Gargantua gives you two stock passes, not infinite ones — every card you skip is a debt you may never repay.
Gargantua is Klondike doubled in almost every dimension: two decks, nine columns, eight foundations. The one thing it does not double is the stock: only two passes are allowed. Players who carry Klondike habits of cycling the stock many times will find Gargantua unforgiving. The discipline shift is from “I’ll come back to it” to “if I leave it, it may be gone.”
Last updated: June 2026
Gargantua vs. Klondike: the key differences
The core mechanic is identical to Klondike: alternating-color sequences descend in rank, Kings fill empty columns, and foundations build upward by suit from Ace to King. Gargantua scales the game up in four ways:
- Two decks. 104 cards instead of 52. Two copies of every rank-suit combination. Foundations need both copies of each card.
- Nine columns.Columns are dealt 1 through 9 cards each (45 total), leaving 59 in the stock. The deepest column starts with nine cards, all face-down except the bottom card. This means significantly more hidden information at the start than Klondike’s seven columns.
- Eight foundations. Two foundations per suit (Ace through King each). Both copies of every card must reach foundations.
- Two stock passes only. The most important difference from standard Klondike, which usually allows unlimited recycling. After two complete passes through the stock, the remaining unplayed cards are permanently unavailable.
The two-pass stock budget
With only two passes, the stock in Gargantua is a counted resource, not a renewable one. Each pass reveals all remaining stock cards once. Cards played during a pass reduce the stock; cards that pass without being played remain for the next pass. After pass two, everything not yet played is gone.
The strategic implication: play waste-top cards as soon as a productive destination exists. In Klondike, deferring a waste card to see the next card is low risk (you can always cycle back). In Gargantua, deferring a playable waste card adds it to the stack of waste cards beneath the next draw, where it can only resurface if the cards above it are all played first in pass two.
Any waste card that has a foundation play or a productive tableau move on the first pass should be taken. On the second pass, available destinations may have changed for better or worse — but the card will not be seen again. A foundation play deferred on pass one risks being buried in the waste for pass two when the surrounding cards may no longer be playable.
Column reveal priority
Gargantua starts with more hidden cards than Klondike: 44 face-down cards across nine columns (compared to 21 face-down across seven in Klondike). The face-down card reveal phase is therefore longer and more consequential.
Prioritize reveals in the order that produces the most useful face-up cards:
- Shorter columns first. Columns with fewer face-down cards reveal their bottom card in fewer moves. A column with three face-down cards takes three reveals to expose its deepest card; a column with eight face-down cards takes eight. Start with short columns to get early information cheaply.
- Columns blocking foundation starts.If a column top is needed on a foundation (an Ace, or the next needed rank), reveal below it first to unlock the column’s contribution to foundation progress.
- Columns with useful tops.A column whose face-up card can extend another column’s sequence right now is worth prioritizing to create a cascade.
Duplicate card management
With two copies of every card, Gargantua offers a safety net that Klondike lacks: if one copy of a needed rank-suit combination is buried, the other may be accessible elsewhere. This redundancy is real, but it cuts both ways:
- Positive:A buried 5♥ does not necessarily block Hearts foundation progress if the second 5♥ is accessible in another column or the waste. Check for duplicates before declaring a foundation path blocked.
- Negative: Both copies of the same card must eventually reach their respective foundations. Using one copy of a card in a tableau sequence is fine, but be aware that the second copy still needs to surface and reach a foundation.
- Empty column management: Gargantua uses Kings to fill empty columns, but with two Kings per suit, the first King played to an empty column uses one; the second King of the same suit still needs a destination. Plan which Kings go to empty columns and which build in existing sequences.
The Hearts foundation is at 6 (needs 7♥ next). The only visible 7♥ is buried three cards deep under a same-color sequence in column 5. Column 7, however, has a face-down card that will be revealed when the 8♥ on its top is moved. The 8♥ can go on a 9 of black in column 3.
Move 8♥ to column 3. Column 7’s face-down card is revealed; if it is the second 7♥, the foundation is immediately advanced. If it is another card, the reveal information is still valuable and may enable further tableau moves that eventually surface the buried 7♥ in column 5.
What ends a Gargantua game prematurely
- Treating the stock like Klondike unlimited cycling.Leaving playable waste cards for “later” is far more costly in Gargantua. There is no third pass to catch what you missed.
- Ignoring the reveal debt in deep columns. Column 9 starts with nine face-down cards. If it is not actively being excavated throughout the game, it will still hold deep cards when the stock approaches exhaustion, creating a late-game crisis.
- Overbuilding tableau sequences without foundation advancement. A long alternating-color sequence looks organized but may only be accessible after many intermediate moves. Foundations advance through specific suit cards, not through long sequences of mixed suits.
- Forgetting that both copies of each card need foundations. Celebrating a foundation advancement when one copy reaches it is correct; the second copy of the same rank-suit card still needs a separate foundation play later.