Klondike Solitaire is the most famous single-player card game in the world — the quiet puzzle of patience that has traveled from gold-rush saloons to every computer on Earth. The rules take five minutes to learn, but reading the tableau well takes a lifetime. This guide covers the full classic rules — setup, legal moves, Draw 1 versus Draw 3, and scoring — plus the strategy habits that separate casual players from consistent winners.
Objective
The goal of Klondike is to move all 52 cards onto the four foundations — one per suit — building each from Ace up to King. When every card reaches a foundation, you win. If no legal or useful moves remain and the stock is exhausted, the game is lost.
Setup
Klondike uses one standard 52-card deck with no jokers. Deal seven tableau piles left to right: the first pile gets one card, the second two, up to seven cards in the seventh pile. Only the top card of each pile is face up; everything beneath stays face down. That uses 28 cards. The remaining 24 form the stock, placed face down. Cards turned from the stock go to the waste pile, and the four empty foundation spaces sit above the tableau.
How the Game Is Played
Building on the tableau
Tableau piles are built downward in alternating colors: a black 9 may be placed on a red 10, a red Queen on a black King, and so on. You may move a single face-up card or any face-up run in sequence — and you may split a run, moving only its lower portion, as long as the move continues the down-by-one, alternate-color pattern at its destination. When a move exposes a face-down card, turn it face up. An empty tableau column may be filled only by a King (or a run headed by a King).
Building the foundations
Foundations are built upward by suit: Ace, 2, 3 … Jack, Queen, King. Any playable Ace should generally go up immediately. In most versions — including ours — you may also bring a foundation card back down to the tableau if it helps you unbury something.
The stock and waste
When the tableau offers no useful move, turn cards from the stock. In Draw 1, you flip one card at a time and every card is playable as it appears. In Draw 3, you flip three at once and only the top card of the fan may be played — playing it unlocks the one beneath. When the stock runs out, turn the waste over to form a new stock and continue; classic play allows unlimited passes.
Scoring
Casual Klondike is simply win-or-lose, but the traditional standard scoring rewards efficiency:
- Waste to tableau: 5 points
- Any card to a foundation: 10 points
- Turning a face-down tableau card face up: 5 points
- Foundation back to tableau: −15 points
Many players instead measure themselves by time, move count, and win rate — the three numbers that really tell you whether your game is improving.
Winning the Game
You win the moment all 52 cards are on the foundations. In practice the game is usually decided earlier: once every face-down card has been revealed and the stock holds no surprises, the endgame plays itself — which is why the real contest is the middle game, where you choose which buried cards to dig for first.
Strategy & Tips
- Flip face-down cards first. Every hidden card you reveal is new information and new options. When two moves are otherwise equal, take the one that turns a card over.
- Dig at the tallest piles. A move that helps unbury a six-deep pile is usually worth more than one that empties a short pile.
- Don't rush every card to the foundation. Aces and 2s can go up freely, but middle cards often do more work in the tableau, where they can host other cards. Send a card up only when it no longer helps below.
- Never empty a column without a King ready. An empty space that no King can fill is wasted; an empty space with the right-colored King waiting is one of the strongest positions in the game.
- Choose your King's color deliberately. Before filling a space, check which Queens and Jacks are still buried — the wrong-colored King can dead-end an entire column.
- In Draw 3, count the stock cycle. The same cards return in the same order each pass. Playing (or deliberately not playing) a waste card shifts the alignment by one and can unlock cards that were previously unreachable.
- Hold aces high, literally. Keep foundation piles roughly level; racing one suit far ahead can strand the low cards of other suits that needed a tableau home.
- Lost a deal? Replay it. Replaying the same shuffle and trying a different line is the fastest way to learn what the winning habits actually are.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is every game of Klondike Solitaire winnable?
No. A minority of deals are unwinnable no matter how well you play, and in Draw 3 some winnable deals are only winnable with perfect play. Skill raises your win rate substantially, but no streak lasts forever. In Double Eagle Apps: Solitaire every game has a deal number and a REPLAY DEAL option that runs the exact same shuffle — so you can prove to yourself whether a tough deal could have been beaten.
What is the difference between Draw 1 and Draw 3?
Draw 1 turns one stock card at a time, and every card you see is playable — the friendlier game. Draw 3 turns three at once with only the top card playable, hiding information and demanding stock-cycle planning — the classic challenge. Our app offers both.
Can I move part of a stack?
Yes. Any face-up run in descending, alternating-color order can be moved whole or split anywhere along its length, provided the card you move continues the sequence at its destination.
Is the Double Eagle version fair, and does it work offline?
Yes on both counts. Every deal is shuffled once from its deal number before you see a single card — nothing is rearranged while you play — and the Fair Play panel in Settings explains exactly how that works. The game is 100% offline, needs no account, and is completely ad-free at launch. There's also a seeded daily deal: the same shuffle for every player in the world, with streaks and monthly calendar trophies.
More Game Guides
Master the rest of the classics with our other guides:
- How to Play Poker — Texas Hold'em & Five Card Stud
- How to Play Spades
- How to Play Hearts
- How to Play Backgammon
- How to Play Chess & Checkers
- All Double Eagle games
Klondike, Reborn in Gold
Double Eagle Apps: Solitaire is coming soon to Google Play from Double Eagle Games — provably fair deals, buttery drag-and-drop, Draw 1 and Draw 3, a worldwide daily challenge, and never an ad mid-game.