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How to Play Solitaire

The goal of Klondike Solitaire is to move all 52 cards to the four foundation piles, one pile per suit, building each from Ace up to King. On the tableau — the seven columns in the middle of the table — you build downward in alternating colors: a red Six can go on a black Seven, a black Ten on a red Jack, and so on.

Click or tap the stock pile in the top corner to draw new cards when you run out of moves. Drag cards with the mouse or your finger, or simply tap a card and then tap where you want it to go. Double-click any card to send it straight to its foundation when the move is legal. If you get stuck, use the Hint button, and don't be afraid of Undo — every move can be taken back.

For a full walkthrough with examples, see our complete guide to playing Solitaire.

Solitaire Rules

Klondike is played with a single, well-shuffled 52-card deck. Seven tableau columns hold 28 cards; only the top card of each column starts face up. The remaining 24 cards form the stock.

• Tableau columns are built downward in alternating colors (red on black, black on red).
• Only a King — alone or with the cards stacked on it — may be moved to an empty column.
• Foundations are built upward by suit, from Ace to King.
• Face-down tableau cards are turned over as soon as they are uncovered.
• You may move any face-up sequence between columns as a single unit.
• When the stock is empty, the waste pile is turned over so you can go through it again.

How to Set Up Solitaire

Online the setup happens automatically, but it helps to know how the table is laid out. The deal creates seven columns: the first column has one card, the second has two, and so on up to seven cards in the last column — 28 cards in total, with only the top card of each column face up.

The 24 undealt cards form the stock at the top left. Next to it sits the waste pile, where drawn cards land face up. The four empty spaces at the top right are the foundations. With a physical deck you would deal the same pattern yourself; here a fresh, perfectly shuffled deal is one click away.

How to Win Solitaire

You win when all 52 cards reach the foundations. Not every deal is winnable — roughly 80% of Klondike deals can be won in theory, but even strong players win far fewer, because a single premature move can lock the game.

The keys to a high win rate are revealing face-down cards as early as possible, keeping your options open, and not moving cards to the foundations too greedily — you may still need a low card on the tableau to hold a sequence. When only face-up cards remain, the game finishes itself with the auto-complete feature.

Solitaire Strategy and Tips

A few habits make a big difference: always turn over face-down cards when you can, prefer moves from the columns with the most hidden cards, and empty columns only when you have a King ready to fill them.

Draw from the stock before making tableau moves you can't take back, and use Undo liberally to explore lines — it's a legitimate way to learn. For a deeper set of techniques, read our Solitaire strategy guide.

Turn 1 vs Turn 3 Solitaire

In Turn 1, you turn over one stock card at a time and can play every card you see. It is the friendlier variant and most deals can be beaten with careful play.

In Turn 3, cards come off the stock in groups of three and only the top card of each group is playable at first. You see the same cards, but the order you can access them in changes every pass, which rewards planning several moves ahead. Use the toolbar switch above the game to change modes at any time.

Other Solitaire Games

Spider Solitaire deals two decks across ten columns and asks you to assemble complete King-to-Ace runs in a single suit. Start with 1 suit and work your way up to the notorious 4-suit game.

FreeCell deals every card face up, so there is no luck once the game begins — nearly every deal can be won with enough thought. Pyramid Solitaire is a quick, puzzle-like game where you remove pairs of cards that add up to 13, and TriPeaks turns the same idea into a fast chain-building race. Prefer tiles to cards? Try Mahjong Solitaire. And the Daily Solitaire gives everyone the same deal each day, with streaks to keep you coming back.

History of Solitaire

Card games for one player first appear in print in northern Europe in the late 18th century, and the French name “patience” is still used across much of the world. Klondike itself is named after the Klondike gold rush of the 1890s, when the game spread through mining camps in the Yukon.

Solitaire's modern popularity owes a lot to computers: the version bundled with Windows in 1990 introduced the game — and the famous cascading-card victory animation — to hundreds of millions of people, and made Klondike the default meaning of the word “Solitaire” in English. Playing in the browser is simply the latest chapter of a game that has been helping people pass the time thoughtfully for more than two centuries.