How does Vegas scoring work in solitaire?

The short answer: you buy the deck for $52, and every card you land on a foundation pays back $5. Eleven foundation cards puts you in profit; all 52 pays $260 for a net win of $208. It changes the goal: you can finish with a positive score without clearing the whole deal. In The Original Solitaire+, these are scoring units; no real money is wagered.

There is no exact zero score under this formula: the total moves in $5 steps from −$52.

Where does Vegas scoring come from?

Old-school casinos really did deal solitaire as a gambling game: you paid $1 per card for the 52-card deck and won $5 for every card you managed to play to the foundations. The arithmetic is beautifully mean. Win rates being what they are (most players finish far fewer deals than they think), the house did fine — but a sharp player who consistently banks 15–20 foundation cards per deal beats the buy-in more often than you'd guess.

The rules

1. Start at −$52. That's the price of the deck, paid up front.
2. Earn $5 per foundation card. Only cards moved to the foundations score — tableau shuffling earns nothing.
3. Limited passes through the stock. Traditional Vegas rules allow one pass in draw-1, or three passes in draw-3. When the stock's done, the deal is done.
4. No time bonus, no move penalty. Unlike standard scoring, Vegas doesn't care how long you think. Take your time.
5. Your score is money. End above zero and you beat the deal; the full 52 cards nets you $208.

The limited stock passes are the teeth of the format. In standard scoring you can cycle the stock forever; in Vegas, every card you let slip by on a pass may be gone for good — which is why careful players treat each pass like an inventory of their remaining chances.

What is cumulative Vegas?

One deal of Vegas is a sprint; cumulative mode is the marathon. Your bankroll carries over from game to game: finish a deal at −$17 and paying for the next deck brings the running total to −$69 before you move a card — or climb into the black and try to stay there across a whole week of play. It's the honest long-run version of the casino game — a running scoreboard of your real skill, not just one lucky deal. The Original Solitaire+ supports both: single-deal Vegas and cumulative Vegas, in draw-1 or draw-3, right alongside standard scoring. You'll find the options in Settings.

How should Vegas change your strategy?

• Foundation cards are cash — but don't sprint. Every card up top is $5 banked, and in Vegas a "lost" deal with 14 foundation cards still beat the buy-in. That said, the classic warning still applies: a card sent up too early can strand cards you needed in play. Bank greedily late, carefully early. (The fundamentals in our strategy guide all still apply.)
• Respect the pass limit. Before letting a playable waste card go by, remember you may never see it again. In draw-1 especially, each stock card gets exactly one audition.
• Plan before you spend the stock. Because passes are scarce, the order you unlock the tableau matters more than in standard play. This is where the Peek button earns its keep: hold it, see which columns hide the cards your foundations need next, and choose the dig that pays — an informed plan instead of a hopeful one. Vegas is unforgiving to guessers ;)
• In cumulative, think in sessions. A single bad deal doesn't matter; the average does. Fold fast on dead boards (bank what you can), and grind the winnable ones hard.

Quick Vegas questions

What's the best possible score? +$208 — all 52 cards at $5 each, minus the $52 deck.

Is draw-3 Vegas easier because of the extra passes? Not quite. Three passes soften draw-3's difficulty, but draw-1 with a single pass is still the friendlier bankroll for most players.

Do Undo and Hint cost anything in Vegas mode? No — they're unlimited and free in every mode, and using them never triggers ads.

Can I switch back to standard scoring? Any time — it's two taps in Settings.

Is Vegas scoring for you?

Play Vegas if standard scoring has started feeling weightless — the buy-in makes every foundation card mean something, and cumulative mode gives your whole solitaire habit a scoreboard. Play it in the app or free in your browser; switching takes two taps in Settings. And if you're still learning the base game first, start with how to play — Vegas will be waiting :)