Klondike solitaire
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How Klondike works here
Seven columns, a stock to turn and four foundations to fill. Choose Draw 1 for a gentle game or Draw 3 for a slower, more thoughtful one.
Klondike, Draw 1
- Build the four foundations up by suit, from ace to king.
- In the seven columns, build down in alternating colours. Any face-up run in that order can move together.
- Only a king, or a run headed by a king, can go into an empty column.
- Tap the stock to turn one card onto the waste. When the stock runs out, tap it again to turn the waste back over in the same order. Passes are unlimited.
- A face-down card turns over when the cards on it move away.
- A card can come back down from a foundation onto a column.
- Once every card in the columns is face up, the table plays the rest out for you when it can.
Klondike, Draw 3
- Everything works as in Draw 1, except the stock turns over three cards at a time.
- Only the top card of the waste can be played; play it to reach the one beneath.
- When the stock runs out, the waste turns back over in the same order. Each card you played changes how the next packets fall.
- Passes through the stock are unlimited.
Table notes
- Turn over hidden cards firstWhen two moves look equally good, choose the one that turns over a face-down card. Every hidden card you expose is information you did not have a moment ago, and it often decides your next three moves.
- Dig in the tallest columnThe right-hand columns start with the most face-down cards. Freeing them early pays off, because a long hidden stack late in the game is where Klondike deals usually stall.
- Empty a column when a king is readyAn empty column only accepts a king. Clearing one is worth most when a king is waiting, in the waste or on top of hidden cards. Without a king to place, the space just sits there.
- Send cards home at a steady paceAces and twos are always safe on the foundations. With higher cards, check whether a card of the other colour and one rank lower might still need somewhere to land before you move them up.
- Draw 1: the stock comes round againIn Draw 1 you can turn the stock as many times as you like, one card at a time. A card you pass over is not lost; it returns on the next pass, in the same order.
- Draw 3: playing a card reshuffles the packetsIn Draw 3 the stock turns over three cards at a time and only the top one can be played. Each card you play from the waste shifts which cards come up on the following pass, so a stuck card can surface later.
- Choose which card fills a spotWhen two cards could take the same place, such as two red sixes for one black seven, pick the one whose move turns over a hidden card or empties a column.
- Look at the table before the stockBefore you turn the stock, scan the columns. A tableau move that exposes a new card can change which stock card you actually want.
- Pick your king carefullyWhen a column empties and two kings could fill it, move the king that frees more: one sitting on hidden cards, or one whose queen is ready to follow.
- Undo is part of the tableUndo goes all the way back to the deal. Every starting position here has a winning line checked by a solver, so stepping back to try another route is a fair way to play.