along the upper-right.
On smaller screens the ten columns require a narrower card width than Easthaven or Klondike to fit comfortably. The board scales automatically on Mr. Solitaire but you may prefer landscape orientation on a phone.
Available moves
Westcliff Solitaire has the same compact move vocabulary as Easthaven.
Deal from stock. Click the stock to deal one card to each of the ten columns. Cannot deal if any column is empty. The 12-card stock provides one full ten-column deal with two cards left over — those two cannot be dealt.
Move one card from tableau to tableau. Top face-up card only. Place it on a column whose top card is the next-higher rank and opposite color, or an empty column (Kings only).
Move one card from tableau to foundation. Matching suit, one rank above the foundation's current top card.
Move one card from foundation back to tableau. Legal but use sparingly — only when absolutely necessary to unblock a critical sequence.
Westcliff Solitaire strategy
Use the extra columns as intermediate storage
Ten columns provide three more working piles than Easthaven. When a card has no immediate home, an empty column (or a column with a compatible top card) can temporarily house it while you rearrange other columns. This buffer is Westcliff's main advantage over Easthaven — use it deliberately.
Dig the deepest columns first
All columns start equal at three face-down cards, but stock deals quickly make some columns deeper. Target the columns with the most face-down cards remaining to flip them before they become insurmountable. A column with three hidden cards is three blocked moves; one with zero is a free workspace.
Treat the stock as a one-shot resource
With only 12 stock cards, Westcliff gives you one and a half deals (one full deal of ten, plus two leftover). Unlike Klondike you cannot cycle; unlike Easthaven you cannot even do two full deals. Plan the stock draw as a deliberate event — a last resort when the current board is maximally prepared — not an automatic click when you run out of ideas.
Don't deal with empty columns
The 'cannot deal if any column is empty' rule punishes hasty column-clearing. If you empty a column and then want to draw from the stock, you must first fill that column with a King. If no King is available face-up, you're stuck. Guard against this by clearing columns only when a King is ready to move in.
Send up all Aces and 2s without hesitation
Foundation cards that are clearly playable — Aces always, 2s once the Ace is up — should go immediately. Holding them in the tableau to use as 'receivers' wastes column space and blocks the very foundation progress that will eventually free the board.
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Odds of winning Westcliff Solitaire
Westcliff Solitaire wins approximately 20–25% of deals under best play — slightly better than Easthaven's 15–20%. The extra columns give more maneuvering room, which more than compensates for the smaller stock. Both games are harder than standard Klondike Turn 1.
The most common loss condition is a cluster of Aces all buried simultaneously under face-down cards in columns that have no available sequence plays to uncover them. When this happens in the first half of the game, the outcome is often determined before the stock is used.
Because the stock is so small, Westcliff Solitaire games tend to be decisive quickly — usually resolved (won or lost) within the first forty moves. There is rarely the grinding back-and-forth of late-game Klondike where you cycle the stock hoping for a specific card.
History of Westcliff Solitaire
Westcliff Solitaire is a member of the Easthaven-family cluster of variants, which explores how Klondike plays when the column depth is made uniform and the stock deals to the whole board at once. The ten-column width is shared with Spider Solitaire, though the games are otherwise very different in structure and feel.
Like Easthaven, Westcliff likely originated with card game authors in mid-twentieth century Britain, and the place-name convention (Westcliff is a seaside town in Essex, England) suggests a shared authorial tradition. No single inventor is documented.
Westcliff Solitaire appeared in software solitaire collections in the 1990s, often grouped with Easthaven as a harder sibling. Its ten-column layout made it a natural choice for players who had already mastered Easthaven and wanted a game with similar rules but a different strategic texture.
Frequently asked questions
What is Westcliff Solitaire?
- Westcliff Solitaire is a Klondike-family card game played with one standard 52-card deck across ten tableau columns. Each column starts with three face-down cards and one face-up card. The stock (12 cards) deals one card to every column at once. Only one card at a time moves on the tableau. The goal is to build all four foundations from Ace to King by suit.
How is Westcliff different from Easthaven?
- Westcliff uses ten tableau columns; Easthaven uses seven. Westcliff deals 40 of the 52 cards to the tableau at the start, leaving only a 12-card stock; Easthaven deals 28 cards with a 24-card stock. The ten columns give Westcliff more maneuvering room but fewer stock draws to rely on.
How many stock draws are available in Westcliff?
- Westcliff's 12-card stock supports exactly one full deal of ten cards plus two leftover cards that cannot be dealt (you need all ten columns populated to deal, and you only have 2 cards left after the first deal). So in practice you get one stock deal and that is all.
Can you move runs of cards in Westcliff Solitaire?
- No. Like Easthaven, Westcliff Solitaire only allows moving one card at a time. Even a perfectly formed alternating-color descending sequence on a column cannot be moved as a group — each card must be placed individually.
What is the win rate for Westcliff Solitaire?
- Westcliff Solitaire wins approximately 20–25% of deals under good play — slightly higher than Easthaven's 15–20% because the wider ten-column board provides more placement options. Both games are significantly harder than standard Klondike Turn 1.
What is the best opening strategy for Westcliff?
- Send any visible Aces immediately to foundations, then focus moves on the columns where face-down cards can be flipped with the fewest total moves. Avoid dealing from the stock until you have exhausted all useful moves — the single stock draw is precious, and dealing into a board you haven't optimized wastes the deal's potential.
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