Solitaire Scoring: Standard and Vegas Rules

Both systems run on this site. Standard scoring is on by default on the main game, and Vegas scoring has its own dedicated game. This page explains exactly how each one adds up, because almost nobody actually knows why their score is the number it is.

Standard scoring

Standard scoring is the system Windows Solitaire made famous, and most solitaire sites copy it more or less faithfully. Points come from moves that make progress and get taken away for moves that stall.

Here's the full table as implemented in our game engine:

A few things in that table deserve a closer look.

Moving a card from the waste to the tableau scores points even though it hasn't reached a foundation yet. The scoring system is paying you for rescuing a card out of the stock and into play. That same card scores again later when it goes up to its foundation, so a card that travels waste, tableau, foundation earns you both amounts along the way.

Pulling a card back down from a foundation costs you points. It's sometimes still the right move; the points you lose can buy a tableau unlock worth far more. Scoring systems reward progress, but they don't understand position. You do.

The recycling penalty is the system's way of charging you for extra trips through the stock. Notice it differs between turn 1 and turn 3. Turn 3 is more forgiving about redeals because you see fewer playable cards per pass.

Moves within the tableau, including moving runs between columns, score nothing on their own. The flip bonus is the reward: rearrange all you like, but the points come when a face-down card turns over.

What about timed scoring?

Windows Solitaire also let the clock touch your score: a small penalty ticked away as time passed, and a win paid a bonus that grew the faster you finished. This site uses neither. Our game engine is deliberately clock-free, so the timer you can show on screen is information, never a scoring input. Every point on your score comes from a move you chose.

One consequence worth knowing: standard scores here can't go negative. Recycle the stock enough times in a losing effort and the penalties will grind your score down, but it stops at zero. Vegas is the mode where the red numbers are real.

Vegas scoring

Vegas scoring treats each game like a casino table. The story goes that this is how the game was actually gambled: the house sells you the deck, then pays out per card you manage to play.

The rules are short:

• You start each game $52 down. That's the buy-in.
• Every card you move to a foundation earns $5.
• Cards cannot come back down from foundations. In Vegas rules, a card played up stays up.
• Redeals are limited. Classic Vegas rules give you one pass through the stock in turn 1, or three passes in turn 3. No unlimited cycling.

That's it. No flip bonuses, no time anything. Your result is pure: cards on foundations, minus what you paid to sit down.

The break-even point is 11 foundation cards. Fewer than that and the game cost you money. All 52 cards pays the maximum, a profit of $208 on the hand.

That break-even math changes how the game feels. In standard scoring, a hopeless game is just a low number. In Vegas, a hopeless game is a decision: keep fighting toward break-even, or accept the loss and redeal. Getting a handful of cards up in a lost game genuinely matters, because each one claws back part of your buy-in.

Cumulative bankroll

Our Vegas game offers a cumulative mode, which is where Vegas scoring gets interesting. Instead of resetting each hand, your balance carries across games. Ten games of decent play might leave you up; one cold streak can dig a hole that takes a long session to escape.

Playing a long bankroll session teaches a lesson standard scoring never will: most deals don't pay. Winning at Vegas solitaire over time is less about the occasional 52-card sweep and more about squeezing extra foundation cards out of games you were never going to win.

Which scoring should you use?

Use standard scoring while you're learning. It rewards the same habits that win games (flipping cards, rescuing the waste pile), so a rising score roughly tracks improving play. Our strategy guide pairs naturally with it.

Switch to Vegas when wins have gotten routine and you want stakes. The limited redeals force real stock discipline, especially in turn 3, where every pass you burn is gone forever. It's the same game underneath, but it punishes autopilot.

And if you don't care about points at all, that's fine too. Scoring is optional decoration on a good puzzle. Plenty of strong players only track their win rate, which you can read about on the odds of winning page.