Solitaire

How to play Solitaire

This is Klondike, the classic solitaire most people grew up with. The goal is to move all 52 cards onto the four foundations at the top right, one pile per suit, built up in order from Ace to King.

• Tableau: the seven columns. Only the top card of each column starts face up. Build downward in alternating colors, for example a red 7 on a black 8. You can move a correctly built stack of cards as a group.
• Empty columns: only a King, or a stack that starts with a King, can go into an empty column.
• Stock and waste: the face-down pile at the top left is the stock. Click it to turn cards onto the waste pile next to it, where the top card is playable. When the stock runs out, click the empty spot to turn the waste back over. You can go through the deck as many times as you like.
• Face-down cards: when you move the last face-up card off a column, the card underneath flips over automatically.

Controls

• Computer: click a card to send it to the best legal spot (a foundation if it fits, otherwise a column). To choose the spot yourself, drag the card or stack and drop it on a column or foundation. Ctrl/Cmd + Z undoes.
• Phone or tablet: tap a card to move it automatically, or drag it with your finger. Tap the stock to draw.

Tapped cards that have nowhere to go give a little shake, so you know the move is not legal.

Helpful features

• Draw 1 or Draw 3. Draw 1 shows you every card in the stock and is the relaxed way to play. Draw 3 is the traditional, harder game. Switching deals a new game.
• Undo. Take back as many moves as you want, including draws from the stock.
• Hint. Stuck? Press Hint and the suggested card and its destination light up. Hints favor moves to the foundations, then moves that turn over a face-down card.
• One-tap finish. Once the stock is empty and every card is face up, press Finish and the cards fly home on their own.
• Auto-save and best times. Your game is saved on this device, and your fastest win is kept separately for Draw 1 and Draw 3.

Quick strategy

1. Turn over face-down cards first. A move that reveals a hidden card is almost always the best move on the board.
2. Work on the longest columns. The right-hand column hides six cards. Freeing it early gives you the most options.
3. Make tableau moves before you draw. The stock is not going anywhere, but a tableau move might create a home for the next card you draw.
4. Only empty a column when a King is ready for it. An empty column cannot hold anything else.
5. Don't rush middle cards to the foundations. A 6 on a foundation can no longer hold a 5 in the tableau.

Our full guide to winning Klondike solitaire explains each habit in detail, including when a card is safe to send home and how to handle Draw 3.

Pro tip: In Draw 3, playing a single card off the waste pile changes which cards come up on the next pass through the stock. If a pass shows you nothing useful, one waste play can shake things loose.

Where Klondike came from

Solitaire games, also called patience, were being played in Europe by the late 1700s. Klondike is usually said to take its name from the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada's Yukon in the late 1890s. The game became a household habit a century later, when Microsoft shipped Solitaire with Windows 3.0 in 1990. It was written by a Microsoft intern, Wes Cherry, with a card deck designed by Susan Kare, and it quietly taught millions of people how to drag and drop with a mouse.