This is the classic game most people just call "Solitaire" — the one built into Windows for years — written out plainly. The layout and building rules are the same in every book; the parts that change are the stock rules and scoring, and those are labeled.
What the game is
Klondike is a one-player card game. You deal the deck into seven columns, then move the cards around to uncover the hidden ones, with one goal: build all four suits up in order — Ace, 2, 3, all the way to King — on four "foundation" piles. Get all 52 cards home and you win.
Players: 1. What you need: one standard 52-card deck.
Setting up
- Deal a row of seven cards, one to each column, all face down.
- Deal a second row onto columns 2 through 7, face down. Keep going this way: each new row starts one column later.
- When the columns hold 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 cards, turn the top card of each column face up. That layout of seven columns is the tableau.
- The remaining 24 cards are the face-down stock. Cards turned over from it form the waste pile, face up.
- Leave room above the tableau for four foundation piles, one per suit, all empty at the start.
How to play
- Build the foundations up: each foundation starts with an Ace and climbs its own suit in order — Ace, 2, 3 … up to King. Only the top card of a column or the waste may move.
- Build the tableau down: in the columns, a card may be placed on a card one rank higher of the opposite color — a red 6 on a black 7, a black Jack on a red Queen. Colors must alternate all the way down.
- Move runs together: a group of cards in a column that runs downhill with alternating colors may be picked up and moved as one piece, as long as the bottom card of the group lands legally on the column it moves to.
- Flip as you uncover: when the last face-up card leaves a column and a face-down card is on top, turn that card face up at once.
- Empty columns take Kings only: only a King — or a run headed by a King — may be placed in an empty tableau column.
- Use the stock: turn cards from the stock onto the waste (see Draw 1 vs Draw 3 below) and play the top card of the waste onto a foundation or a column whenever it fits. Cards under it cannot be used until the top one is played.
- You may bring a card back down: under the standard rules, the top card of a foundation may be moved back onto the tableau if it helps free other cards. (Computer "standard scoring" charges points for it — see below.)
- Winning and losing: you win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. You are stuck — the game is over — when the stock is exhausted and no legal move remains.
Ways to play it differently
- Draw 1 vs Draw 3 (labeled house/computer setting): turn one stock card at a time to the waste — the easier game, and the usual book rule printed by Bicycle — or turn three at a time, with only the top of the three playable — the harder game most computer versions offer as the challenge mode. This single choice changes the difficulty more than anything else in Klondike.
- How many passes through the stock (the classic disagreement): with Draw 1, most books and computer versions allow unlimited trips through the deck. With Draw 3, many books limit the waste to three passes total, and some strict rules allow only one. Agree on it before dealing.
- Vegas scoring (labeled scoring system): you "buy" the deck for $52 and earn $5 for every card you put on a foundation — so you need 11 cards home before you are ahead. Computer Vegas mode also usually limits you to a single pass through the stock. It is a way of keeping score, not a change to the rules.
- Computer standard scoring (Microsoft's published points): 10 points for each card moved to a foundation, 5 for a card moved from the waste to the tableau, 5 for each tableau card turned face up, and minus 15 for moving a card back down from a foundation. Paper games with no score at all are just as official — scoring is an add-on.
Official rule or house rule?
Can any card go in an empty column? Not in Klondike — Kings only. (Any card in an empty column is the rule of FreeCell, its cousin on this site.) Letting any card fill a gap is a common house relaxation; it makes the game much easier, so it is worth naming out loud if you use it.
May I look through the waste pile? You may look at the top card only for play, and the waste stays in order — no reshuffling it into a better sequence. Checking what is in it from memory is part of the game.
Is turning three cards "the real rules"? Neither version owns the game. Books print both; computers offer both. What matters is agreeing before the deal — mid-game switching is the only true foul.
What if no moves are possible but the stock still has cards? Keep turning the stock — a card from it may open a move later. The game ends only when the stock is done and no moves exist.
Common questions
Can I move part of a column's run, leaving the rest behind?
Yes. Any face-up run that is in correct downhill alternating order can be moved as a unit, starting from any card in it.
Do the foundations have to be built in order across suits?
No. Each suit climbs independently. You can finish hearts while spades still sits on its Ace.
Is every deal winnable?
No. Some Klondike layouts cannot be won even with perfect play — and many more become unwinnable after one wrong move. That is normal for this game.
Must I move an Ace to the foundation the moment I see it?
No — but there is never a reason to leave one down. Small cards (2s, 3s) are a real choice: they can be useful holding cards on the tableau early on.
Sources: Bicycle Cards, "Klondike Solitaire" (bicyclecards.com/how-to-play/klondike-solitaire), the Microsoft Solitaire scoring rules, and the standard rules as collected at Wikipedia, "Klondike (solitaire)." Read in full and rewritten in our own plain words. Settings that vary — draw count, stock passes, scoring — are labeled above.