How to Play Solitaire: Rules, Setup & Tips

Klondike is the game most people mean when they say “solitaire”: one player, one standard 52-card deck, and a single goal. This page explains the complete rules, from the deal to the last card, then gives you a few habits that turn more deals into wins.

On this page

• The objective
• The layout: tableau, foundations, stock and waste
• Moving cards
• Draw 1 vs Draw 3 (Turn 1 and Turn 3)
• Winning and getting stuck
• Beginner strategy
• A short history of solitaire
• Solitaire glossary

The objective

You win by building four piles, one for each suit (spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs), in order from Ace up to King. Those four piles are called the foundations. When all 52 cards sit on the foundations, with a King on top of each one, the game is won.

Everything else in the game is there to help you dig cards out in the right order. The cards are shuffled and most of them start face down, so the real puzzle is uncovering the cards you need before you run out of moves.

The layout: tableau, foundations, stock and waste

A game of Klondike uses four areas on the table. Knowing what each one is for makes the rules much easier to follow.

The tableau

The tableau is the main playing area: seven columns of cards in a row. The first column gets one card, the second two, and so on up to seven cards in the seventh column, 28 cards in all. Only the top card of each column is dealt face up; the cards beneath it are face down and stay hidden until you uncover them.

The foundations

Above the tableau are four empty spaces for the foundations. Each one belongs to a single suit and must start with that suit’s Ace. On our board, each empty foundation shows the suit it’s waiting for.

The stock

The 24 cards that aren’t dealt to the tableau form the stock, a face-down pile in the top corner. It’s your reserve: when the tableau has nothing useful left to do, you turn cards over from the stock.

The waste

Cards turned from the stock land face up on the waste pile next to it. Only the top card of the waste can be played. When the stock is empty you can turn the whole waste pile back over to form a new stock, which starts a new pass (see the Draw 1 vs Draw 3 limits below).

Moving cards

Every move in Klondike follows a short list of rules. On FreeSolitaireHub.com you can drag a card to where you want it, or tap it to send it to the best place automatically.

Building in the tableau

• Cards in the tableau go down in rank, one step at a time, and must alternate colours. A red 9 (hearts or diamonds) can go on a black 10 (spades or clubs); a black 9 can’t.
• The rank order is King (high), Queen, Jack, 10 down to 2, and Ace (low).
• You can move the top face-up card of a column, a whole face-up run, or just part of one. For example, if a column shows a black Jack, red 10 and black 9, you can move the 9 alone, the 10 and 9 together, or all three cards.
• When you move away the last face-up card of a column, the face-down card underneath is turned over. That reveal is the most valuable thing that happens in the game.

Empty columns

When a column is cleared completely, only a King can be placed in the space, either on its own or with a run of cards built below it. No other card can start a column.

Building the foundations

• Each foundation starts with an Ace. After the Ace, the next card must be the 2 of the same suit, then the 3, and so on up to the King.
• Only one card moves to a foundation at a time, from the top of a tableau column or the top of the waste.
• A card on a foundation isn’t locked in: you can bring the top card back down onto the tableau if you need it to hold another card.

Using the stock

Tap the stock to turn cards onto the waste. The top waste card can then be played onto the tableau or a foundation like any other card. When the stock runs out, tap the empty space to turn the waste back over and start the next pass.

Draw 1 vs Draw 3 (Turn 1 and Turn 3)

The one rule that changes between versions of Klondike is how many cards you turn from the stock at once. You’ll see it called Draw 1 and Draw 3, or Turn 1 and Turn 3; they mean the same thing.

Draw 1 (Turn 1)

Each tap of the stock turns over a single card, and you can go through the stock as many times as you like. Every card in the stock becomes reachable on every pass, which makes this the gentler version and the best place to learn.

Draw 3 (Turn 3)

Each tap turns over three cards at once, fanned on the waste, but only the top one of the three can be played. The two cards underneath are only reachable after you play the card above them. Because the stock is dealt out in groups of three, a card can stay buried pass after pass unless you change the order by playing a card from the waste. Here you get three passes through the stock, so each pass needs some thought.

Draw 3 is the traditional rule and wins less often, which is why it earns extra points here. You can switch between the two in the New game menu at any time; the change applies to the next deal.

Winning and getting stuck

You win the moment the last King lands on its foundation. Often you can see the win coming earlier: once every card in the tableau is face up, the hard part is over. As soon as the remaining cards can all go straight to the foundations, our game offers Finish game, which plays them there for you.

You’re stuck when no card can move anywhere and the stock can’t help, either because it’s empty with no passes left, or because none of its cards can be played. The game tells you when that happens. You can then undo back to an earlier choice and try a different line, or start a new deal.

Not every shuffle of a deck can be won, even with perfect play. To keep things fair, each New game here is dealt from games our solver has already won, so there’s always a way through. Choose Random deal in the New game menu if you prefer the luck of a true shuffle.

Beginner strategy

Solitaire rewards patience more than speed. These habits make the biggest difference for new players.

Look before you move

Before touching anything, scan the whole board. Note which face-up cards could move, and which hidden cards sit under the deepest columns. A move that looks good on its own can block a better one a few cards later.

Work on the tallest columns

The seventh column hides six face-down cards; the second hides only one. When you have a choice between two moves, prefer the one that starts digging into a tall column. Freeing those hidden cards early gives you far more options in the middle of the game.

Play Aces and 2s right away

An Ace or a 2 can never usefully hold another card in the tableau, so there’s no reason to keep one there. Send them to the foundations as soon as they appear. Higher cards are different: think twice before moving a 5 or 6 up if a 4 or 5 of the other colour still needs somewhere to go.

Choose your King carefully

When a column empties and you have two Kings to choose from, look at what is waiting to be played. If a red Queen is ready to move, a black King gives it a home. Picking the King that fits the cards you hold saves several moves.

Keep both colours open

Try not to end up with every column ending in the same colour. If all your open spots want a black card and only red ones are turning up, you’ll stall. Spreading the colours keeps more cards playable.

Know when to recycle the stock

In Draw 1 there’s no cost to going through the stock again, so recycle freely when the tableau is quiet. In Draw 3, finish what you can on the tableau first: playing even one card from the waste shifts the groups of three, so the next pass shows you different cards.

Use undo to learn

If you get stuck, step back to the last real decision and try the other choice. Seeing why one line fails and the other works is the quickest way to get better at solitaire.

A short history of solitaire

Solitaire started life in northern Europe in the late 1700s, where it was called patience; the earliest known description, from a German games book of 1783, is actually for two players taking turns. It spread through France, Britain and America in the 1800s, and the Klondike version described on this page first appeared in print in 1907 as “Seven-Card Klondike”. In 1990 Microsoft put it on every Windows computer, which made it one of the most played games in the world. Read the full story, with pictures, in our history of solitaire.

Solitaire glossary

• Klondike: the classic solitaire game described on this page, also known as patience in the UK.
• Tableau: the seven columns of cards where most of the play happens.
• Foundation: one of four piles, one per suit, built from Ace up to King. Filling all four wins the game.
• Stock: the face-down pile of cards left over after the deal.
• Waste: the face-up pile of cards turned from the stock; only its top card can be played.
• Pass: one trip through the whole stock. Draw 1 allows unlimited passes; Draw 3 allows three here.
• Run (or sequence): face-up cards in a column, going down in rank and alternating colours, that can move together.
• Building: placing a card onto another, down in the tableau or up on a foundation.
• Face-down card: a hidden card in the tableau, turned over once the cards above it have moved away.
• Empty column: a cleared tableau space that only a King can fill.
• Auto-complete: letting the game play the last cards to the foundations once every card is face up (Finish game).
• Winnable deal: a deal known to have at least one way to win.

Questions about this game