How to Play Klondike Solitaire

Objective

Your goal is to move all 52 cards into four foundation piles, each built up by suit from Ace to King. You do this by uncovering hidden cards in the tableau, drawing fresh cards from the stock pile, and arranging cards in descending alternating-color sequences until every Ace, then every 2, then every 3 — and so on through King — has reached its foundation.

Video Tutorial

How to Play Solitaire (wikiHow)

Game Setup

• The tableau: Seven columns laid out from left to right. The first column holds 1 card, the second 2, and so on up to 7 in the seventh column. Only the top card of each column starts face-up.
• The stock pile: The remaining 24 face-down cards in the upper-left. Click or tap to flip cards to the waste pile when you run out of useful moves.
• The waste pile: The face-up pile next to the stock. Only the top waste card can be played to the tableau or foundations.
• The foundations: Four empty piles in the upper-right where you build each suit from Ace to King. Filling all four wins the game.

Complete Rules

• Build tableau columns in descending order with alternating colors (e.g., black 6 on red 7).
• Move the top face-up card(s) of one column to another if they form a valid descending, alternating-color sequence.
• When a face-down card is uncovered, flip it face-up.
• Only Kings (or sequences starting with a King) can be placed on empty tableau columns.
• Build foundations by suit in ascending order: Ace, 2, 3, ... King.
• Draw cards from the stock pile to the waste pile. In Draw One mode, flip one card at a time. In Draw Three mode, flip three at once and only the top card is playable.
• When the stock is empty, flip the waste pile over to form a new stock (no limit on recycling in Draw One; limited passes in some Draw Three variants).
• Win by moving all 52 cards to the four foundation piles.
• You can move any valid sub-sequence from the bottom of a tableau column to another column as a group.
• Cards moved to the foundation can be moved back to the tableau if needed.
• The game is lost when no more moves are available and the stock is exhausted.
• A face-down card is automatically revealed when it becomes the top card of a tableau column.

Strategy Tips

• Always play Aces and Twos to the foundation immediately — they can never be useful in the tableau.
• Prioritize uncovering face-down cards. Columns with many hidden cards should be addressed first.
• Keep tableau columns balanced. Avoid emptying a column unless you have a King ready to place.
• In Draw Three mode, pay attention to the order of cards in the stock — sometimes it is better not to play a card to keep a favorable draw order.
• Use undo freely to explore different move sequences. Solitaire rewards experimentation.
• Build foundations evenly. Moving a card to the foundation too early can block tableau moves.
• When you have a choice between uncovering a card in a long column vs. a short column, choose the long column — it has more hidden cards to reveal.
• Do not rush to move cards to foundations. Sometimes keeping a 3 or 4 in the tableau helps you build longer sequences.
• Count cards mentally. Knowing which cards are still hidden helps you make better decisions about when to draw from the stock.
• If you are stuck, try cycling through the stock completely before giving up — a fresh pass can reveal new opportunities.

Advanced Strategy

• Track which Kings are available. An empty column is only useful if you have a King to place there, so plan your moves around King availability.
• In Draw Three, the stock has a fixed order. Memorize which cards appear at which position in the cycle to plan multi-pass strategies.
• When two moves seem equal, prefer the one that frees a card closer to the bottom of the tableau — deeper reveals are worth more.
• Build "escape routes" for buried Aces by strategically moving cards that sit above them before building long sequences elsewhere.
• Late-game foundation ordering matters. If Hearts is at 8 and Diamonds is at 3, focus on Diamonds to avoid getting stuck with unplayable tableau cards.

Frequently Asked Questions