Turn hidden cards into playable choices.

Start with the rules of this deal

The advice in the next sections applies to the site’s Klondike game. Other members of the catalog family may have more columns, a different stock, or much freer group movement. A familiar-looking tableau does not make the same move best in each game.

The Klondike deal: seven-column triangle and stock

The 52-card deck is dealt into seven tableau columns in a triangular layout: one card in column 1, two in column 2, up to seven in column 7. The bottom card of each column is face-up; all cards above it are face-down.

• Tableau — Sequences build downward in alternating colors. A sequence of alternating-color, properly ranked cards can move as a unit. Only Kings (or King-headed sequences) can fill an empty column.
• Foundations — Four piles, one per suit, building upward from Ace to King. The goal is to move all 52 cards to the foundations.
• Stock and waste — The remaining 24 cards form the stock. Cards are turned one or three at a time (depending on the rules chosen) onto the waste pile. The top waste card is always available for play.

The hidden-card priority

Prefer a move that exposes a face-down card when its cost in working space is acceptable. Compare the route it opens with other possible reveals.

Every face-down card is an unknown that constrains your future options. A face-down card might be the Ace you need, a King for an empty column, or a rank that advances a foundation. You cannot know until you flip it. Moving visible cards can still help when it creates a route to a reveal or frees a useful column.

This principle has one important exception: moves that set up future reveals. Moving a visible card to create the sequence needed to flip a face-down card two moves later is still a reveal-oriented move, even though it does not flip anything immediately.

Draw-1 vs. draw-3 Klondike

The two most common Klondike variants differ in how many cards are turned from the stock at once:

Draw-1 (turn one)

Each draw exposes one card. After the stock is exhausted, the waste can be recycled, so a card passed on the first cycle can still be reached later.

Draw-3 (turn three)

Every stock flip reveals three cards, but only the top one is playable. This means two-thirds of the stock is hidden behind the top card at any given time. Cycling through the stock again can change which cards are reachable. This site allows recycling whenever the stock is empty; there is no fixed pass limit.

Draw-3 strategy requires more patience with the stock. Do not play a waste card just because it is available. Playing it changes which cards are on top of the waste during later passes. Compare a waste move with a tableau move that exposes a hidden card or opens space.

Foundation timing

Many players move cards to the foundations at every opportunity. This is usually the right instinct, but there are specific situations where delaying a foundation move is better.

The classic rule for safe-to-foundation is: a card of rank R is safe to move to the foundation when both opposite-color suits at rank R−1 are already on their foundations. In practice, this means:

• Red cards of rank R are safe when both black suit foundations are at R−1 or higher.
• Black cards of rank R are safe when both red suit foundations are at R−1 or higher.

In practice, breaking this rule occasionally is fine — but knowing the rule helps you identify when a foundation move might hurt.

Empty columns and Kings

In this Klondike game, only a King or King-headed sequence can enter an empty tableau column. Clearing a column is useful when a King can move there and release cards from its old position. An empty column cannot hold a non-King sequence temporarily.

The strategic question when a column empties: which King produces the most value? Compare what each available King uncovers at its source. The best landing is often the one that flips a hidden card or exposes a useful low rank.

Where Klondike games go wrong

• Moving cards to foundations too eagerly. Every card moved to the foundation permanently removes it from tableau use. Check the safe-to- foundation rule before sending mid-rank cards up.
• Drawing from stock before checking all tableau moves.A reveal move available in the tableau is almost always better than a stock draw, because it provides information and board improvement simultaneously.
• Choosing a King without checking its source. A legal King move may expose nothing while another King move reveals a hidden card.
• Pursuing long visible sequences without a reveal.Building a 6-card alternating sequence that does not flip any face-down card is usually neutral. It may look like progress, but progress in Klondike is measured in revealed cards and foundation advances, not sequence length.

Accepting unwinnable deals

Some deals may have no winning line. A game that ends without a win is not necessarily evidence of a poor decision.

Use undo to explore alternative lines when stuck, and compare another line before abandoning a position. The stock and waste can be recycled in this implementation, so an empty stock alone does not prove that no more moves are possible.

Las Vegas Solitaire: spend the one stock pass carefully

Las Vegas Solitaire uses the seven-column Klondike deal and draws one card at a time, but its stock cannot be recycled. The score begins at −$50 and rises by $5 per card moved to a foundation. Before covering the top waste card with another draw, check whether it can usefully enter a foundation or tableau pile. If a waste card is played, the card beneath it becomes available again; a card is not necessarily lost simply because it was covered once.

The score changes the visible reward, not the legal foundation goal. Compare a tableau reveal with an immediate foundation move by the access it creates for later cards. The stock has no second pass to rescue a blocked sequence of waste cards.

Kuiper: a wider Klondike deal

Kuiperdeals one deck across eight columns of one through eight cards, leaving 16 cards in a draw-one stock. It builds down in alternating colors, moves ordered face-up groups, and allows only Kings into empty columns. Like this site’s Klondike, its waste can be recycled whenever the stock is empty.

The extra column creates another route to a hidden card, but it also puts seven hidden cards under the top of column eight. Compare which move exposes useful information and which columns can accept a King; unlimited recycling does not by itself make a buried tableau card accessible.

Which Klondike lessons transfer?

Hidden-card access and foundation timing are useful questions throughout this family. The exact way to create space and reach new cards depends on the deal.

• Yukon has no stock. Any face-up card can carry the cards above it, even an unordered tail, but only a King can start an empty column. Trace the exposed lead card before moving a group.
• Easthaven deals a row across the tableau from its stock. Preserve useful columns before adding a covering row.
• Gargantua uses two decks and eight foundations. A duplicate card can offer another access route, but duplicate ranks can also compete for the same tableau space.
• Whitehead begins with its tableau face-up and builds by color. Its puzzle is visible-card access rather than discovering hidden tableau cards.