Play Maverick Solitaire Online
Maverick Solitaire is a card arrangement puzzle: swap twenty-five visible cards until each of the five horizontal rows is a straight or a stronger poker hand. Maverick Solitaire adds twenty original progressive studies, explanations of each row and hints that consider the entire partition. Play free online at an illustrated marigold card table, with no ads, account or download.
How to play Maverick Solitaire online
- Choose a guided study or an unrestricted full deal.
- Inspect the visible cards and plan five qualifying horizontal hands.
- Select two movable cards to exchange them, using row explanations when needed.
- Finish with all five rows qualifying; Undo and partition hints are available for practice.
Controls
Tap or click one movable card, then another to swap them. Tap the selected card again or use Clear to cancel. Previous and Next card, or the arrow keys, move focus; Choose, Enter or Space selects the focused card. Explain or I describes its row, H previews a hint, U undoes one swap and Escape clears the selection. Moving away while pressing cancels a tap.
A tip before you start
A promising row can use cards that another row needs. Before committing five cards to a flush, check whether the other twenty still divide into four qualifying hands. A pair or triple may be useful as part of a full house even though it does not qualify by itself.
Twenty-five cards, five horizontal hands
A full deal shuffles a standard 52-card deck and deals twenty-five cards into a five-by-five grid. The other twenty-seven cards stay out of play. Swap any two occupied cells to rearrange the same cards. There is no stock to draw from, no replacement card, no redeal and no betting. Only horizontal rows count; vertical columns do not contribute to victory.
Which poker hands qualify?
Every row needs five cards making a straight, flush, full house, four of a kind, straight flush or royal flush. A straight has five distinct consecutive ranks. A flush uses five cards of one suit. A full house combines a triple with a pair. Four of a kind uses all four cards of a rank and any fifth card. One pair, two pairs and a triple without a pair are insufficient. All five rows must qualify at the same time.
Ace can be low or high, without wrapping
Ace works below Two in A-2-3-4-5 or above King in 10-J-Q-K-A. It cannot join the middle of a run such as Q-K-A-2-3. This version allows four of a kind. Stating those choices matters because other games sharing the Maverick name can use a different minimum hand or exclude quads.
Twenty original studies with growing planning pressure
The study sequence uses twenty separately generated card sets. Early studies fix three already-completed rows, leaving ten cards for you to arrange. Later studies remove those givens until all twenty-five cards can move. Across the sequence, the number of locally valid five-card hands that cannot extend to a complete answer increases from zero to 525. These tempting combinations require more planning across rows; later levels do more than change the shuffle.
Fixed rows belong to guided studies
A row marked FIXED is a completed teaching given. You cannot exchange its cards during that study. Each study has exactly one way to group its movable cards into qualifying hands, verified independently. You can place those groups in any movable rows and arrange the five cards within a row in any order. A unique grouping does not require one exact grid arrangement. Full Deal has no fixed rows.
Hints plan a complete partition
Hint highlights two cards whose exchange advances one complete arrangement; Play hint performs that swap. It does not promise the fewest swaps. You may also use Explain to inspect the focused row. A qualifying row can still contain cards needed in another useful grouping, so a pat-hand label alone is not a reason to stop considering those cards. If the search reaches its limit, the game reports the limit instead of claiming the deal is impossible. Undo restores a whole swap and does not refund hints.
Random full deals and progress on this device
Full Deal starts an unrestricted random twenty-five-card puzzle, and some random sets cannot form five qualifying hands. Restart repeats the exact starting position. New deal asks before replacing it. Only study wins unlock later studies; full-deal wins do not skip the sequence. Unlocked studies, best scores and the sound setting save locally where storage is available. Reload opens a fresh first study while keeping those records. Help and Pause block play, and the full-screen button uses the browser's supported full-screen controls.
Frequently asked questions
What is the goal of Maverick Solitaire?
Arrange the same twenty-five cards into five horizontal rows that all form straights or stronger poker hands. Swap two movable cards at a time; no new cards are drawn.
Does a pair or three of a kind count?
No. A pair can combine with a triple to make a full house, but neither a pair nor a triple alone meets this version's pat-hand requirement. Four of a kind does qualify.
Do I have to place a hand in one specific row?
No. Each movable row can contain any qualifying hand, and the order of its five cards does not matter. Fixed study rows remain in place.
Why is a completed row fixed in a study?
The early studies use completed rows as teaching givens so you can begin with fewer cards. Later studies remove these givens. Full Deal always lets you move all twenty-five cards.
Can I undo a wrong swap?
Yes. Undo restores the two cards and the prior position. You can also select a card and clear that selection before making a swap.
Is every full deal solvable?
No. The twenty authored studies have verified solutions, but a random full deal can be impossible. A search that stops at its limit leaves that question unresolved rather than proving failure.
About Maverick Solitaire
Maverick Solitaire is a card arrangement puzzle: swap twenty-five visible cards until each of the five horizontal rows is a straight or a stronger poker hand. Maverick Solitaire adds twenty original progressive studies, explanations of each row and hints that consider the entire partition. Play free online at an illustrated marigold card table, with no ads, account or download.
Play this puzzle / casual game in the embedded browser player. No app installation or MangoFun account is required. Follow the instructions shown inside the game; controls and device support depend on the title.
