Solitaire · Rules guide
Solitaire rules: how to play Klondike
The deal, the four regions of the table, how the tableau builds down in alternating colours, why only a king can fill an empty pile, and the difference between draw-one and draw-three.
The short answer
- Deal seven piles of 1 to 7 cards, top card face up; the other 24 cards form the stock.
- Tableau piles build down in rank and alternating in colour; foundations build up in suit from the ace.
- Only a king may be placed in an empty tableau pile.
- Draw-one with unlimited passes is far easier than draw-three with limited passes.
- Many deals cannot be won at all, whatever you do.
The deal and the four places cards live
Klondike — the game almost everyone means by "Solitaire" — uses one 52-card pack. The aim is to build all four suits up from ace to king on the foundations. Get all 52 cards home and you have won.
There are four regions, and knowing their names makes everything else easier to describe:
- Tableau — seven piles, holding one card in the first up to seven in the last. The top card of each pile is face up; the rest are face down.
- Stock — the remaining twenty-four cards, face down.
- Waste — where stock cards are turned; only the top one is in play.
- Foundations — four empty spaces, to be built ace to king in suit.
How the cards move
Building on the tableau
Tableau piles build down in rank and alternating in colour: a red six goes on a black seven. You may move a single card or an entire correctly ordered run at once.
Empty piles
An empty tableau pile can be filled by a king, and nothing else. This is the single most important structural rule in the game — emptying a pile is valuable, and wasting one is expensive.
Turning cards over
Whenever the face-up card on a tableau pile moves away, the face-down card beneath it turns over. This is free, and it is the main way you gain information.
The stock
Turn stock cards to the waste, one at a time or three at a time depending on the version you are playing. Only the top waste card is playable. When the stock runs out, the waste turns back over to form a new stock — unlimited times in the easier version, or a fixed number of passes in the harder one.
| Setting | Easier | Harder |
|---|---|---|
| Cards turned | One at a time | Three at a time |
| Passes through the stock | Unlimited | Three (or one) |
| Roughly how often you win | Most deals are winnable with care | Many deals cannot be won at all |
The foundations
Foundations build up in suit: ace, two, three, and so on to the king. In most versions you may take a card back off a foundation and play it to the tableau — and sometimes you should.
Winning, losing and scoring
You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. You lose when no legal move remains and the stock is exhausted — which happens often, and is not your fault.
Scoring versions
- Standard scoring — points for each card moved to a foundation, for turning a face-down card, and deductions for taking cards back.
- Vegas scoring — you "pay" 52 for the deal and earn 5 per card on the foundations, so breaking even needs most of the pack home.
- Timed — a bonus that decays as the clock runs.
Other patiences worth knowing
| Game | What is different |
|---|---|
| FreeCell | Everything is dealt face up with four free cells — almost every deal is winnable. |
| Spider | Two packs, build down in suit, clear complete sequences. |
| Pyramid | Pair cards that sum to thirteen. |
| Yukon | Like Klondike, but you may move any card with everything on top of it. |
| Golf / Tri Peaks | Play cards one rank up or down from the waste. |
Common questions
Can you put any card in an empty column in Solitaire?
No — only a king, or a run headed by a king. This is why emptying a pile when you have no king available often achieves nothing.
What is the difference between draw one and draw three?
Draw one turns a single stock card at a time, so every card in the stock is reachable. Draw three turns three at once and only the top one is playable, so two cards in three are inaccessible until the cycle shifts.
Can every game of Solitaire be won?
No. A substantial share of deals are unwinnable no matter how you play. Computer studies of draw-three Klondike with full knowledge of the pack put the winnable share at roughly eighty per cent, and ordinary play wins much less often.
Can you move a card back off a foundation?
In most versions, yes, and occasionally you should — a low card returned to the tableau can unblock a pile. Some scoring variants penalise it.
Should I always play an ace to the foundation?
Aces and twos, yes — they can never be useful on the tableau. Higher cards are a real decision, because they may be needed to accept cards from other piles.
Why is it called Klondike?
After the Klondike gold rush of the 1890s, where the game was popular among prospectors. It is one of dozens of patience games, but by far the best known.
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