How Scoring Really Works in Solitaire Cube

Solitaire Cube rewards more than solving the deal quickly. Its finish-time bonus can be worth more than all of your move points combined, but only if you end the game before the clock expires.

Months of simulation work identified finish timing as one of the largest scoring decisions in the game.

The two-part scoring system

Solitaire Cube scoring has two components:

Move points accumulate as you move cards to the foundation, reveal face-down tableau cards, and play from the waste pile. These are the points shown during a match.

The time bonus is earned only when you press “Finish” (or “End Run”) while the clock is still running. The formula works out to roughly:

Time Bonus ≈ 0.2 × seconds remaining × cards on foundation

The foundation count multiplies the value of each remaining second. More foundation cards make an early finish more valuable.

The time bonus becomes zero when the five-minute clock expires. Letting time run out forfeits the entire bonus, regardless of foundation progress.

Why finish timing matters

Most players (and I’ve verified this in simulation) play until the clock runs out on deals they can’t solve. Every second of that grinding erases potential time bonus.

In a 300-deal simulation, a guarded finish policy gained roughly 235 to 240 points per deal over playing until the clock expired. The raw per-deal output was not archived, so treat that result with the caveat documented on the method page.

You will not solve every deal in Solitaire Cube. A perfect-information search solved 72 of 100 test deals; the other 28 resisted its bounded search. Some of those 28 may yield to more computation, so this is not proof that exactly 28% of deals are impossible. It does establish that difficult, stuck positions are common enough to require a finish rule.

Solitaire Cube scoring in practice: a quick example

Say you’re four minutes in. You have 20 cards on the foundation and 60 seconds left on the clock. Your stock has been through two full cycles with no new foundation gains.

If you press Finish right now: 0.2 × 60 × 20 = 240 bonus points added to your move score.

If you keep grinding and clock out: 0 bonus points.

You have already seen the deck twice, so another cycle is unlikely to reveal new information. If no productive move remains, pressing Finish protects 240 points.

The Finish button turns a stuck position into a scoring decision.

The three signals to watch

You don’t need to do the math mid-game. Watch for three things:

1. Have you completed at least one full pass through the stock? Before you have seen the whole stock, important cards may still be unknown. After the first full pass, you can judge the remaining routes.

2. Is the foundation count stuck? If you’ve been through the stock twice and your foundation count hasn’t moved either time, you’re likely in a structurally stuck position.

3. Do you have meaningful time and foundation progress? If both are substantial and the deal is stuck, finish and bank the bonus instead of running out the clock.

One guard rule: if there’s a card visibly available to play to the foundation, play it before pressing Finish. Never leave a free foundation move on the table when cashing out.

The move-points side

The time bonus is the biggest single lever, but move points matter too. A few principles that hold up across my simulations:

Send Aces and Twos to the foundation immediately. The tested strategies found no benefit to leaving them on the tableau. They add move points and increase the time-bonus multiplier.

Use tableau moves to reveal face-down cards. Hidden cards constrain planning. In the simulation analysis, 34 of 38 failed deals diverged early, and failed positions retained an average of 12.1 face-down cards.

After three stock cycles with no progress, evaluate a finish. The research model allows three free passes before applying a stock-cycle penalty, though the live penalty remains unconfirmed. Regardless of the exact penalty, repeated cycles also consume clock. Three cycles without foundation progress are a strong sign that the deal is stuck.

The pre-game pause

The timer starts on your first move. Before moving, scan the layout, note playable Aces and Twos, and identify early reveal routes. This planning time does not reduce the game clock.

Why your opponent’s score matters

Because both players receive the same shuffled deck, finish timing can separate scores on difficult deals. One player may bank a time bonus while the other keeps cycling a stuck position. On easier deals, both players may solve, making execution speed more important.

Compare the score you can bank now with the likely value of continuing. That is the central finish decision in Solitaire Cube scoring.

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The paid Solitaire Cube strategy guide includes the guarded finish rule, move priorities, worked examples, and a practice drill. The central principle is simple: when a deal is stuck, protect the time bonus instead of grinding it to zero.