How to Play Addiction Solitaire
Addiction Solitaire spreads 48 face-up cards across 4 rows and leaves 4 gaps where the Aces were removed. You move 1 card at a time into those gaps. The aim is to turn each row into a complete suit sequence from 2 through King, with the empty space at the far right.
There is no stock, foundation or hidden card. Every decision happens in the grid, yet a legal move can still damage the table by leaving a gap in the wrong place. This guide covers the exact version played in Addiction Solitaire, including its 3 reshuffles and the row prefixes that stay fixed between them.
Set Up 4 Rows and Remove the Aces
Deal the entire 52-card pack face up into 4 horizontal rows of 13 cards. Remove all 4 Aces. Their former positions become the gaps used during play. Nothing else leaves the table until the game is won, and no card is turned face down.
The rows do not belong to particular suits at the start. A row becomes a spade row, for example, when the 2 of Spades reaches its first position. From there, that row can grow only with the 3 of Spades, 4 of Spades and the rest of the suit in order. A different 2 can begin another row.
Start an Empty Row With a 2
A gap in the first column accepts only a 2. Any suit is allowed, provided that its 2 is not already fixed at the beginning of another row. Move the chosen 2 into the gap. The space where that card came from then becomes the new gap.
A first-column opening is valuable because it gives 1 suit a permanent home. Do not rush every available 2 into place, though. Before starting a row, look for its matching 3 and 4. A 2 with several early successors within reach is usually more useful than a 2 whose next card sits behind a dead King gap.
Fill Every Other Gap With the Next Card of the Same Suit
When a gap has a card directly to its left, it accepts the next higher rank of that same suit. If the left card is the 6 of Clubs, the only legal card is the 7 of Clubs. A red 7 from another suit does not fit, and neither does the 8 of Clubs.
Select the required card, then select the highlighted gap. On touchscreens, the same 2-tap action avoids the need for precise dragging. If the selected card has exactly 1 legal destination, selecting it again moves it there. Hint highlights a legal card and its destination without making the move for you.
Follow the Gap Created by Each Move
Moving a card fills 1 gap and opens another at the card's former position. In effect, the space travels backward through the table. A good move does more than extend a correct row. It leaves the next gap beside a card whose successor can also be moved.
Before committing, read both ends of the move. First, confirm that the destination advances a useful sequence. Then inspect the card immediately left of the source. If its successor is accessible, the new gap can continue the chain. If that left neighbor is a King, the new gap will stop working until a reshuffle.
A Gap After a King Is Dead
King is the highest rank in a row, so no card can legally follow it. A gap immediately to the right of a King cannot be filled during ordinary play. The gap still occupies 1 of the table's 4 empty positions, but it provides no move.
Dead gaps are the main reason a locally correct move can be a poor choice. Suppose the 9 of Hearts fits a useful gap, but taking it exposes a space after a King. The row gains 1 card while the table loses 1 active route. That trade may be necessary, especially before a reshuffle, but it should be noticed rather than discovered after the move.
Build Correct Prefixes Before You Reshuffle
A correct prefix starts with a 2 in the first column and continues with consecutive cards of the same suit. A row containing 2, 3, 4 and 5 of Diamonds in its first 4 positions has a 4-card prefix. Those cards are protected when you reshuffle. Cards elsewhere in the row, even if they form a useful pair, remain unfinished and may move.
Try to secure more than a lone 2 before spending a reshuffle. A longer prefix removes cards from the random portion of the deal and gives the next layout a reliable starting point. It also tells you which suits already have a row, so the remaining 2s can be assigned without confusion.
Use Up to 3 Reshuffles
Select Reshuffle when no worthwhile card move remains or the active gaps no longer reach useful successors. The game gathers every card outside a correct prefix, mixes those cards and deals them back into the unfinished positions. Each row then receives a gap immediately after its protected prefix. If a row has no correct cards, its gap returns to the first position.
You have 3 reshuffles. The last one should not be saved merely because it is the last. If the current layout is blocked and all useful prefixes are protected, reshuffling is the only way to create new routes. On the other hand, using a reshuffle while several legal extensions remain throws away information and may leave the same cards harder to connect.
Plan the Opening in 3 Short Checks
- Find every gap and identify the exact card that can fill it.
- Check where each candidate card will leave the new gap.
- Prefer moves that extend a row and keep the new gap usable.
These checks are quick because the whole table is visible. There is no need to calculate a long solution at the start. Look 1 move beyond the legal card and avoid creating a King gap when another route is available. If a first-column gap is open, compare all available 2s instead of choosing the nearest one automatically.
Handle the Middle Game by Suit, Not by Row Count
Once 2 or 3 prefixes are established, track the next required card for each suit. A short row may be easier to extend than the longest row if its next card sits beside an active gap. Progress is not evenly distributed; 1 suit can pause while another advances several ranks.
Use Undo when a move produces an obviously worse source gap. It is more instructive to compare the 2 positions than to continue from a mistake you already understand. Undo marks the game as assisted for clean leaderboard scoring, but it does not change the rules or remove the certified solution stored with the deal.
Close the Final Rows Without Stranding a Suit
Near the end, every unfinished card has only a few possible positions. Work backward from the highest missing rank in each row. If a row needs the Queen and King of Clubs, locate both before moving the Queen. The Queen may be legal now, but taking it from beside the wrong card could close the route needed for another suit.
A completed row reads 2 through King in 1 suit and ends with its gap. The game finishes when all 4 rows have that form. There is no separate foundation animation because the arranged grid itself is the finished table.
Addiction Rules Players Often Check
Can any 2 begin any row?
Yes. A gap in the first column accepts any 2. Once placed, that 2 assigns its suit to the row because every later card must continue upward in the same suit.
Can cards move as a group?
No. Every move transfers 1 card into 1 gap. Correct sequences stay in place because their next card is added at the open end, not because the sequence moves together.
What happens to a gap after a card moves?
The destination is filled and the card's former position becomes the new gap. Reading that new position is central to planning the next move.
Can a gap after a King be filled?
No. King has no successor, so a gap directly after it is inactive. A later reshuffle can move the unfinished King and restore a useful gap.
What stays in place during a reshuffle?
Each correct row prefix stays fixed. It must begin with a 2 in the first position and continue upward in 1 suit without a break. All other cards are mixed and redealt.
How many reshuffles are allowed?
The Solitaire.cx version allows 3 reshuffles. The counter beside the board shows how many remain.
Addiction is part of the Gaps family, which arranges cards inside fixed rows rather than building a conventional tableau. The types of Solitaire guide compares that structure with games such as FreeCell, where open cells provide temporary storage, and Golf, where cards leave the table through a single waste pile.