Stacks is a free daily card puzzle. You link touching cards that share a suit or a rank, score the stack, and do it six times. Each day brings three modifiers that change what scores best.
How do you play Stacks?
- Read today's modifiers, listed above the grid.
- Drag through a chain of touching cards. Diagonals count. Each card must share a suit or a rank with the card before it. You can also tap the cards one at a time.
- Watch the row of cards under the grid. It shows your stack as you build it, with its total beside it.
- Tap Score. The stack's cards leave the grid, the cards above them drop down, and new cards fill in from the top.
- After your sixth stack, the puzzle ends and your total sets your medal.
A stack needs at least two cards. Tap the last card to step back one, or the arrow button to put the whole stack back.
What's the row of cards under the grid?
It's your stack so far. Every card you add joins the row, in order, and the stack's total sits at the end. It's the easiest place to check which card your stack starts and ends on.
Under that row, a line lists every modifier your stack is hitting right now, with what each one adds. So the modifiers show up twice: the full list for the day above the grid, and the ones you're actually triggering below it. If a modifier you were aiming for isn't in the bottom line, your stack doesn't qualify yet.
The Flip button sits at the start of the row once your stack has two cards. It reverses the stack, so the first card becomes the last. That matters whenever a modifier cares about where a stack ends.
How are cards counted?
The deck only has aces through 5s, in all four suits. A stack is worth the sum of its ranks, and an ace counts as 1. Small numbers, so the modifiers do most of the heavy lifting.
How do you read the day's modifiers?
There are three each day. Each one does one of three jobs:
- Adds points, like "4 or more cards: +20" or "Each ace: +6".
- Multiplies the stack, like "End on a diamond: ×2" or "All one suit: ×3".
- Changes which cards link, like "Clubs count as every suit".
Bonuses are added first, then multipliers apply. Two multipliers on one stack multiply each other, so ×2 and ×3 make ×6.
A worked example. Say today's modifiers include "4 or more cards: +20" and "End on a spade: ×2". You build 4♥ 4♠ A♠ 2♠.
- The ranks add up to 4 + 4 + 1 + 2 = 11.
- It has four cards, so add 20. That's 31.
- It ends on a spade, so double it. That's 62.
The same four cards ending on the 4♥ would score 31. Order matters. If your stack is built the wrong way round, tap Flip and it ends on the other card.
Many modifiers care about where a stack ends, too: a corner, the middle four, the top row or the bottom row. The last card you pick is the one that counts.
How does Stacks change through the week?
The modifiers get trickier as the week goes on:
- Monday: three simple modifiers you can check at a glance, picked to work together.
- Tuesday: a simple stack rule, a finish rule and a card bonus, like extra points for each ace.
- Wednesday: the stack rule asks more of the whole stack. Think all one suit, each card higher than the last, or clearing a full row. A finish rule and a card bonus come with it.
- Thursday: like Wednesday, but the modifiers may pull in different directions.
- Friday: a connection twist joins in, like wild clubs, wild aces, or aces and 5s linking as the same rank.
- Saturday: the connection twist can be bigger, like same color counting as the same suit, or ranks one apart linking.
- Sunday: the biggest connection twists, with modifiers picked to pull against each other.
The deal changes too. Later in the week, the cards are chosen so the obvious stacks fall further short of the best ones. To make up for it, the medal marks drop a little on Saturday and Sunday.
How do you plan six stacks?
Six stacks isn't many, so each one should earn its place.
- Start with the modifiers, not the cards. Find a stack that hits two of them. A multiplier on top of a bonus beats a long plain stack.
- Remember that cards fall. Scoring low in the grid drops everything above it, which reshuffles the board. Scoring in the top row only changes the top row.
- Look one stack ahead. Before you score, check what will slide into place. A good stack now can set up a better one next.
- The designer's tip: build finish rules backwards, then Flip. A rule like "End on a spade" is hard to plan for, because it's hard to see where a chain will end. It's easy to see where one starts. So start your stack on a spade, chain away from it, then tap Flip. The stack reverses and ends on the spade.
- Hint is free. It draws a numbered path for a strong next stack. It doesn't cost points and isn't counted anywhere.
How is Stacks scored?
Your score is the total of your six stacks. There is no timer. A bar under the score shows the bronze, silver and gold marks. They're set from the best score the game's own search found for that day's cards:
| Days | Bronze | Silver | Gold |
|---|---|---|---|
| Monday to Friday | 55% | 75% | 90% |
| Saturday | 50% | 70% | 85% |
| Sunday | 45% | 65% | 80% |
Signed-in players get a daily leaderboard ranked by score, plus a friends-only board. Finishing the puzzle extends your streak, medal or not.
How do you share your result?
The Share button copies your medal and your total:
Stacks #10 / 🥇 214 perdiem.games/stacks
On a phone, Share opens your share sheet.
Common questions
Is there a time limit?
No. There's no clock at all. Take as long as you like over each stack.
Is the deal the same for everyone?
Yes. Everyone gets the same cards and the same modifiers each day.
Can I play past days?
Yes. Open the week strip on your results screen to go back through the last seven days.
Do I need an account?
No. Stacks is free and runs in your browser. An account keeps your streak across devices and unlocks leaderboards and friends.