♠Why we publish as desks
Solitaire is played by roughly one hundred million people a month, and most of what has been written about it online is thin: copy-paste rule sheets, SEO blog posts, strategy advice that nobody tested. We started the Solitaire Stack network to close that gap. This is the team that does the work.
Rather than publish under a single generic house byline, we split the writing into four specialty desks — Strategy, History, Rules, and Research — each with its own editor and its own voice. A single editorial team sits above them, setting the house style, commissioning cross-cutting pieces, and fact-checking every claim before it ships.
Our process is fixed: research, draft, desk review, fact-check, copy edit, publish, then revisit on a rolling schedule. Dates on articles are real update dates, not auto-bumped timestamps. When we're wrong, we correct in public.
♥Meet the editors
Solitaire Stack Editorial Team
Masthead & Founding EditorsThe Solitaire Stack Editorial Team oversees every page in the network. We set editorial standards, coordinate between our Strategy, History, Rules, and Research desks, and make sure every article is researched, tested, and updated as games and player understanding evolve. Our mission is simple: build the clearest, most trustworthy solitaire reference on the open web.
- editorial standards
- curation
- cross-game perspective
Read full bio →The Strategy Desk
Strategy & Tactics EditorThe Strategy Desk analyzes solitaire games the way chess grandmasters analyze positions. We combine thousands of hours of play with simulation data to publish strategy that actually holds up at the table. We cite win-rate sources, explain tradeoffs, and avoid vague advice. Strong on FreeCell supermoves, Klondike draw-3 decision trees, and Spider empty-column valuation.
- probability
- game theory
- endgame technique
Read full bio →The History Desk
Solitaire History & Archives EditorSolitaire is more than two centuries old. The History Desk traces variants back to their French patience origins, documents how games evolved, and preserves the stories behind their names. We cite primary sources where available, note disputed claims, and try hard to keep legend separate from fact.
- card game history
- patience tradition
- Microsoft era
Read full bio →The Rules Desk
Rules & Teaching EditorSolitaire rules vary by source. The Rules Desk documents the canonical rules for every variant we cover, notes where implementations differ, and writes how-to guides that actually teach. We test our explanations on new players, call out common rule confusions, and keep our rules pages aligned with the games we ship.
- rules standardization
- beginner onboarding
- teaching pedagogy
Read full bio →The Research Desk
Data & Research EditorWhen we say "FreeCell is solvable 99.999 percent of the time," we have run simulations. The Research Desk builds solvers, runs Monte Carlo analyses, and publishes confidence intervals. When we cite a win rate, we explain the methodology. When we disagree with conventional wisdom, we show the data.
- simulation
- statistics
- win-rate analysis
Read full bio →
♦How the desks work together
Most pages on the network draw on more than one desk. A variant page like Spider Solitaire needs canonical rules from the Rules Desk, opening principles from the Strategy Desk, historical context from the History Desk, and win-rate figures from the Research Desk. The Editorial Team coordinates the handoff and holds the page to our house standard.
Strategy and Research are particularly tightly coupled: the Strategy Desk asks the tactical questions, the Research Desk runs the simulations that answer them. When you see a probability figure on the site, it came from a methodology the Research Desk has published.
If you spot an error, have a primary source we should know about, or want to push back on a claim, write to us at editors@solitairestack.com. Corrections go live in public.
Read the network
Browse our long-form strategy, data studies, and historical pieces across the Solitaire Stack network.