How to Play Klondike Solitaire
The Goal
The objective of Klondike Solitaire is to move all 52 cards to the four foundation piles, building each from Ace to King in a single suit. The game is won when every card has been placed on the correct foundation.
Setup
- Deal 28 cards into 7 tableau columns. The first column gets 1 card, the second gets 2, and so on up to 7.
- Turn the top card of each column face-up. All other cards remain face-down.
- Place the remaining 24 cards in the stock pile face-down.
- Leave space for four foundation piles, one for each suit.
Gameplay
Tableau: Build descending sequences of alternating colors. For example, place a black 6 on a red 7. You can move groups of correctly sequenced cards together. When a face-down card is exposed, flip it over. Only Kings can fill empty tableau spaces.
Foundation: Build ascending sequences by suit, starting with Ace and ending with King. Cards placed on foundations are typically locked in place.
Stock & Waste Pile: Draw cards from the stock pile to the waste pile. The top card of the waste pile is always available for play on the tableau or foundations. When the stock is empty, you may flip the waste pile to form a new stock.
Scoring
Points are awarded for moving cards to foundations and for flipping face-down cards. Faster wins score higher.
About Klondike Solitaire
Klondike is the most popular version of solitaire. Most people just call it "Solitaire." The name comes from the Klondike region in Canada, where Gold Rush miners played card games to kill time.
Microsoft included it in Windows 3.0 in 1990 to help people learn to drag and drop with a mouse. The game turned out to be more memorable than the lesson.
Tips & Strategies
- Always play Aces and Twos immediately. There is never a reason to hold these back from the foundation.
- Prioritize revealing face-down cards. The more cards you can see, the better decisions you can make.
- Don't empty a tableau column without a King ready. Only Kings can fill empty spaces, so an empty column without a King to place is a wasted opportunity.
- Think before moving cards to the foundation. Sometimes a card is more useful in the tableau for building sequences than locked on a foundation pile.
- Use undo strategically. If a move doesn't open up new possibilities, consider taking it back and trying a different approach.
- Go through the stock pile early. Seeing all available cards helps you plan moves more effectively.
- Build tableau piles evenly. Avoid creating very long columns at the expense of short ones. Balanced columns give you more flexibility.
Why Play Solitaire?
Good for your brain: Solitaire makes you think about sequences, probabilities, and trade-offs. You get a little better at spotting patterns each time you play.
Stress relief: It's a calm, low-stakes game. Good for unwinding or filling a few spare minutes without needing to think too hard.
Easy to pick up: You don't need opponents, downloads, or accounts. Just open the page and play.