Snatch Solitaire Strategy: How to Win

You score a point for each card left in your snatch pile, and the lowest total wins. Cards in your work piles and your stock cost nothing. Cards you play to the middle earn nothing.

So judge every move by one question: does it get a card off my snatch pile, now or soon? A move that does is worth making. A move that does not can wait.

A snatch card can leave in two ways: onto a pile in the middle, or onto one of your own work piles. Both count the same. A snatch card sitting on a work pile is a point saved, just like one in the middle.

You can play the top card of your snatch pile and nothing under it. Each time a new one shows, check three things, in this order:

1. Does it fit a pile in the middle? Send it. Tap it and it goes.
2. Does it fit on a work pile, one lower and the other color? Move it there.
3. Is a work pile empty? Any card can start an empty pile, so the snatch top can always go there.

An empty work pile is the most useful thing on your board. It takes any card, so it is a sure way out for whatever is on top of your snatch pile.

You have four work piles, and each starts with one card. Look for ways to empty one:

• Play a pile’s last card to the middle.
• Move a whole pile onto another pile it fits. Runs move together, so two short piles can become one.
• Build long runs on few piles, not short runs on all four.
• Think before you fill an empty pile from your stock. That spot may be worth more to the next snatch card.

Your stock turns one card at a time, and you can go through it as often as you like. Every card in it will come round, so nothing in the stock is ever lost.

Know what you are looking for before you turn. If your snatch top is a red six, you want a black seven on a work pile for it to sit on. When that seven turns up, and it fits one of your work piles, put it there, then move the snatch card onto it.

A card from the stock that fits the middle is also worth sending when the pile it builds is one your snatch top is waiting on.

Do not put stock cards on work piles just because they fit. Each one covers a card that might have gone to the middle or held your snatch top.

The middle is a tool, not a score. A card sent there helps you when it does one of these:

• It comes off your snatch pile. Always send it.
• It empties a work pile, which opens a spot for the snatch top.
• It uncovers a work card that your snatch top fits on.
• It builds a pile toward a card you need to get rid of.

Everyone has a full deck, so every player holds the card a pile needs next. When two players send it, the first card to arrive wins the spot and the other comes back.

A tap is the fastest way to send a card that fits. Dragging works too, and you do not have to aim: let go anywhere in the middle and the card goes on a pile it fits.

Losing a race costs you nothing. The card is back where it was. There can be several piles of the same suit, so look for another pile that will take it.

Race hardest for the spots your snatch top needs. A spot that would take a card from your stock is not worth the same hurry.

The strip shows every player with the cards left in their snatch pile. Glance at it often. A count turns gold when that player is down to three cards or fewer.

The hand ends at once when a snatch pile is empty, and you are left with whatever is in yours. When someone is close, stop tidying. Get snatch cards off any way you can, onto any work pile that takes them. A messy board does not matter. It is gone when the hand ends.

In a game to 25 or 50, watch the totals between hands too. The game ends when anyone reaches the target, and the lowest total wins. A hand can cost you at most thirteen, and the player who goes out scores nothing, so one fast hand can close a big gap.

You have one undo for your own cards. It takes back a turn of the stock or a move onto a work pile, and your next move earns it again.

Use it when you turn one card too many and bury the card you wanted, or when you put a card on the wrong work pile.

It cannot take back a card that was accepted into the middle, so look before you send. A tap sends a card to the middle whenever it fits there. If you would rather keep that card on a work pile, drag it to the pile.

If your screen says “No moves for now: watch the middle”, do just that. The next card someone plays may be the one that frees you, and you want to be first to use it.

If everyone is stuck, the snatch piles turn: your top card goes to the bottom and a new one shows. Check the new top against the middle and your work piles right away.

• Racing to fill the middle from your stock while your snatch top sits unplayed. Middle cards are not points.
• Leaving the snatch top on the pile when an empty work pile would take it.
• Filling an empty work pile from the stock when the next snatch card will need it.
• Spreading short runs over all four work piles, so none can be emptied.
• Turning the stock fast without looking, and passing the card your snatch top needs.
• Not watching the counts, and being caught with a full pile when someone goes out.
• Tidying your board when a player is down to their last few cards.

A bot’s level sets how fast it plays and how often it notices a move it could make. An Easy bot plays slowly and can look past a card that fits for several moves. A Medium bot is quicker and misses less. A Hard bot is fast and rarely misses.

Every bot leaves a pile in the middle alone for a moment after it changes, and harder bots wait less. That moment is yours. When a card lands on a pile and you hold the next one, send it at once.

Bots send their snatch cards to the middle first, as you should. Watch their counts on the strip like anyone else’s.

Start with Easy bots to learn the board, then move up. Against Hard bots you have little time to think, so the habits in this guide need to be quick.

With new players or kids, pick One hand on the setup screen for a short game, and set any bots to Easy. A game to 25 takes at least two hands, and a game to 50 at least four.

Show younger players that they do not have to aim. A card dragged anywhere into the middle finds its own pile, and a card that does not fit just comes back.

At a party, put the game on a TV with joinme.games/watch. The big screen shows the middle and everyone’s cards left, so the whole room can see who is about to go out.

• Cards left in your snatch pile are all that count. Low wins.
• Check the snatch top first, every time it changes.
• A snatch card on a work pile is as good as one in the middle.
• Keep a work pile empty, or know how to empty one.
• Turn the stock looking for the card your snatch top needs.
• Tap to send a card. It is the fastest way.
• Watch the counts, and dump snatch cards when someone is close.
• Look before you send. The undo does not reach the middle.

How do you win at Snatch Solitaire?

Finish with the lowest total. You score a point for each card left in your snatch pile when a hand ends, so get that pile down first. Move its top card to the middle or onto a work pile every chance you get, and keep a work pile open for it.

What is the best strategy for Nertz-style games like Snatch Solitaire?

Play your snatch pile before anything else. Open an empty work pile, because it takes any card. Turn the stock looking for the card your snatch top can sit on. In Snatch Solitaire the middle scores nothing, so use it to free your own cards.

Should you play every card you can to the middle?

Not as a goal. Cards in the middle earn no points here. Send a card when it comes off your snatch pile, empties a work pile, or uncovers a card you need. Do not let stock cards for the middle slow down your snatch pile.

How does the undo work in Snatch Solitaire?

It takes back your last move on your own cards, such as a turn of the stock or a move onto a work pile. You get one, and your next move earns it again. A card accepted into the middle cannot be taken back.

How do you beat the bots in Snatch Solitaire?

Be first to the middle. A bot waits a moment after a pile changes before it reaches for it, and harder bots wait less. Easy bots play slowly and miss moves, so start there and move up to Medium and Hard.