Solitaire is one of the most well-adjusted card games in the digital sphere. You can think about practically any kind of solitaire format and you’ll surely find an app for it as soon as you start doing a web search. It's not rare to come across game types like mahjong-style, Valentine’s solitaire, or tri-peaks, but here’s a card format that is not usually given in a mobile app form.

And this is Grandma’s Solitaire.

For starters, this is one of few solitaire games that use two decks instead of the usual single-deck type. Veterans of more common solitaire apps will find that this is far from the average card games they are used to. The complete novice in the world of solitaire apps will find plenty of fun potential in dealing with the puzzle aspects.

The layout is something you need to pay attention to. There are 13 tableau piles in a 5x5x3 arrangement. Each pile is referred to by the top card on the board, like the “Ace” pile, the “2” pile, and so on. The top left pile should be the “Ace” and the bottom right should be the “King”. There is also the “Stockpile” which consists of cards that are not included after the tableau piles are laid down. The empty space you’ll see below the piles is called the “worktable”, which will be talked with a little more detail later. You won’t worry about setting this up yourself when playing most digital solitaire games. This becomes a helpful tip should you encounter a game that lets you set up the table manually (or if you decide to use physical cards instead).

Your goal is to form 8 suits of cards in the same number of foundation piles. 4 of these are in the Ace to King order, and the other 4 are King to Ace. Current digital forms of this game will label whether a space is an “Ace” or a “King” foundation. This makes things easy to follow even as a complete newbie in solitaire apps.

Playing is a matter of sorting out which cards belong to the “Ace” foundation and which cards can be sorted out for the “King” foundation. This is worth repeating in this write-up: “Ace” is for Ace to King arrangements, while “King” is for King to Ace piles. It’s now your job to completely sort out two decks as foundation piles. You can tap the stockpile for an additional card in case you’re out of moves. This is going to bring a face-up card to the worktable along with the cards of a chosen tableau pile.

The worktable is where much of the action and logic skills are used. You can sort out the cards according to how they appear on the pile. Will you put this card on top of the stack? How badly do you need a card later? The question of prioritizing what cards can be disposed of the quickest is going to take up most of your time playing.

This two-deck card game offers more challenges than your usual digital game. Grandma’s game offers little in terms of gimmicks such as power-ups, making this a preferred format for people who prefer the traditional and no-nonsense solitaire in app form.

Looking for a quick round of solitaire? Games 4 Grandma’s picks can help you with that.