Klondike is the most popular version of solitaire and the game most people simply call "Solitaire." It is a single-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. The objective is to build four foundation piles, one for each suit, in ascending order from Ace to King.
The Layout
A Klondike game consists of four areas:
Tableau — Seven columns of cards form the main playing area. Column one has one card, column two has two cards, and so on up to column seven with seven cards. Only the top card of each column is dealt face-up; the rest are face-down.
Foundations — Four empty piles, one for each suit (Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades). Cards are built here in ascending order from Ace through King.
Stock (Draw Pile) — The remaining 24 cards after dealing the tableau. Cards are drawn from the stock when no other moves are available.
Waste (Talon) — Cards drawn from the stock are placed here face-up. Only the top card of the waste pile is available for play.
Dealing the Cards
Shuffle a standard 52-card deck thoroughly.
Deal cards into seven tableau columns from left to right. Place one card in the first column, two in the second, three in the third, and so on until the seventh column has seven cards.
Turn the top card of each tableau column face-up.
Place the remaining 24 cards face-down to form the stock pile in the upper-left corner.
Moving Cards
Cards can be moved according to these rules:
Tableau Moves
Cards on the tableau are built in descending order with alternating colors. For example, a black 6 can be placed on a red 7.
You may move a single face-up card or a properly sequenced group of face-up cards (descending, alternating colors) from one tableau column to another.
When a face-down card is exposed, turn it face-up.
Only a King (or a sequence starting with a King) may be placed in an empty tableau column.
Foundation Moves
Move Aces to the foundation piles as they become available. Each foundation pile is built by suit in ascending order: Ace, 2, 3, ... Queen, King.
Cards can be moved to the foundation from the tableau or the waste pile.
Stock and Waste
Click the stock pile to draw cards. In Draw 1 mode, one card is flipped to the waste pile at a time. In Draw 3 mode, three cards are flipped at once, but only the top card is playable.
When the stock is empty, turn the waste pile over to reform the stock (without shuffling).
Winning the Game
You win Klondike Solitaire when all 52 cards have been moved to the four foundation piles, each built from Ace to King by suit. Not every deal is winnable. Blake and Gent (2019) measured 81.945 percent of Draw 3 deals and 90.480 percent of Draw 1 deals as solvable, using a solver that knows every face-down card in advance. A player who cannot see them wins far fewer.
Quick Reference
Rule
Details
Deck
Standard 52 cards
Tableau columns
7 columns (1 to 7 cards each)
Foundation piles
4 (one per suit, Ace to King)
Tableau building
Descending rank, alternating colors
Empty columns
Kings only
Stock redeals
Unlimited (standard rules)
Quick Answers
How do you set up Klondike Solitaire?
Shuffle a standard 52-card deck and deal cards into 7 tableau columns. Place 1 card in the first column, 2 in the second, 3 in the third, and so on up to 7 cards in the seventh column. Turn the top card of each column face-up. The remaining 24 cards form the stock pile, placed face-down in the upper-left corner.
What happens when you run out of stock cards in Klondike Solitaire?
When the stock pile is empty, turn the entire waste pile face-down (without shuffling) to reform the stock. In standard rules, you can cycle through the stock an unlimited number of times. Some variations limit stock redeals to 1 or 3 passes.
Can you move cards back from the foundation in Klondike Solitaire?
In most standard rules, yes — you can move a card from the foundation back to the tableau if it creates a valid sequence. This can be strategically useful when you need a card for tableau building. However, some computer versions and house rules do not allow foundation-to-tableau moves.
What can go in an empty column in Klondike Solitaire?
Only a King (or a sequence of cards starting with a King) can be placed in an empty tableau column in Klondike Solitaire. This is one of the most important rules to remember, as empty columns are valuable strategic resources.
1Klondike Solitaire has been included in every version of Microsoft Windows since Windows 3.0 in 1990, making it the most widely distributed card game in computing history.
2Blake and Gent measured Klondike solvability with the Solvitaire solver in 2019: 81.945% of draw-3 deals and 90.480% of draw-1 deals can be won when every face-down card is known in advance.
3Klondike Solitaire is the most-played single-player card game in the world, carried onto hundreds of millions of desktops by Microsoft Windows since 1990.
4The name 'Klondike' comes from the Klondike region of Canada's Yukon Territory, where prospectors played the game during the 1896 Gold Rush.
5A standard Klondike Solitaire game uses one 52-card deck and deals 28 cards into 7 tableau columns, leaving 24 cards in the stock pile.
6Draw-3 Klondike is measurably harder than draw-1: 81.945% of draw-3 deals are solvable against 90.480% of draw-1 deals, because only every third stock card is reachable on a pass.
7Wes Cherry wrote the Microsoft Windows Solitaire program as an intern in 1989, to teach users how to drag and drop with a mouse. He did not invent the game, which is a 19th-century patience.
