This guide teaches Klondike, the game most people mean by Solitaire, from your first look at the table to the end of the opening. You need no cards. Play Solitaire now in another tab and follow along.
1. What is on the table
- Tableau: the seven columns across the middle. Only the top card of each is face up at the start.
- Stock: the face-down pile at the top left. It holds the 24 cards that were not dealt to the columns.
- Waste: the spot next to the stock where drawn cards land face up.
- Foundations: the four empty spaces at the top right. Each one takes a single suit, from Ace up to King.
You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations.
2. The moves you will use most
In the tableau, put a card on another card one rank higher and of the other color: a red 5 on a black 6. You can move a whole face-up run the same way, as long as its bottom card fits. Any Ace goes straight to an empty foundation, and the 2 of that suit follows it. When you uncover a face-down card, it turns face up. When you run out of moves, click the stock to draw. The complete rules cover the rest.
3. Controls on this site
Drag a card or a run to move it. On a computer, double-click a card to send it to the best place it can go, usually a foundation. On a phone, a tap does the same. Click the stock to draw. When it is empty, click it again to turn the waste back into a new stock. Hint outlines a card and draws an arrow to where it can go. Undo has no limit. When the rest of a game needs no decisions, a Finish button plays it out.
4. Your first moves
Before you touch the stock, look at the seven face-up cards. Move any Ace to a foundation. Then look for cards that fit on each other. Each move that leaves a face-down card on top of a column turns it over, and that is progress. Only when the tableau has nothing left to do should you draw from the stock.
5. A worked example
Say the face-up cards on columns one to seven are: 8♠, A♦, 9♥, 7♦, K♣, 3♠ and 6♣. Here is one way to play the opening.
- Move the A♦ to a foundation. The card under it in column two turns over. Say it is the 10♣.
- Move the 8♠ onto the 9♥ in column three. Column one held only that card, so it is now empty.
- Move the K♣ from column five into the empty column one. Column five has four face-down cards, so this uncovers one. Say it is the 4♥.
- Move the 7♦ from column four onto the 8♠. Column four turns over a card.
- Move the 6♣ from column seven onto the 7♦. Column seven turns over a card.
- Move the 3♠ from column six onto the 4♥ in column five. Column six turns over a card.
- Move the run 9♥, 8♠, 7♦, 6♣ from column three onto the 10♣ in column two. Column three turns over a card.
After seven moves you have turned over six face-down cards and have not drawn from the stock once. Notice the order. The King went into the empty column only because it had cards under it. The long run moved last, onto a card that had just appeared. A real deal will look different, but the same questions work every time: which move turns over a card, and which move opens the way for the next one?
6. When you get stuck
Go through the stock and play what you can. If a full pass gives you nothing, press Hint. If Hint has nothing either, the game tells you no useful move is left. You can undo back to an earlier choice and try another line, or start a new game. Not every deal can be won, so a loss is not always a mistake.
Next steps
- Start on Turn 1, the easier draw mode, then try Turn 3.
- Read the strategy guide once the moves feel natural.
- Learn where the game comes from on the Klondike page.
- Try the daily deal, or another game: FreeCell or Spider.