Klondike Solitaire is the most widely played card game in history. When Microsoft bundled it with Windows 3.0 in 1990, hundreds of millions of people played it for the first time — and many became hooked for life. Today you can play Solitaire right in your browser without any download. If you're new to the game or want to understand it more deeply, this guide covers everything: the rules, the board layout, and smart strategies to help you win more often.
The Setup: Understanding the Board
A standard Klondike Solitaire game uses one deck of 52 playing cards. The board has three distinct areas:
The Tableau: Seven columns of cards in the centre of the board. At the start, column 1 has 1 card, column 2 has 2, column 3 has 3, and so on up to column 7 with 7 cards. In each column, only the top card is face-up; all others are face-down. This is where most of the action takes place.
The Foundation: Four empty slots in the upper-right corner, one for each suit (♠ ♥ ♦ ♣). The goal of the game is to build these four piles up from Ace to King in the same suit. When all four foundation piles are complete, you win.
The Stock and Waste: The remaining 24 cards sit face-down in the upper-left as the Stock. Click the stock to flip cards one at a time (or three at a time in harder variations) into the Waste pile. The top card of the waste pile can be played at any time.
How to Move Cards
In the tableau, you can move face-up cards onto other face-up cards, following two rules: the card you're moving must be one rank lower than the card it's going on, and it must be the opposite colour. So a red 7 can go on a black 8, and a black Queen can go on a red King.
You can move a stack of face-up cards as a group, as long as they're already arranged in alternating colour, descending order. For example, if you have a red 5 on a black 6, you can move both of them together onto a red 7.
When a face-down card in the tableau becomes the top card of its column (because all face-up cards above it were moved), it automatically flips face-up — revealing a new card to play with. This is one of the key mechanisms of the game.
Empty tableau columns can only be filled with Kings (or stacks starting with a King).
Moving Cards to the Foundation
Any Ace can go straight to the foundation. Once an Ace is there, you can place the 2 of the same suit on it, then the 3, and so on up to the King. Cards can go to the foundation from the tableau or from the waste pile.
You can also move cards back from the foundation to the tableau if needed — though this is rarely a good idea unless it unlocks a critical move.
Winning Strategy
Reveal face-down cards as a priority. The biggest constraint in Solitaire is the number of face-down cards in the tableau. Every time you flip a new card, you gain information and options. Always look for moves that flip a face-down card rather than moves that just shuffle face-up cards around.
Target the longest columns first. Column 7 has six face-down cards, column 6 has five, and so on. Moving face-up cards off the longer columns reveals face-down cards faster, opening up more options sooner.
Don't rush cards to the foundation. It's tempting to send every card to the foundation the moment you can. But keeping low-value cards in the tableau is often strategically better — a 2 or 3 left in the tableau can serve as a base for building alternating sequences, which helps you unlock more face-down cards. Send cards to the foundation when they won't be useful in the tableau.
Create empty columns carefully. An empty column is very powerful because it gives you a temporary holding spot. But only a King can fill an empty column — so if you create one, have a King (or a King-led stack) ready to place there. An empty column with no King available to fill it is a wasted opportunity.
Think two or three moves ahead. Solitaire rewards forward thinking. Before making a move, ask yourself: what does this enable? Will moving this card flip a face-down card, or will it just rearrange things without improving the board? If a move doesn't open up new possibilities, look for a better one first.
Use the stock strategically. Cycle through the stock when you've exhausted the obvious tableau moves. Keep track of cards you've seen in the waste pile — you'll cycle through the stock again, and knowing what's coming helps you plan ahead.
Why Some Games Can't Be Won
Not every Solitaire deal is winnable — mathematically, roughly 80% of Klondike games are theoretically solvable, but good play and strategy are needed to find and execute those solutions. If you've cycled through the stock multiple times and can find no productive moves, the game may be unwinnable. That's not a failure — it's a natural part of Solitaire. Start a new game and apply what you learned.