How to play Solitaire
Klondike is the version most people simply call "Solitaire". It uses one standard 52-card deck and you play alone against the deal.
The setup
- Tableau: seven columns. The first has one card, the second two, and so on up to seven. Only the bottom card of each column is face up.
- Stock: the remaining 24 cards, face down in the top left corner.
- Waste: cards you turn over from the stock land here, face up.
- Foundations: four empty piles in the top right, one per suit.
Step by step
- Send any face-up Ace straight to a foundation.
- Build down in the tableau, alternating colors: a red 6 goes on a black 7.
- Moving the last face-up card off a column turns over the hidden card beneath it.
- Move a whole face-up run (for example 9, 8, 7 in alternating colors) as one unit.
- Only a King, or a run that starts with a King, can fill an empty column.
- Out of moves? Click the stock to turn one card onto the waste. The top waste card can go to the tableau or a foundation.
- When the stock is empty, click it again to turn the waste back over.
- You win when all four foundations hold a full suit from Ace to King.
Klondike rules in this version
- Draw one: each click on the stock turns a single card, so every card in the stock is reachable on each pass.
- Unlimited passes: you can recycle the waste as often as you like, but each pass costs points.
- Tap to move: click or tap a card without dragging and it jumps to a foundation if it fits, otherwise to a valid column. Double-click also sends a card home.
- Undo and Hint: Undo takes back your last moves, and Hint highlights a playable card, or the stock when that is your only option.
- Auto complete: once the stock is empty and every tableau card is face up, an Auto button appears and finishes the foundations for you.
- Stuck detection: if no useful move is left, a banner tells you, so you can undo or start a new deal instead of clicking the stock forever.
Scoring
The score rewards real progress and a quick finish:
| Action | Points |
|---|---|
| Card moved to a foundation | +10 |
| Face-down tableau card turned over | +5 |
| Card moved from the waste to the tableau | +5 |
| Recycling the waste back into the stock | -20 (never below 0) |
| Winning the game | Time bonus, bigger the faster you finish |
The timer, move count and score sit above the table. Wins are recorded on your profile, and top scores appear on the Solitaire leaderboard.
Tips to win more Klondike deals
- Uncover face-down cards first. Hidden cards are the real obstacle. Given a choice, make the move that flips a new card.
- Work on the longest columns. The column with the most face-down cards needs the most attention, so start freeing it early.
- Do not rush cards to the foundations. A 2, 3 or 4 is safe to send up, but a 6 or 7 may still be needed in the tableau to hold a card of the other color.
- Keep the foundations balanced. Try to keep the four suits within about two ranks of each other.
- Only empty a column if a King is ready. An empty column holds nothing but a King, so clearing one without a King to place is often wasted effort.
- Pick your King carefully. If a red and a black King could both fill a space, choose the one whose Queen of the opposite color is available.
- Check the tableau before the stock. Look at every tableau move first, then turn a stock card.
- Remember the stock order. With draw one, cards come out in the same order on every pass, so note where the key cards sit.
- Use Undo to explore. In solo games, try a line, and if it leads nowhere, take it back.
Solitaire duels: race on the same deal
A duel turns Klondike into a race. When the game opens, choose Play online to be matched with whoever is available, or Play with a friend to get a private link you can send to anyone.
- Both players get exactly the same deal, draw one.
- A live bar shows how many cards your opponent has on the foundations.
- The first to move all 52 cards home wins. After 8 minutes, the player with more foundation cards wins, and fewer moves breaks a tie.
- Undo and Hint are switched off so the race stays fair.
Quick emoji reactions and short chat messages are there during the game, and a rematch button appears when it ends.
Daily Solitaire challenge
Every day brings a new Daily Solitaire deal, the same cards for every player. Open it from the daily puzzles page, solve it in as few moves as you can, and see how you rank against everyone who played the same deal. Finishing a daily puzzle each day builds your streak.
A short history of Klondike
Card games for one player, known in Britain as patience, appear in European writing from the late 1700s and spread widely during the 1800s. Klondike takes its name from the Klondike region of Canada, scene of the gold rush of the late 1890s, and became one of the best known patience games in North America.
Its biggest boost came in 1990, when Microsoft included Solitaire in Windows 3.0. The program, written by Wes Cherry, also taught a generation of new computer users to drag with a mouse.
Klondike on a phone or tablet
Seven columns fit a phone screen better than you might expect. Tap a card and it moves to the best legal spot, so you rarely need to drag on a small screen. Turning the phone sideways spreads the columns out and makes long runs easier to read. Want it one tap away? Add NitroPlayer to your home screen and it opens full screen like an app. A closed tab never costs you the deal, because the game is saved as you play.
Fancy a different layout? Try Spider Solitaire with ten columns or the all-cards-face-up FreeCell.
