Klondike Solitaire

Klondike is the solitaire game most people picture when they hear the word "solitaire." Made famous by Microsoft Windows in 1990, it has become the default patience game worldwide. The game uses a single 52-card deck and challenges players to sort all cards into four foundation piles by suit, from Ace to King.

New to solitaire? Our complete guide to playing solitaire walks you through setup, rules, and strategy step by step.

The playing field has seven tableau columns. The first holds one card, the second two, and so on up to seven. Only the top card of each column is face-up. The rest form the stock pile, drawn from to reveal new cards. Players move cards between columns, building descending sequences of alternating colors, to uncover hidden cards and fill the foundations.

Despite its simple look, Klondike has real strategic depth. Research shows that roughly 79-82% of deals are theoretically winnable, though most players win far fewer due to imperfect play. The game rewards careful planning and thinking several moves ahead.

Klondike's lasting appeal comes from its balance of luck and skill. Each deal is a unique puzzle. While some games are unwinnable no matter what you do, most give you enough control to make every decision count.

The two main variants — draw-one and draw-three — change the feel significantly. Draw-one is more forgiving and better suited to beginners. Draw-three is the classic computer version: harder, with a narrower window for recovery when things go wrong.

Setup: Shuffle a standard 52-card deck and deal seven tableau columns. Column one gets one card face-up. Column two gets two cards with only the top face-up. Continue through column seven, which gets seven cards with only the top face-up. The remaining 24 cards form the stock pile, placed face-down.

On each turn, you may do one or more of the following:

1. Move cards in the tableau. Move a face-up card or sequence from one column to another. The bottom card of the moved sequence must be one rank lower and the opposite color of the card it lands on. For example, a red 7 can go on a black 8.
2. Build the foundations. Move an Ace to an empty foundation pile. Then add the next card of that suit in ascending order to the same pile.
3. Draw from the stock. In the standard draw-three variant, three cards flip at once and only the top is playable. In the draw-one variant, cards flip one at a time. When a face-down card is uncovered at the top of a column, flip it face-up. Empty tableau columns can only be filled with Kings or sequences starting with a King. The game is won when all 52 cards are on the four foundation piles.

The name Klondike most likely comes from Canada's Yukon Territory, where gold prospectors in the 1890s reportedly played the game during harsh winters. Its origins are debated, but the earliest documented rules appear in late 19th-century card game books.

The game became a worldwide phenomenon when Microsoft included it in Windows 3.0 in 1990. Wes Cherry, a Microsoft intern, built the digital version to teach users how to drag and drop with a mouse. That simple decision turned Klondike into a global phenomenon and introduced millions to solitaire for the first time.

By some estimates, more hours have been spent playing Klondike on computers than any other single game in history. The Microsoft Solitaire Collection alone reports over 35 million monthly active players.

• Uncover face-down cards first. Every hidden card is a blocked opportunity. Focus on columns with the most face-down cards — they offer the most potential for progress.
• Play Aces and Twos to the foundations immediately. They are never useful in tableau building. But be careful with higher cards. Moving a red 5 to the foundation might block you from placing a black 4 in the tableau later.
• Keep foundation builds roughly even across all four suits. Sending one suit far ahead can strand cards from other suits in the tableau longer than needed.
• Create empty columns whenever possible. Empty columns are extremely valuable — they hold Kings and allow complex card rearrangements. Never fill an empty column unless you have a specific reason to.