PokerSolo

About PokerSolo

Poker Squares is an old single-player card puzzle, and PokerSolo puts it in the browser. Cards come one at a time from a shuffled 52-card deck, and you see only the card you must place now. You put it in any empty cell of a 5x5 grid, and once placed it never moves. After 25 cards, each of the five rows and five columns is scored as a poker hand, and your total is the sum of all ten.

The pull of the game is that every card belongs to two hands at once: a card that finishes a flush across a row can spoil a full house down its column. Scoring follows the American Poker Squares table, from 2 points for one pair up to 100 for a royal flush.

The Daily Challenge gives every player the same shuffled deck each day, starting at midnight UTC. You get one attempt, your score goes on a global daily leaderboard, and afterwards you can compare it with an arrangement the computer found by heuristic search (the site says it is not a proven maximum). Playing on consecutive days builds a streak. Outside the daily, there are free games, multiplayer rooms where everyone plays the same card sequence, and personal odds of reaching each target score.

Two demo games can be played without an account; a free account saves scores, keeps the streak and puts you on the leaderboards. It suits players of Puzzmo's Pile-Up Poker or Mind Loft's Hands who want the classic rules with a shared daily deck.

How to play PokerSolo

1. Open the Daily Challenge on PokerSolo, signed in with a free account.
2. Look at the next card shown beside the grid.
3. Place it in any empty cell of the 5x5 grid; it cannot be moved later.
4. Keep placing cards until all 25 cells are full.
5. Each row and column is scored as a poker hand; compare your total on the daily leaderboard.

Screenshots

Tips

• Plan rows and columns for different hands: flushes in one direction and pairs or full houses in the other work well together.
• Keep a column or a corner free for cards that fit nowhere, rather than spoiling two good lines.
• Royal and straight flushes are rare; full houses and flushes are steadier sources of points.
• Use the two free demo games to learn the scoring before your one daily attempt.

Questions