Hi — I'm Jared Waterworth. I work in aerospace, and on the side I build websites. CardHearth started the way a lot of side projects do: I went looking for a tired, neglected corner of the web that I could honestly make better. Free online solitaire and puzzles turned out to be exactly that. The games are timeless and beloved, but so many of the places to play them felt like a chore — slow, cluttered, and weirdly hostile to the person actually trying to play.
The thing that finally bugged me enough to build it
Two things, really. The first was unsolvable puzzles. There are few things more deflating than grinding away at a "hard" Sudoku — especially with a win streak on the line — only to discover it needed a lucky guess, or sitting down to a Mahjong board that physically cannot be cleared no matter how perfectly you play. That's not difficulty. That's the game wasting your time. So I made fairness the foundation of CardHearth:
- Every Sudoku is solvable by pure logic — no guessing, ever. Each puzzle is generated and then checked by a solver before it's ever served; if it can't be cracked by reasoning alone, it doesn't ship. Difficulty just means which techniques you'll need, not how lucky you have to be.
- Every Mahjong board is guaranteed solvable. Deals are built in reverse — laying down pairs in the opposite of play order — so a winning path is mathematically guaranteed to exist. Get stuck? That's what unlimited undo is for.
And the in-your-face ads.
The second thing was the assault. You know the pages — you click "play," and the screen fills with blinking banners, a video that autoplays in the corner, and a cookie wall stacked on a newsletter pop-up, all before you can see a single card. I hate that. CardHearth does run ads — keeping a free site online isn't free — but they'll never be the assault. A cozy game should feel calm, so the game comes first: it loads fast, and you'll never have to fight through a wall of pop-ups and autoplay just to reach it. No sign-up, no download, and your stats and streaks just save on your own device.
What it is now
CardHearth is 18 games and growing — ten solitaires (Klondike, Spider and FreeCell, plus Pyramid, TriPeaks, Golf, Yukon, Scorpion, Forty Thieves and Eight Off), four card games you play against the computer (Hearts,Spades, Gin Rummy andEuchre), four puzzles (Sudoku, Mahjong, Minesweeper and 2048), and aDaily Challenge that rotates through Sudoku, Mahjong, FreeCell and 2048 — the same for everyone, with a full-year calendar so you can go back and finish days you missed. Add shareable numbered deals, achievements, and a pile of small comforts: dark mode, card backs and designs, sounds you can switch off, and unlimited undo everywhere. If you want to get better, there are strategy guides and rules for every game.
Who it's for
Honestly? Anyone who loves a cozy game and just wants the best possible version of it — whether that's five quiet minutes with a coffee or a daily streak you're quietly proud of. If that's you, you're who I'm building this for, and I want your time here to feel genuinely good.
Where it's going
More games, for one — the structure was built so dominoes, board games and other classics can join the card and puzzle families over time. The dream is simple: become the place people think of first when they want to play a classic game online, fairly and without the nonsense. If a few million people a month end up making CardHearth part of their day, I'll consider that a very good outcome.
Thanks for being here. If you have a game you'd love to see, or something I've gotten wrong, I genuinely want to hear it — hello@cardhearth.com.
— Jared Waterworth, CardHearth ·LinkedIn
CardHearth is operated by Einherjar Ventures LLC.