How to Play Black Hole Solitaire
Black Hole starts with the Ace of spades in the middle of the table and every other card face up around it. Your next card must be one rank higher or lower than the current center card. The rule takes seconds to learn. Winning takes a longer view, because the card you remove from a fan determines which card becomes available there next.
The aim is to move all 51 surrounding cards onto the single center pile. There is no stock to turn when the sequence stops and no empty column where a blocker can wait. Each card you move scores 10 points. You can play Black Hole Solitaire online beside this guide.
Set up 17 fans around the Ace of spades
Black Hole uses a single 52-card deck. Place the Ace of spades face up as the first center card. Deal the remaining 51 cards face up into 17 fans, with 3 cards in each fan. The cards overlap, but all ranks and suits remain visible from the opening.
Each fan has a fixed order. Only the exposed card at its end can move. Once that card enters the center, the card immediately behind it becomes exposed. A fan that has lost all 3 cards is finished and cannot be used again. Nothing is dealt onto the table after the opening.
Play one rank up or down, in any suit
Look only at rank when testing a move. If the center shows a 6, any exposed 5 or 7 is legal. A 10 accepts a 9 or Jack. Suits and colors may be mixed freely, so the 7 of hearts can follow the 6 of hearts, clubs, diamonds or spades.
The direction is allowed to change. A run can go 6, 7, 8, 7, 6 without breaking a rule. After each move, forget the earlier part of the pile and read the new top card. That card alone sets the two ranks you can play next. Cards already in the center never return to a fan.
Aces and Kings connect
The rank sequence wraps around at both ends. A King may be played on an Ace, and an Ace may be played on a King. A 2 is also legal on an Ace, while a Queen is the other legal neighbor of a King. The 13 ranks form a closed circle, so neither end is a dead end.
It helps to picture the order as Queen, King, Ace, 2. When an Ace reaches the center, check both the Kings and the 2s. When a King reaches the center, check both the Queens and the Aces. Missing the wrap is an easy way to overlook a live continuation.
On the board, click or tap the exposed end card you want to play. A legal card moves straight to the center and uncovers the next card in its fan.
Read each fan from the outside in
Treat every fan as a 3-card queue. The end card is available now, the middle card becomes available second and the inner card is last. Before removing the end card, name the card behind it.
Suppose two exposed 8s can both follow a center 7. The 8 in one fan reveals a 6, while the other reveals a Queen. If another exposed 7 or 9 can keep the sequence near the first fan, the 6 may join the run soon. The Queen may sit stranded until the center travels up through Jack or King.
Choose between duplicate ranks by what they reveal
Duplicate ranks create most of the meaningful branches in Black Hole. When two legal cards share a rank, compare the next card in each fan, then check whether either choice shortens a fan to its final card. Pick the move that gives you a card you can actually play next, or that finishes a fan you would otherwise have to come back to.
Opening a useful rank does not make it playable at once, because the center changes to the card you just moved. If an 8 reveals a 7, that 7 is ready at once because it can follow the 8. If the same 8 reveals a 3, you still need a way from 8 down to 4 before the 3 can help. Count that distance before treating the reveal as progress.
Keep the center near ranks you can revisit
Long runs often depend on a few ranks that connect separate parts of the table. If many exposed cards cluster around 4 through 8, leaving that band for a lone Queen may make the return expensive. Check whether the table still offers Jack, 10 and 9 before moving away from the active group.
Reversing direction is often correct, but repeated back-and-forth moves can spend duplicates without opening new fans. A useful turn exposes a card that fits the current neighborhood, clears a fan or carries the center toward a rank you have already located. A move that does none of those jobs deserves a second look.
Do not empty the easiest fan too early
Clearing a fan removes one future source of cards. That can be excellent when its final card joins the current run, but rushing through all 3 cards of one fan may leave the rest of the table with poor connections. Often it is better to take one card from several fans and widen the set of exposed ranks.
Midgame positions become easier to read as full fans disappear. Count how many fans still hold 3 cards and which ranks sit at their ends. If the center keeps circling through fans that are already short while a full fan never becomes adjacent, plan your way toward its outside card.
Plan the last fans backward
With 8 or fewer cards left, stop judging moves only by the next turn. Write the exposed ranks in fan order and work backward from a possible finish. If the last 2 cards in a fan are 4 then 9, the center must reach 5 or 3 to take the 4, travel to 8 or 10 and then come back for the 9. The cards in other fans must supply that bridge.
A fan with 2 cards left can be harder to finish than two single-card fans, because its order cannot change. Check that the first card can be reached and that playing it still leaves a way to the second. When only one legal move remains, follow it. When several remain, keep the option that can still visit every outstanding rank.
Recognize a dead end
The deal stops when no exposed card is one rank above or below the center. Because there is no stock or reserve, a position with no legal move is over unless you undo an earlier move. Covered cards cannot rescue it, even when a matching rank is visible deeper in a fan.
Before making a move that leaves only one possible reply, look one card further. If that reply exposes nothing adjacent and all other fans are several ranks away, you are walking into a forced stop. Undo to the last branch and try the other duplicate or direction.
Where Black Hole comes from
Black Hole was designed by David Parlett as a game in the Golf line. Both games build a single pile by adjacent rank, but Golf Solitaire has 7 tableau columns and a stock, while Black Hole puts the full deck on view and lets Kings and Aces connect. That change makes fan order more important than stock timing.
If you enjoy Black Hole, Golf uses the same one-rank move with a stock, no wrap and Kings that stop the pile. TriPeaks keeps the wrap and the up-or-down reading but covers cards in overlapping rows in place of 17 separate fans. Players who prefer every card visible may also enjoy FreeCell, although its movement rules and 4-suit foundations create a different kind of planning. The types of Solitaire guide compares these families by layout, movement and win condition.
Common questions
Can you change direction in Black Hole Solitaire?
Yes. Each move may go one rank up or one rank down from the current center card, and the direction may change as often as the exposed cards allow.
Can every Black Hole deal be won?
No, but most can. In a computer study of many solitaire games, Charlie Blake and Ian Gent found that 86.94% of Black Hole deals can be cleared (The Winnability of Klondike Solitaire and Many Other Patience Games). Because every card is on view from the start, a person playing perfectly could win the same share. Every Winnable deal on the site has a known solution, so a stuck game usually means an earlier choice went wrong. How we check that a deal can be won.
Is there a redeal when no move remains?
No. Black Hole has no stock, waste or redeal. If no exposed fan card is adjacent to the center, the position is blocked unless you undo to an earlier choice.