Pocket Games
Klondike solitaire
Klondike is the solitaire everyone just calls "solitaire", the one that came with every computer in the nineties. Played on instinct you win about one game in three. The gap between that figure and double it comes down to two or three decisions per game, and they all look harmless.
The layout and the play
Seven piles in a row: the first has one card, the second two, up to the seventh with seven. Only the last card of each pile is face up. The remaining cards form the stock, which you draw from.
You move in two directions:
- On the piles, you build downwards in alternating colours: a red 9 goes under a black 10. You can move a group of cards that is already in sequence, and the space left by an emptied pile can only be filled by a king.
- On the four foundations at the top, you build up by suit from ace to king. Getting all fifty-two cards there means you have won.
Every time you uncover the last face-down card of a pile, it flips: that is the real engine of the game.
In this version you draw one card at a time and you get three passes through the deck. It is the most forgiving variant of Klondike, the one with the highest share of winnable deals. The record kept is the number of moves you closed a game in: fewer is better.
The strategic rules that matter
Uncovering face-down cards comes before everything. Between two possible moves, always take the one that flips a face-down card, and among those, the one freeing the pile with the most hidden cards. Long piles are the ones that can lock the game: dismantle them early, while you still have options.
Do not send everything to the foundations. This is the most common and the most expensive mistake. A low card in the foundation never comes back, and a red 4 might be the landing spot a black 3 needs. Send a card up when it is no longer of use to anyone: in practice, once both lower cards of the opposite colour have gone up too.
An empty space is worth more than a move. But only if you have a king ready for it, or know one is coming. Emptying a pile without the king in hand means you have blocked a column for nothing.
Think before you draw. Drawing changes the available card and, on later passes, the order in which the deck’s cards come back. Exhausting the moves on the table before touching the stock keeps your options open longer.
Watch the third pass. With only three passes, the deck cards you cannot place have a limited number of chances. If you need a card and let it go by twice, the third time is the last.
When a game is lost
Not every deal is winnable: drawing one card at a time, roughly 20-25% of layouts have no solution whatever you do. The classic sign is two or three kings sitting low in the long piles with no way to reach them. Recognising it and starting again is a legitimate choice — and it is also why the record here is a move count rather than a number of wins.
Frequently asked questions
How many games do you win, playing well?
Drawing one card with three passes, an attentive player wins around half their games; playing blind you land far lower. The difference is almost entirely in the "uncover face-down cards first" rule.
Why not send cards to the foundations straight away?
Because the foundation is one-way. A 2 sent up too early leaves another suit’s ace without its landing spot, and the game locks ten moves later, once you can no longer connect the two things.
Can I move groups of cards?
Yes, as long as they are already in descending sequence with alternating colours. It is the normal way to free the face-down cards under a long pile.
Why is it called Klondike?
After the Canadian Klondike, the region of the late-nineteenth-century gold rush: the game is said to have spread among the prospectors.
More games to try
See the full list of games, or open Pocket Games in your browser: they are free and you don’t need an account.