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How to Play Klondike Solitaire

Klondike is the solitaire everyone pictures when they hear the word. The deck is dealt into a tableau of seven columns, with one card in the first column, two in the second, and so on up to seven. The top card of every column is face up and the rest are face down. The 24 cards left over form the stock, which you turn over into a waste pile as you play.

Your goal is to build the four foundations — one per suit — upward from Ace to King. To free the cards you need, you rework the tableau: build columns downward in alternating colors(a red 6 goes on a black 7, a black 5 on a red 6, and so on). You can move a single card or a correctly ordered run of cards together. When you turn over the last face-down card in a column, it flips face up and joins the game. Empty a column entirely and only a King — or a run led by a King — may fill it.

Play the stock by clicking the deck. In Draw 1 you flip one card at a time, so every card is reachable. In Draw 3 you flip three at once and may only play the top of the three, which makes deep cards far harder to reach. You win the moment all 52 cards reach the foundations.

In this browser version you can drag a card or a run, or simply tap it. A tap sends a card to its foundation if it fits there, and otherwise to the first tableau column that accepts it. Cards on a foundation are not locked: drag one back down when you need it as a landing spot. The stock has no pass limit, so when it runs dry, click the empty slot to turn the waste back over and go through it again.

Switching between Draw 1 and Draw 3 deals a fresh game. There is no points score here; the toolbar tracks time and moves instead, and the win screen shows both. Undo takes back moves one at a time, and Hint highlights a legal move for two seconds. If Hint finds nothing, it offers a new deal, a restart of the same deal, or the option to keep playing. Once the stock and waste are empty and every tableau card is face up, the game finishes itself by sweeping the rest to the foundations. For the full rulebook, including the scoring systems other apps use, see our Classic Solitaire rules guide.

Strategy Tips for Klondike Solitaire

• Uncover face-down cards first. Every hidden card is locked information. Prioritize moves that flip them over — that is where wins are made or lost.
• Don't rush cards to the foundation. Aces and 2s go up right away, but keep some low and mid cards in the tableau as landing spots for the opposite color.
• Empty a column for a King. An empty space is gold — hold it for a King that unburies a stubborn stack rather than filling it with the first King you see.
• Play the stock before you're forced to. Cycle the waste early to learn what's coming, especially in Draw 3 where position matters.
• Think before every foundation move. Ask whether that card is still doing work in the tableau. If it is, leave it.
• Use undo to learn. Back up and try a different order when a line stalls — Klondike rewards planning two or three moves ahead.

A few habits cost more Klondike games than bad luck does. Shuffling a card between two columns without flipping anything spends a move and gains nothing. Working on short columns while the longest face-down stack sits untouched leaves the most hidden cards for last, when you have the fewest options. And playing Draw 3 the way you play Draw 1 is a quiet killer: every card you take from the waste changes which cards turn up on the next pass, so take one only when it does real work.

Some deals cannot be won however well you play, because the cards you need are buried beneath each other in the face-down stacks. When Hint comes up empty and the stock has nothing left to give, Restart replays the same deal so you can try a different line, and New Game moves on.

Want to drill these habits rather than just read them? Our guide to winning Solitaire in fewer moves walks through seven strategies and includes three free interactive practice drills — including a mini Klondike deal with a par to match.

Fancy a change of pace? If you want a version where every FreeCell deal is solvable with no luck involved, or a quick round of add-to-13 Pyramid Solitaire, they're all free to play right here.