How to play Poker Squares
Poker Squares is a solitaire card game played on a 5×5 grid. You receive 25 cards one at a time and place each card into an empty square. When the grid is full, its five rows and five columns become ten separate five-card poker hands.
The goal is not to make one perfect hand. It is to build a grid in which as many cards as possible contribute to strong hands in both directions.
What you need
Traditional Poker Squares uses one standard 52-card deck without jokers. Only 25 cards are played, so more than half the deck remains unseen.
On Click the Grid, the deck is shuffled for you and the next card appears beside the board. The campaign uses repeatable fixed deals, while Daily Poker Squares gives every player the same card order for that date.
The rules step by step
- Look at the current face-up card.
- Choose any empty square in the 5×5 grid.
- Place the card there. Its position is permanent for that attempt.
- Reveal the next card and repeat until all 25 squares are occupied.
- Score each of the five rows and each of the five columns as a poker hand.
- Add the ten hand values to get the final score.
Every placed card belongs to exactly two hands: one row and one column. A queen that completes a pair across its row may also help a flush down its column. That crossing relationship is the central idea of Poker Squares.
Cards cannot be moved
Once a card is placed, you cannot relocate it. You are allowed to restart an unfinished attempt, but you cannot rearrange the grid after seeing later cards. This makes early placements uncertain: you must leave useful options without knowing all 25 cards in advance.
In the fixed campaign and daily deal, replaying uses the same order. A second attempt can therefore reward memory and planning, but each individual attempt still follows permanent-placement rules.
How the finished grid is scored
Read each complete row from left to right and each complete column from top to bottom. Poker hand order does not otherwise matter: a pair scores whether the matching cards are adjacent or separated.
Click the Grid uses American Poker Squares scoring. For example, one pair is worth 2 points, two pair is worth 5, a straight is worth 15, and a royal flush is worth 100. The live score panel identifies every completed line and adds its points automatically.
See the complete Poker Squares scoring table, including the difference between American and English scoring.
Aces and straights
An ace may be high in 10–J–Q–K–A or low in A–2–3–4–5. It cannot wrap
around in a hand such as Q–K–A–2–3. Suits do not have a ranking: hearts are
not worth more than clubs, and all four suits are treated equally.
Winning on Click the Grid
The Complete the Deck campaign gives every deal a visible target. Filling the grid completes an attempt, but the collectible card is revealed only if your score reaches the target. Passing a card also unlocks the next rank in that suit.
The daily game works similarly. Reaching the weekday target completes the daily and advances your Poker Squares streak. You can replay afterward to improve your best score; the first completed score remains recorded separately.
A good first-game approach
For an unfamiliar deal, begin with a flexible structure:
- Keep matching ranks available to cross one another.
- Avoid filling an entire row too early unless it already has a clear purpose.
- Treat flushes and straights as bonuses until the cards make them realistic.
- Check both the row and column before every placement.
- Prefer a move that improves two plausible hands over one that helps only one.
You will not control which cards arrive, and some lines will inevitably be weak. The skill is deciding which opportunities deserve space and which line can safely absorb an awkward card.
Ready to improve beyond the rules? Read the Poker Squares strategy guide or play the Complete the Deck campaign →. For quick answers about deals, replays, and saved progress, visit the Poker Squares FAQ.