How to play Solitaire

Solitaire — properly called Klondike, and the patience game nearly every computer has shipped with since 1990 — is played with a single 52-card deck. Seven columns are dealt in front of you, the first holding one card and the seventh holding seven, with only the bottom card of each turned face up. Four empty home piles sit at the top right, and what is left of the deck waits at the top left.

Your goal is to move all fifty-two cards onto the home piles, one suit each, climbing from Ace to King. To get there you rearrange the columns: a card may be placed on a card of the opposite colour and the next rank up, so a red seven goes onto a black eight. Any run already in that descending alternating order travels as a single unit. Empty a column and only a King may move into it. Turning the deck gives you fresh cards when the columns stall, and when the deck runs out you turn it over and go round again.

More like this: Brain games · Logic games

Tips & strategy

• Turn over face-down cards before anything else. A column you cannot see into is a column you cannot plan around, so prefer the move that exposes a new card over the move that merely tidies up.
• Do not rush Aces and twos home — those low cards are useful in the columns, and once a card is home it is hard to get back.
• Empty a column only when you have a King ready to fill it. An empty column with no King waiting is dead space.
• On draw 3 the deck order matters: count ahead to see which cards will surface before committing to a line.
• When Hint says it can find no useful move, undo is unlimited — walk back a few moves and take the other branch rather than reshuffling.

Solitaire FAQ

How do you play Klondike Solitaire?

Build all four suits up from Ace to King on the four home piles. In the seven columns you stack downwards in alternating colours, and only a King may start an empty column.

What is the difference between draw 1 and draw 3?

Draw 1 turns a single card from the deck at a time and is the gentler game. Draw 3 turns three at once and only the top one is playable, which makes it considerably harder.

Is every Solitaire deal winnable?

No. Klondike deals are shuffled at random and a portion of them cannot be solved by any sequence of moves, so the game gives you unlimited undo and a fresh deal whenever you want one.

Is Solitaire free on Skorven?

Completely free in the browser, with no download and no signup. Sign in only if you want your stars on the leaderboard.