Klondike is the version of solitaire most people mean when they just say "solitaire," and it rewards patience and sequencing far more than luck. The deal decides your starting position, but how you unstack it โ what you expose first, what you hold back, when you commit a card to the foundation โ decides whether that deal is winnable. This guide covers the layout, the legal moves, and the decisions that separate a won game from a stuck one. Play at Solitaire, which supports both dragging cards between piles and tapping a card to send it to its best legal spot automatically.
Drag a card fluidly onto any legal pile, or tap or click it and let the game move it for you. Click the stock pile when no tableau move remains, and the waste reshuffles back into the stock once it runs dry, so you're never stuck for lack of cards to draw. There's no timer and no penalty for taking your time, which means every game is really a pure logic problem: can this shuffle be untangled, and can you find the sequence that does it?
The Layout: Tableau, Foundations, Stock, and Waste
The board has four areas. The tableau is the main playing field: seven columns, the first holding one card, the second two, up to seven cards in the last โ only the top card of each column starts face up. The foundations are four empty piles, one per suit, built upward from Ace to King; filling all four wins the game. The stock holds the rest of the deck face down, and the waste is where cards from the stock land face up, ready to be played or built on as you draw through the deck.
The Win Condition and the Legal Moves
You win by sorting the entire deck into the four foundations, each running Ace through King in a single suit. To get there, build tableau columns downward in alternating colors โ a black 8 accepts a red 7, which accepts a black 6, and so on. Any exposed, face-up card can move onto a tableau card one rank higher and the opposite color, and you can move a whole face-up sequence at once if it's correctly ordered. A card can go to its foundation only when that foundation already holds the card exactly one rank below it โ you can't place a 5 of hearts on an empty hearts foundation, only the Ace. Empty tableau columns can only be filled by a King, or a face-up sequence that starts with one. Click the stock to turn cards over into the waste when out of tableau moves.
Opening Priorities: Uncover Before You Build
At the start of a deal, almost every column has face-down cards buried under its one exposed card. Prioritize moves that flip a new face-down card over moves that only rearrange cards you can already see โ an already-visible card gives no new information, while a freshly exposed one might be exactly what you need to unblock another column or open a fresh foundation move. Work through the tableau methodically at the start; a move that looks productive but leaves several columns still fully buried is usually the wrong one.
Why Sending Cards to the Foundation Too Early Costs You
The foundation is a one-way door. Once a card is up there, it's out of play for building tableau sequences, with no way to pull it back down. Aces and twos can go up immediately since almost nothing in the tableau still needs them. Mid-rank cards โ fives through eights especially โ are different: if a tableau card still needs one to keep unstacking a column, sending it to the foundation the moment it's eligible can strand a face-down card underneath a pile you no longer have any legal way to break apart. Before sending a mid-rank card up, check whether any exposed card elsewhere is the opposite color and one rank lower โ it may need this one to move onto in the tableau first.
Empty Columns: Why Kings Are the Currency
An empty tableau column is one of the most valuable resources in the game โ a parking spot that lets you temporarily relocate a card or sequence to unblock a pile underneath it. But it can only be refilled by a King, so kings function as the toll you pay to keep using that space. Before clearing a column, check whether a King is actually available โ face up elsewhere, sitting in the waste, or about to surface โ to move into it. Emptying a column with no King in sight leaves that space dead until one turns up, and you may have been better off working a different part of the board first.
Managing the Stock and the Waste Pile
Every card drawn from the stock into the waste is a card worth remembering, since it can end up buried under several more draws before it cycles back around. Keep a mental note of key cards as you go โ Aces you haven't placed, and anything that would unblock a column you're stuck on. Since the waste reshuffles back into the stock once exhausted and there's no timer forcing your hand, you can cycle through as many times as it takes, but cycling blindly without tracking what you've already seen wastes passes you could otherwise use productively.
Color Balance: Choosing Between Two Legal Moves
When two tableau moves are both legal, the right one is usually whichever preserves more flexibility later, not whichever is available first. Say you can move a red 8 onto either of two black 9s: one tops a column with three face-down cards still buried beneath it, the other is already the only card in a fully exposed column. Moving onto the first is better โ it sets up leverage to keep unstacking and expose more hidden cards, while the second gains nothing since that column is already open. Favor moves that keep a path open to buried cards over moves that only rearrange what's already visible.
Winnable vs. Unwinnable: Reading a Deal
Not every Klondike deal can be won, no matter how well you play โ that's a property of some shuffles, not a sign you misplayed. A deal is genuinely lost when every card you still need in the tableau is buried under a same-color card that could never legally land on it in a valid sequence, and no King is available anywhere to open a fresh column. Before concluding a deal is unwinnable, make sure you've actually exhausted it: cycle the stock fully, double-check you haven't held back a foundation move for the wrong reason, and confirm you exposed every column you could reach. Most "unwinnable" games abandoned early are actually just badly played ones โ genuine dead deals are rarer than they feel in the moment.
Common Mistakes
- Sending mid-rank cards to the foundation on reflex. Check whether a tableau card still needs it before committing a 5 through 8 upward โ the foundation never gives cards back.
- Clearing a column with no King ready. An empty column with nothing to refill it is a wasted resource until a King turns up.
- Losing track of cards buried in the waste. A needed card can cycle past you more than once if you're not tracking what you've already drawn.
- Building on the first legal card instead of the best one. The move that keeps a path open to buried cards almost always beats one that only rearranges visible ones.
- Trusting tap-to-move on a card you meant to hold in place. Tapping sends a card to its best legal spot immediately โ drag manually when weighing more than one option.
Frequently Asked Questions
What's the win condition in Klondike Solitaire?
Sort every card into the four foundations, each built from Ace up to King in a single suit. Complete all four and you've won.
Can I always win a game of solitaire?
No. Some deals are mathematically unwinnable regardless of skill, though most stuck games are the result of a card sent to the foundation too early or a column emptied without a King ready, not a genuinely dead shuffle.
Should I send cards to the foundation as soon as I can?
Aces and twos, almost always yes. Mid-rank cards, only after checking whether a card still in the tableau needs them to keep a column moving.
What can go in an empty tableau column?
Only a King, or a face-up sequence that starts with a King. Nothing else can legally occupy an empty column.
How many times can I go through the stock?
There's no penalty and no timer, and the waste reshuffles back into the stock once exhausted, so you can cycle through as many times as you need.
Do I have to drag cards, or can I just tap them?
Both work. Dragging gives full control over where a card lands; tapping automatically sends it to its best legal spot, which is faster but worth using deliberately rather than by reflex.
Related Guides
- How to Play Minesweeper โ a different kind of pure logic puzzle if you want a break from cards.
- Sudoku Strategy Guide โ a grid-based deduction challenge with the same emphasis on planning ahead.
- How to Play Nonogram โ another patient, logic-first puzzle worth trying between solitaire deals.
- A Beginner's Guide to Puzzle Games โ a solid starting point if you're new to logic and strategy puzzles generally.
- Best Puzzle Games โ more games worth trying once you've got Klondike figured out.