Alone or in company
Some card games you lay out alone and some want company, and this section has plenty of both. The patience games, which many people call solitaire, are yours alone, with nobody to wait for. In the table games, computer players take the other chairs and never hurry you for your next card. The exception is Speed, which has no turns at all and goes to whoever sees the play first, though you can set how quick your rival is.
Laying them out alone
Solitaire here means Klondike, the seven-column game most people picture. Cards come off the stock singly, and you can turn it back over as many times as you need. FreeCell lays out all 52 cards in the open from the start, so you can plan as far ahead as you care to. Spider Solitaire can be played with one, two or four suits, and one suit is a friendly place to learn it. Most of the patience games have an undo button, and you should feel free to use it.
Some deals are kinder than others. Baker's Dozen looks for a deal its solver can prove winnable before laying one out, Beleaguered Castle offers a Winnable option, and Accordion has a Relaxed setting that deals only layouts known to come out. Canfield makes no such offer and seldom comes out at all. Clock Solitaire is settled by the shuffle before you start, so it has an Auto button for when you would rather sit back and watch.
Company at the table
If you like tricks, Hearts asks you to take as few points as you can, Spades and Euchre give you a computer partner, and Oh Heck asks you to call your tricks exactly, over thirteen rounds with Fox, Owl and Bear. If you prefer melds, there are Gin Rummy and Rummy, Canasta against Vera, and Pinochle against Pearl. Cribbage is played to 121, and the game counts each hand for you, which is a mercy late in the evening.
Anyone out of practice with a hand of cards can start with Go Fish and Crazy Eights, which will soon bring it back.
Elsewhere on the site: logic games, word games, memory games, board games.