Baker's Dozen Solitaire
How to play Baker's Dozen
Baker's Dozen is a one-deck solitaire game dealt face up into thirteen columns of four, with every King moved to the bottom of its column and columns built down regardless of suit.
Thirteen columns with every King dealt to the bottom, and no way to fill an empty column.
The goal of Baker's Dozen
Move every card onto the four foundations, building each one up by suit from Ace to King.
How to set up Baker's Dozen
The whole deck is dealt face up into thirteen columns of four. Any King dealt higher up a column is moved to the bottom of it, and a column with two Kings keeps them in the order they were dealt. The four foundations start empty, and there are no free cells and no stock.
Baker's Dozen rules
Columns build down one rank at a time regardless of suit. Only the top card of a column moves, one card at a time, onto its foundation or onto a column where it builds.
An empty column can never be filled, so once a column is cleared it stays empty. A card on a foundation never comes back into play.
Click a card to play it: to its foundation if it fits, otherwise onto a column. Drag a card to choose where it goes yourself. With Autoplay off in Settings, only a drag moves a card.
How to win at Baker's Dozen
You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. Once every column is in descending order, Auto complete, on by default in Settings, moves the remaining cards up for you. The game is stuck when no card has a legal move left.
Baker's Dozen strategy tips
Thirteen columns of four keep every card near the top: none starts under more than three others, and the Kings, moved to the bottom, cover nothing but another King.
Only single cards move and there is no spare space, so each card you uncover needs somewhere to go. Before a move, check where the card beneath it can go next.
Watch for a low card lying under a higher one in the same column. It comes out only once every card above it has found a place, on its foundation or on the next higher card showing on another column, so start on those columns while the tops still offer places to land.
A column you clear is lost to play, since it can never be filled again. Empty one only when its last card goes home or onto a build you need, never just to tidy the table.
Baker's Dozen questions and answers
How do you play Baker's Dozen solitaire?
Deal the deck into thirteen columns of four, with every King moved to the bottom of its column. Move the top card of a column onto the next higher card of any suit, or up to its foundation, one card at a time. The foundations build up by suit from Ace to King, and an empty column stays empty.
Why are the Kings at the bottom in Baker's Dozen?
They are moved there as the cards are dealt. A King cannot go onto another card, and in Baker's Dozen it cannot move into an empty column either, so a King higher up would keep the cards beneath it covered until its foundation reached the Queen. At the bottom it covers nothing.
Can every Baker's Dozen deal be won?
Most can, though the solver cannot always tell which. Of 100 shuffled Baker's Dozen deals, it proved 50 winnable within the search it runs while dealing and 62 within the Hint button's longer one, and it proved none of them lost: on the rest it ran out of search. Those are wins found, so the true share is at least that. With Winnable switched on in the menu beside New deal, a proved board took at most six shuffles in testing.
Is there a daily Baker's Dozen game?
Yes. Baker's Dozen has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. You need to be logged in to play it.