Objective
Move all 52 cards to the four foundation piles, building each foundation up by suit from Ace to King.
Setup
- 7 tableau columns are dealt with 1–7 cards (left to right). Only the top card of each column starts face-up.
- The remaining cards form the stock (face-down). The waste pile starts empty.
Piles (what each area is)
- Stock: face-down draw pile (click to draw).
- Waste: face-up pile of drawn cards (only the top card is playable).
- Foundations: four suit piles (Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs) built up from Ace → King.
- Tableau: 7 columns where most play happens; cards build down in alternating colors.
Allowed moves
- Tableau builds: place a card onto a tableau column if it is one rank lower and the opposite color (example: 8♥ on 9♣). Empty tableau columns accept Kings only.
- Move stacks: you can move a face-up sequence of cards between tableau columns only if that whole sequence is a valid descending, alternating-color run.
- Foundations: place a card onto a foundation if it is the same suit and one rank higher (Ace starts an empty foundation).
- From waste: the top waste card can be moved to a foundation or to a tableau column if legal.
- From foundations: you can move the top card of a foundation back to a tableau column if legal.
- Flip: when a tableau column’s top card is face-down, you can flip it face-up (and after moving cards away, the new top card auto-flips when needed).
Stock / redeal (Draw 1)
- Click Stock to draw 1 card to Waste (it becomes face-up).
- When Stock is empty, clicking it recycles the entire Waste back into Stock (reversed and face-down). This can be done any number of times.
Controls and helpers
- Drag and drop: drag a card (or valid stack) to a tableau column or foundation to make a move.
- Double-click / double-tap: attempts an automatic move for the selected top card (to a foundation if possible; otherwise to a legal tableau move).
- Undo / redo: Undo is available in the HUD and via Cmd/Ctrl+Z; Redo via Cmd/Ctrl+Shift+Z (or Ctrl+Y on Windows).
- Hint: suggests a legal move when one exists.
Auto-finish
Auto-finish becomes available when Stock is empty, Waste is empty, and all tableau cards are face-up. It then repeatedly moves available top tableau cards to foundations.
Saving and sharing
- Your progress auto-saves locally in the browser and restores if you refresh or reopen the tab.
- Use Share to copy a short link that recreates the same starting deal (seed-based).
What is the history of Klondike Solitaire?
Klondike is the solitaire game many players simply call "Solitaire." More precisely, solitaire is a family of one-player card games, while Klondike is the specific layout with seven tableau columns, a stock, a waste pile, and four foundations.
The word "patience" is still common in the United Kingdom and in older card-game books. The Klondike name is usually associated with the Klondike region of the Canadian Yukon and the gold-rush era of the late 1890s, although the exact origin of the game is not settled enough to call that an invention story.
Digital Klondike became globally familiar when Microsoft included Solitaire with Windows 3.0 in 1990. That version taught millions of people the rhythm of drawing from the stock, uncovering tableau cards, and building foundations from Ace to King.
Strategy tips
- Uncover face-down cards first. Every hidden card you flip opens new possibilities. When you have a choice, prefer moves that reveal a face-down card over moves that only reorganize face-up cards.
- Build foundations evenly. Keep all four suits within one or two ranks of each other. Racing one suit too far ahead can prevent you from moving cards between tableau columns.
- Be selective with empty columns. An empty column is a powerful tool — reserve it for a King you plan to build on, not just the first available card.
- Think before drawing from stock. Check whether any visible moves remain before clicking stock. Drawing early buries cards that might be useful right now.
- Choose Kings deliberately. The color of the King you place in an empty column determines which sequences can attach to it — pick the one that matches cards you already have in play.
What is Draw 1 (Turn 1)?
Draw 1 means you flip one card at a time from the stock to the waste pile. When the stock runs out, clicking it recycles the entire waste pile back as a new stock. In this Solitarium.io version, you can redeal as many times as you need.
Draw 3, also called Turn 3, reveals stock cards in groups of three. Because only the top waste card is playable, Turn 3 often blocks access to useful cards for longer and is usually harder than Draw 1.
Is every Klondike deal winnable?
No. A meaningful share of Klondike deals cannot be solved from normal play, even with good strategy. There is also an important difference between "winnability" and "win rate": winnability asks whether a deal can be solved with perfect knowledge, while win rate measures what real players usually finish.
A 2026 research paper by Blake and Gent estimated thoughtful Klondike winnability at about 81.9%, where thoughtful means the solver can know the hidden cards. Real play is harder because you must make decisions before every face-down card is known. If you are completely stuck after several redeals, starting a fresh game is a reasonable call.
Common Klondike variants
- Draw 1 / Turn 1: the version on this page, with one stock card revealed at a time and unlimited stock recycling.
- Draw 3 / Turn 3: a harder version where stock cards are revealed three at a time and only the top waste card can be played.
- Double Klondike and Triple Klondike: larger versions that use two or three decks while keeping the same basic tableau and foundation ideas.
- Vegas Solitaire: a scoring style for Klondike where each stock pass and foundation move affects the score.
What is auto-finish?
Auto-finish activates when the stock is empty, the waste is empty, and all tableau cards are face-up. At that point the outcome is certain — click auto-finish to watch the remaining cards move to foundations automatically without clicking each one.
What does Share do?
Share copies a short link that recreates the exact same starting deal. Anyone who opens that link will see the same card layout you started with. Useful for challenging a friend to beat your score on the same hand, or for returning to a specific deal you want to try again.
Sources and further reading
These references informed the rules, history, and winnability notes on this page.