Klondike Solitaire

The patience game that came with every Windows PC. Build each suit from Ace to King on the four foundations. Tap a card to move it, or drag it where you want it.

How to Play Klondike Solitaire

Klondike is the card game most people simply call solitaire. If you played Solitaire on a Windows computer, this is the game you remember. This page deals the draw one version, where the stock is turned over one card at a time. You can play this free solitaire game in your browser, with nothing to download and no account to create.

The Objective

The aim is to move all 52 cards onto the four foundations, one for each suit. Each foundation is built up in order, starting with the Ace and ending with the King. When all four Kings are on the foundations, you have won.

The Setup

The game uses one standard deck. Twenty-eight cards are dealt into seven columns, called the tableau. The first column gets one card, the second gets two, and so on up to seven cards in the seventh column. Only the top card of each column is face up.

The other 24 cards are set aside face down as the stock. Cards you turn over from the stock go face up onto the waste pile. The four foundations start empty.

Building in the Tableau

Tableau columns are built down in alternating colors. A red 7 can go on a black 8, then a black 6 on the red 7, and so on. Only rank and color matter here; the suits do not need to match.

You can move a face-up card together with every card on top of it. Say a red 9 with a black 8 on it is covering a face-down card. You can move the 9 and the 8 together onto a black 10 in another column, and the face-down card turns over on its own.

When a column is emptied, only a King can fill it. The King can move alone or bring along the run of cards built on it.

The Stock and the Waste

Click or tap the stock to turn one card face up onto the waste. The top card of the waste can be played to the tableau or to a foundation. When the stock runs out, click the empty stock to turn the waste back over and go through it again, as many times as you like.

The Foundations

Move each Ace to a foundation as soon as it is free, then build on it in suit. A card is not stuck on a foundation for good: you can move the top card of a foundation back onto the tableau. That helps when a red 5 needs a home and the only black 6 within reach is on top of its foundation. Bring the 6 back down onto a red 7, and the 5 can go on it.

Finishing the Game

Once the stock and waste are empty and every tableau card is face up, the game can no longer be lost. An Auto-finish button appears at that point, and one click sends every card to the foundations.

Klondike Strategy Tips

Some deals cannot be won, but these habits will help you win more of the ones that can.

1. Turn over face-down cards first. A hidden card is one you cannot plan around. When you have a choice of moves, prefer the one that reveals a new card, and give extra attention to the columns with the most hidden cards, since they take the longest to dig out.
2. Send Aces and 2s up right away. They are never needed in the tableau, so there is nothing to gain by waiting.
3. Do not rush higher cards to the foundations. Once a card is on a foundation, it can no longer hold anything in the tableau. A safe rule of thumb: move a card up once both cards of the opposite color and one rank lower are already on the foundations. A red 6 can go up safely once both black 5s are there, because nothing else will ever need to sit on it. A tap sends a card to a foundation whenever it can, so drag the card instead if you want it in the tableau.
4. Do not empty a column without a plan. An empty column can only take a King. It is most useful when a King is ready to move in, especially one sitting on face-down cards that will be uncovered when it moves.
5. Choose your King with care. If you have a choice of Kings for an empty column, look at what is waiting to be placed. With a red Queen and a black Jack both looking for a home, a black King is the better pick: the red Queen goes on the black King, and the black Jack goes on the red Queen.
6. Get to know the stock. In draw one you can go through the stock as often as you like, so turning cards costs nothing. A quick pass early in the game shows you what is coming. If you know a red 4 is waiting in the stock, try to keep a black 5 free for it.
7. When two cards fit, pick the one that does more. If both red 7s could go on your black 8, move the one that uncovers a face-down card or frees a card you need.
8. When you are stuck, find the blocker. Games often stall because one key card is buried, such as a missing Ace or the black 10 that both red 9s are waiting for. Find it, count how many cards sit on top of it, and work toward freeing that column.

Playing on Solitaire Parlor

Tap or click a card to send it to the best legal spot. If it can go to a foundation, it goes there first. You can also drag and drop a card to any legal spot you choose.

• Undo takes back moves, as many as you like.
• Hint highlights a useful move.
• Restart replays the same deal from the beginning.
• New Game deals a new, numbered deal. The number is shown on screen, and you can replay or share a deal by adding ?deal= and its number to the end of the page link.
• Daily Deal gives everyone the same deal each day.
• Stats shows games played, games won, your win rate, best time, and current and best win streaks.
• Draw 1 and Draw 3, next to the title, switch between draw one and draw three.
• Settings changes the table color and card backs, turns on four-color suits, moves the deck to the right side, switches sounds on or off, and chooses whether to deal only games that can be won.

Your game is saved in your browser automatically, so you can close the tab and come back to it later. Your stats are kept in your own browser as well, not on a server.

A Short History of Klondike

Klondike belongs to the large family of patience games, as solitaire card games have long been called in Britain. Its name is usually linked to the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon, famous for the gold rush of the late 1890s, though how the game came by the name is not clear.

The game reached a much wider audience when Microsoft included it, under the plain name Solitaire, with Windows 3.0 in 1990. It came with Windows for many years after that. It is often said that the game helped people get comfortable with a mouse, since dragging a card is the same motion as dragging a file or a window. Later versions of Windows added FreeCell and Spider Solitaire, which you can also play here.

Klondike Solitaire FAQ

Can every game of solitaire be won?

No. Some Klondike deals cannot be won no matter how well you play, because the cards you need are buried where you cannot reach them in time. That is why New Game and Daily Deal here only deal games that a computer solver has already won, so every game you are given can be won. You can turn this off in Settings. If a deal beats you, Restart lets you try the same cards again with a different plan.

What is the difference between draw one and draw three?

In draw one, each click on the stock turns over a single card. In draw three, it turns over three, and only the top one can be played until it is moved. Draw three is the harder game. You can switch with the Draw 3 button next to the title, or go straight to our Solitaire Turn 3 page.

Can I put any card in an empty column?

No. Only a King, or a run of cards that starts with a King, can go into an empty column.

Does the game keep score?

There are no points. Each game tracks your time and number of moves, and Stats keeps a record of your wins, win rate, best time and win streaks.

Do I need to download anything or sign up?

No. Solitaire Parlor runs in your web browser, with nothing to install and no account. Because your game and stats are saved in your browser, they stay with the browser and device you play on.