Klondike Solitaire
How to play Klondike
Klondike is the solitaire: the one from kitchen tables, school computer labs, and every office PC of the 90s.
- Seven tableau piles hold 1–7 cards each; only each pile's top card is face-up. The remaining 24 cards are the stock.
- Build tableau piles downward in alternating colors — a red six goes on a black seven. Face-up runs move together, and clearing a face-down card flips it over.
- Click the stock to turn cards over one at a time. When it runs out, it flips back over — as many times as you need.
- Send aces up to the foundations and build each suit ace to king. All 52 cards on the foundations wins.
- Only a king can open an empty tableau pile.
Moving is click-to-move: tap a card to pick it up, tap where it should go. If there's exactly one legal spot, the card just goes. And the moment every card is face-up, the deal is solved — the game stacks the rest onto the foundations for you automatically.
Every deal is winnable
Around one in five random Klondike deals is mathematically unwinnable — you can play perfectly and still lose to the shuffle. We think that's a lousy feeling for a coffee-break game, so this version never deals one: every shuffle, daily or free play, has been checked by a solver before it reaches you. If you're stuck, a winning line exists. Undo is unlimited, redeals are unlimited, and there is no timer — Klondike here is a puzzle, not a slot machine.
Keyboard controls
The classic keyboard solitaire scheme: 1–7 picks up a column's longest movable run — press the same number again to change how many cards you're holding, then a destination number to drop them. S draws from the stock, W takes the waste card, F (or Enter) sends the selection to its foundation, U undoes, and Esc puts everything back. When a pick-up has exactly one legal home it moves there immediately, same as clicking.
Tips
- Aces and twos go up immediately. There's no reason to hold them — they unlock nothing in the tableau.
- Dig where it's deepest. When you have a choice, make the move that flips a face-down card, and prefer the piles hiding the most cards.
- Don't rush kings into empty slots. An empty pile is precious; wait for the king whose color you actually need for the queens and jacks in your way.
- Use undo as a scout. Flip a card, see what's under it, and rewind if the line doesn't pan out. That's not cheating here — it's the intended way to solve a deal you know is solvable.
- Foundations aren't one-way. Pulling a two or three back down to extend a tableau run is sometimes exactly the move that cracks a pile.
The daily deal
Switch to Daily mode and you get the same winnable shuffle as every other player that day, seeded from the date. Solve it in as few moves as you can and copy a spoiler-free result to share. And like everything here, it passes the alt-tab test: the game saves after every move, so you can drop it mid-thought when your build finishes and pick it up again whenever.
Frequently asked questions
What are the rules of Klondike Solitaire?
Seven tableau piles are dealt with 1 to 7 cards; only the top card of each starts face-up, and the other 24 cards form the stock. Build the tableau downward in alternating colors (a red six on a black seven), move face-up runs together, and turn stock cards over one at a time. The goal is to move all 52 cards to the four foundations, built ace to king in suit. Only a king may be placed on an empty tableau pile.
Is every game of Klondike Solitaire winnable?
In general, no — roughly one in five random Klondike deals cannot be won no matter how well you play. On this site, yes: every deal, daily or free play, is checked by a solver before it is ever handed out, so if you are stuck, a winning line always exists.
What is the difference between draw 1 and draw 3 in solitaire?
Draw 1 turns over one stock card at a time, so every card in the stock is reachable; draw 3 turns over three and only lets you play the top one, which makes many cards unreachable on a given pass. This site plays draw 1 — the friendlier rule, and the one under which our winnable guarantee is checked.
What happens when the stock runs out?
The waste pile is flipped over to form a new stock in the same order, and you keep drawing. There is no limit on redeals here — cycling through the stock as many times as you like is part of the cozy ruleset.
Can you move a card back off a foundation?
Yes. A foundation's top card can be moved back onto a tableau pile if it fits the alternating-color descending order there. It is occasionally the key to untangling a pile — and with unlimited undo, trying it costs nothing.
Is there a penalty for using undo?
No. Undo is unlimited and free, all the way back to the first move. Every deal here is winnable, so the game is a puzzle to be solved, not a gamble — undo is how you explore it.
More games
- Golf Solitaire — Clear seven columns onto the waste, one rank up or down — aces wrap to kings. Every deal winnable, unlimited undo, and a shared Daily Golf.
- Crazy Eights — The classic shedding card game — match rank or suit, eights are wild. Beatable AI, no timer, drop it any time.
- Snake — The arcade classic on a cozy 20×20 grid. Arrow keys or WASD, pauses itself the moment you look away.