About Solitaire
Play Klondike Solitaire free online. Drag and drop cards to build foundation piles from Ace to King. Classic card game with smooth controls and undo support.
How to use
- Press New Game to deal the standard Klondike layout: seven tableau columns with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 cards respectively (only the top card of each column face-up), the remaining 24 cards form the stock pile in the upper-left, and the four foundation piles sit empty in the upper-right (one per suit).
- Click the stock pile to draw cards to the waste pile (this version uses the draw-one variant — easier than draw-three Vegas-style Klondike). Only the top card of the waste pile is playable. When the stock empties, click the empty stock area to recycle the waste back into a fresh stock and keep drawing.
- Build the seven tableau columns downward in alternating colors: red on black, black on red. A red 6 goes on a black 7, a black Jack goes on a red Queen, and so on. You can move a single card or any correctly ordered run of cards as a group. Each move that uncovers a face-down card auto-flips it.
- Build the four foundations upward by suit from Ace to King (Ace, 2, 3, ... J, Q, K — all hearts on one foundation, all spades on another, etc.). Move an Ace to a foundation the moment it appears. The game is won when all 52 cards reach the foundations.
- Empty tableau columns are precious real estate — only a King (or a run starting with a King) may be placed in an empty column. If you have a King available, clearing a column to host it doubles your workspace and unblocks otherwise-trapped cards.
- Strategic priority order: (1) play any Ace or 2 to foundations immediately, (2) make moves that flip a face-down tableau card, (3) make moves that empty a column for a King, (4) only then move cards to foundations if doing so doesn't leave a needed card stranded. Foundations are permanent in this version — you cannot retrieve a card once it's there.
- Use the Undo button to take back the last move when a draw or placement leads to a dead end. Klondike with draw-one is solvable in roughly 80% of deals with optimal play; if you can't find a sequence after several undos, accept the unsolvable deal and press New Game for a fresh shuffle.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play Klondike Solitaire?
Klondike Solitaire is the classic single-player card game most people know simply as "Solitaire." The game uses a standard 52-card deck dealt into seven tableau columns (1 card in the first column, 2 in the second, and so on up to 7), with only the top card of each column face-up. The remaining cards form the stock pile. Your goal is to move all 52 cards to four foundation piles, one per suit, building each from Ace up to King. In the tableau, you build columns downward in alternating colors (red on black, black on red) to expose hidden cards and create room to maneuver.
Can I undo moves?
Yes — the undo button lets you reverse your last move, and you can undo multiple times to backtrack through a series of moves. This is invaluable for exploring different strategies without starting over. If you realize that moving a particular card to the foundation too early blocked a needed sequence in the tableau, just undo and try a different approach. Unlimited undo is one of the advantages of playing digitally compared to dealing physical cards.
What percentage of Klondike Solitaire games are winnable?
Studies and computer simulations estimate that approximately 79-82% of randomly dealt Klondike Solitaire games are theoretically winnable with perfect play. However, since you cannot see the face-down cards, you often must make decisions without full information, which means actual win rates for human players are much lower — typically 10-20% for casual players and 30-40% for experienced players. The randomness of the deal is part of what keeps the game interesting: some deals are straightforward, while others present fiendishly difficult puzzles.
What are the best strategies for winning at Solitaire?
Several key strategies significantly improve your win rate. First, always prioritize moves that expose face-down cards — revealing new cards creates more options. Second, do not automatically move every card to the foundations; sometimes a card is more useful in the tableau for building sequences. Third, use empty columns strategically — only Kings can fill empty columns, so do not empty a column unless you have a King ready to place. Fourth, when choosing between two moves that both expose cards, prefer the move that uncovers a card in the longer column, as longer columns have more hidden cards.
What is the difference between Klondike and other Solitaire variants?
Klondike is the most popular variant, but hundreds of solitaire games exist. Spider Solitaire uses two decks and builds tableau columns downward by suit (same color). FreeCell deals all cards face-up with four free cells as temporary storage, making it almost entirely skill-based (over 99% of deals are solvable). Pyramid removes cards in pairs that sum to 13. Yukon is like Klondike but allows moving any face-up card regardless of sequence. Klondike strikes a balance between luck and skill that makes it the most widely played version worldwide.
When was Solitaire invented?
Card solitaire games originated in Northern Europe in the late 18th century, with the earliest written references appearing in Scandinavian and German game manuals around 1780. Klondike Solitaire likely got its name from the Klondike Gold Rush of the 1890s. The game gained enormous global popularity when Microsoft included it in Windows 3.0 in 1990 — it was originally designed to teach people how to use a mouse through the drag-and-drop mechanic. Microsoft Solitaire has since become one of the most-played computer games in history, with over 500 million games played annually.
Is this game free?
Completely free with no ads, no sign-up, and no downloads. The game runs in your browser on any device — phone, tablet, or desktop. For more classic games, try
Minesweeper,
Chess, or
Backgammon.
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