Easthaven Solitaire: nearly every deal can be won with the right plan
Easthaven looks like a small Klondike: seven short columns, a few hidden cards, and a stock that deals new cards across the whole table at once. The difference is that the stock goes through only once, so every deal is a race to open the columns before the stock runs dry.
How winnable is it? On this site's rules, our solver, which could see every hidden card and the order of the stock, won 97.6% of 3,000 deals. It proved none impossible; the remaining 2.4% ran past its search budget. That is the ceiling, the most a player could win with perfect knowledge, not what you should expect from a first attempt. But it tells you something important: when an Easthaven game goes wrong, the deal was very rarely hopeless.
At a glance: Easthaven in numbers
| What we measured | Result | Deals | How |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deals won with perfect knowledge | 97.6% (95% range 97.0–98.1%) | 3,000 | Solver that sees hidden cards and the stock order, 100,000 positions per deal |
| Deals proven impossible | 0 (95% range 0–0.13%) | 3,000 | Same solver |
| Deals left undecided | 2.4% | 3,000 | Ran past the budget |
| Deals with no move among the 7 face-up cards | 8.2% | 3,000 | Counted from the deal |
| Aces that start face down (of 4) | about 1.06 | 3,000 | Counted from the deal |
How Easthaven is played here
- One pack of 52 cards.
- Seven tableau columns of three cards, with only the top card of each face up. That leaves 14 cards hidden.
- A 31-card stock with no waste pile. Each click deals one card face up onto every column, left to right. The fifth and final deal has only three cards left, so they go to the first three columns.
- No redeal. Once the stock is gone, it is gone.
- An empty column does not stop you dealing from the stock.
- On the tableau you build down in alternating colours, and a correctly built run moves as a unit.
- Any card, or any run, may fill an empty column.
- Foundations are built up by suit from Ace to King. Get all 52 home to win.
Why runs matter so much in Easthaven
On this site you can move a whole run of alternating cards at once. That rule is the single biggest reason the game is so winnable here. When we tested a stricter version, where only one card may move at a time, our solver proved at least 36.9% of deals impossible (the lower end of its 95% range, from 300 deals). With runs allowed, it proved none impossible. The moral for players: build tidy runs, because you can pick them up and put them anywhere they fit, including an empty column.
Strategy the numbers support
Treat each stock deal as a flood
Every click drops seven new cards on top of your columns. Anything you have not sorted is buried a little deeper. Before you deal, make every useful tableau move you can, and try to leave columns ending in cards that the incoming cards are likely to fit on.
Uncover the hidden cards early
There are only 14 face-down cards, two under each top card. On average about one Ace starts hidden, so getting the hidden cards turned over before the first deal is usually worth it.
No opening move? Deal and carry on
In 8.2% of deals none of the seven face-up cards can move at the start. That feels bad, but our solver still finds a way through almost every deal. Deal from the stock and play from there.
Empty columns are flexible here
Unlike Klondike, any card or run may fill a space in Easthaven. Use an empty column as a place to rebuild a messy run, not just as a parking spot for a King.
Count what is left in the stock
There are five deals in total: four full ones and a final three-card deal. Knowing how many remain helps you decide whether to wait for a card or dig for it.
Playing Easthaven here
Easthaven is free on this site, with no download, no installation, no sign-up and no email address needed. It runs in any modern browser on a computer, tablet or phone, with large clear cards and a zoom control. Use Hint when stuck, unlimited Undo to try another line, Restart to replay the same deal and Auto Play to finish a won game. Drag cards or tap to move them. Wins, time and moves are tracked for the current game, and the sound, fullscreen mode and table colour are all up to you.
How we did the research, step by step
This study was run by the free-solitaire.nz team in September 2026. We wanted to know how winnable Easthaven is on this site specifically, since small rule differences change the answer a great deal.
- Read the rules from the game code. Easthaven is a branch of the site's Klondike engine: seven columns of three with the top card up, a 31-card stock dealt one card per column with no waste and no redeal, dealing allowed onto empty columns, alternating-colour runs that move together, and any card allowed in a space.
- Rebuilt the game as a program, including the short final deal of three cards.
- Dealt 3,000 numbered games, seeds 1 to 3,000, so every game can be replayed exactly.
- Chose a "thoughtful" solver. It knows the hidden cards and the stock order in advance, which no human player does. That makes its result a ceiling: the most that could be won with perfect knowledge.
- Ran it with a budget of 100,000 positions per deal. The 3,000 deals took about seven minutes.
- Tested the rule that matters. We also ran 300 deals with single-card moves only, to see how much the run rule contributes.
- Compared with published research. Blake and Gent (2026, Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research) report a figure for East Haven, but for a stricter rule where only one card moves at a time. That is not the game played here, so we do not compare numbers. Our own single-card test also did not reproduce their figure, and we have not yet found why; until we do, we quote only the result for this site's rules.
- Stated the limits. This is a ceiling, not a typical player's win rate, and 2.4% of deals were undecided. The 95% range for the solved share is 97.0–98.1%: repeat the test with fresh deals and the true figure lands in that range 95 times in 100.
The technical side
We wrote the Easthaven simulation in Python 3.11, sticking to the standard library. Easthaven has its own module, easthaven.py. The solver is a depth-first search: it tries a move, follows it as far as it goes, and backs up when it hits a dead end, remembering positions it has already explored so it never searches the same one twice. A shared runner.py spreads the deals across parallel worker processes with Python's multiprocessing, each deal is shuffled from its own numbered seed, and the 95% ranges are Wilson score intervals. An AI assistant (Claude, by Anthropic) helped write and review the code and draft this page. It did not produce any figure: every number comes from running the solver, and the team reviewed the results before publishing.
By Admin, free-solitaire.nz. Study date: 19 September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Is Easthaven easier than Klondike?
With perfect knowledge, far more Easthaven deals can be won on this site: 97.6% against about 90% for Klondike Turn 1 in published research. In practice it plays differently, because the stock goes through only once.
Can I go through the stock again?
No. Easthaven's stock is dealt once, in five deals.
What can go in an empty column?
Any card, or any correctly built run.
Why does the last deal only give three cards?
The stock holds 31 cards: four full deals of seven use 28, leaving three for the first three columns.
Which game is a good follow-up?
Try Klondike for the classic stock-and-waste version, or Yukon, where every card is dealt at the start.