This page assumes you know the rules of Klondike. Each point below is something you can check on the table in front of you. Try them on the game on the home page, or on the daily deal so you can compare with friends.
Choosing the next move
- Turn over face-down cards first. A move that uncovers a hidden card gives you information and a new card to play. A move that only shifts face-up cards from one column to another usually gives you neither.
- Work on the tallest columns. Column seven starts with six hidden cards and column two with one. A card stuck at the bottom of a tall column can block a whole suit, so dig there whenever the choice is otherwise equal.
- Break ties by what you uncover. If a red 7 could go on either of two black 8s, take the 8 whose move frees something, or the one sitting on the taller column, so a later move there turns a card.
- Play the tableau before the stock. Make the tableau moves you are sure of, then draw. Stock cards are easier to place once more columns are open.
When to send a card to the foundation
Aces and 2s should go up at once. They are never needed in the tableau. For higher cards, use this check: a card is safe to send up when both cards of the opposite color and one rank lower are already on the foundations. A red 6 is safe once both black 5s are up, because nothing else would ever be placed on it. If one of those black 5s is still in play, the red 6 may be the only place it can go, so leave the 6 in the tableau until you need the space.
Empty columns and Kings
An empty column helps only when a King can fill it, so do not clear one with no King available. When you have a choice of Kings, pick by color. If the queen you need to free next is red, put a black King in the column, so the queen has a home. Prefer a King that has face-down cards under it, because moving it turns one of them over. A King from the waste turns nothing over, so it is usually the weaker choice.
Using the stock
With unlimited passes, a pass through the stock costs nothing, so it is worth one early look to learn where the Kings and low cards are. In Turn 3 the order of the waste matters: playing one card shifts which cards come up later. The Turn 3 page explains how to plan around this, and the Turn 1 page covers the easier mode.
Common mistakes
- Moving a run back and forth. Moving a run between two cards of the same rank and color achieves nothing unless it uncovers a card or frees a spot you need.
- Filling an empty column with the first King you see. Check every King in the tableau and the stock first, then choose.
- Building on the foundations too fast. A 7 or 8 sent up early can leave a 6 or 7 of the other color with nowhere to go.
- Drawing before looking. Drawing while a useful tableau move is waiting changes the waste and, in Turn 3, the order of the stock.
- Giving up on a deal too early. Undo has no limit here. Go back to the last real choice and try the other option before you start a new game.
Knowing when a deal is lost
Some deals cannot be won. If every face-down card in a column is stuck under a King-headed run that has nowhere to go, and the stock offers nothing, that column is closed. The game tells you when no useful move is left. At that point a new deal is the right call. The Klondike page has more on how often deals can be won.
New to the game? Start with how to play Solitaire. For a game with no hidden cards, try FreeCell. For a longer one, try Spider.