Forbidden Solitaire

Rate it

A cursed 1995 CD-ROM, a game of solitaire, and a reason to uninstall it.

Platforms: PC
Stores: Steam, GOG
Price: Paid
Rated: Overwhelmingly Positive on Steam (97% of 2,425 reviews)
Players: 1
Controls: Mouse only (touch also supported)
Made by: Grey Alien Games, Night Signal Entertainment
Released: 2026

Not on Mac. Forbidden Solitaire is on Steam, GOG and PC. It is not in the Mac part of the site you came from.

What frightens In 2019 you bring home a 1995 CD-ROM game from a thrift store, one you half remember for its controversy, and play its bloodletting solitaire through a 90s FMV hellscape of dungeons and death; an eye watches you from the walls, mangled figures crawl into the light, and messages from a friend about police reports of matching deaths appear over the game.
Content: gore, violence, suicide, strong language.

Forbidden Solitaire is a card-slashing horror game about a cryptic 1995 CD-ROM that should never have existed. You play its bloody solitaire through a 90s FMV-style hellscape while what is on the disc reaches into your life. It is made by Grey Alien Games and Night Signal Entertainment, the makers of Ancient Enemy and Home Safety Hotline.

About Forbidden Solitaire

Forbidden Solitaire was released on Steam on April 30, 2026, made together by Grey Alien Games, the veteran indie team behind Regency Solitaire, Shadowhand and Ancient Enemy, and Night Signal Entertainment, who made Home Safety Hotline and did the visuals, story and music here. It is also sold on GOG.

It is 2019. You have brought home a strange yet familiar CD-ROM game from 1995 from a thrift store. You vaguely remember the ads for it and some kind of controversy, but you never got to play it. Until now.

The game on the disc is a solitaire game set in a 90s FMV-inspired hellscape of dungeons and death. You clear hands of cards to deal damage, buy upgrades from a friendly eye that watches you from the walls and set gems into a hand, and find Jokers that change the rules, some helpful and some malignant. Between hands, text scenes describe torch-lit passages, mines full of chanting and figures that should not still be alive.

The horror sits in two places at once: the gore and grotesque art inside the disc, and what happens on the computer around it, where messages and pictures arrive about the people who played it before. The store's last line is advice: uninstall the game before it is too late. It suits players who liked Home Safety Hotline or cursed-game stories, and anyone who wants horror that plays with cards instead of guns.

How to play Forbidden Solitaire

Install the old CD-ROM game and start playing its solitaire.
Clear cards from the table in each hand to damage what you are facing, and end your turn when you run out of moves.
Spend your coins in the shop on upgrades from the eye in the walls.
Collect Jokers and decide which to keep; some help and some work against you.
Read the scenes between hands and the messages that appear outside the game as the story unfolds.

Screenshots

Forbidden Solitaire screenshot: a solitaire layout of red-backed cards over a blood-stained purple dungeon, with health orbs and an End Turn button

Forbidden Solitaire screenshot: a chat window about 1995 police reports and a picture of a dead player slumped at a keyboard, over the card table

Forbidden Solitaire screenshot: the shop, a real hand set with bleeding gems next to an eye watching from the wall

Tips

Read every Joker before you take it; the store warns some are malignant.
Check the content warning guide on Steam first if gore or suicide themes are a concern.
Watch the messages that appear outside the card game; they carry the story.