How to Play Solitaire

The deal

Seven tableau columns are dealt from left to right. The first column receives one card, the second receives two, and so on up to seven cards in the last column. Only the top card of each column is face-up.

The remaining 24 cards form the stock pile. In Draw 1, you turn over one card at a time into the waste pile. In Draw 3, you turn over three cards at once. Only the top card of the waste pile can be moved.

The four foundation piles sit at the top right of the board. They are empty at the start of the game and are built upward by suit.

Building the tableau

Tableau cards are built downward in rank and alternate by color. A red 7 can be placed on a black 8; a black 6 can be placed on a red 7. A single card or a legal sequence can be moved between columns.

A sequence must be face-up, descending and alternating by color before it can move as a group. If a card in the middle of a column does not fit that pattern, it cannot be picked up with the cards below it.

Only a King can start an empty tableau column. An empty column is valuable because it gives you room to rearrange long sequences. Before you clear a column, check whether you have a King ready to use it.

The foundations

The four foundation piles are built upward by suit, starting with an Ace and ending with a King. Aces should usually be moved to the foundations as soon as they are available. Cards can be moved back from a foundation to the tableau when that helps the game.

The game is won when all four foundations contain a complete suit from Ace to King. If no useful moves remain, the game is stuck; you can undo a move or start a new deal.

Draw 1 and Draw 3

Draw 1 is the gentler mode: one card is revealed from the stock at a time, so every card in the stock is available sooner. Draw 3 reveals three cards at once and only the top waste card can be played, making the game more demanding.

When the stock is empty, the waste pile can be recycled into a new stock. HiSolitaire allows unlimited passes by default, so you can keep cycling through the deck until you find a better line.

Common beginner mistakes

• Moving every available card to the foundations too early.
• Filling an empty column without a King ready.
• Ignoring the stock because the tableau looks busy.
• Moving a long sequence without checking whether it will expose a new card.
• Forgetting that only the top waste card is playable in Draw 3.

A simple first game plan

A good Klondike game is not a race to the foundations. It is a sequence of small decisions that keep new information coming. A simple first plan is enough for most deals:

1. Scan the tableau for Aces and 2s, but do not move a higher card to a foundation just because it is available.
2. Make one or two tableau moves that expose a face-down card or create a useful sequence.
3. Draw from the stock when the tableau has no productive move left.
4. Keep one empty column for a King when possible, and avoid filling it with a card that blocks a longer sequence.
5. When you lose track, use Undo or Hint instead of guessing. The goal is to learn the deal, not to play faster than you can think.

This plan is intentionally conservative. It gives you a reason to look at every column before drawing and helps you notice when a face-down card is the real target of a move.

Moving cards between piles

A tableau sequence can be picked up only when every card from the selected card to the bottom of the column is face-up, descending and alternating by color. If a face-down card appears in the middle, the sequence stops there and the cards below it are not part of the group.

When a group moves, the new top card of the source column is turned face-up if it was face-down. That reveal is often the real reason for the move. Moving a card that does not reveal anything can still be useful, but it should have a clear purpose.

The foundations are built by suit from Ace to King. A foundation card can be moved back to the tableau if it helps, but the standard score takes a small penalty. The waste pile only exposes its top card, so in Draw 3 the cards underneath are not available until the waste is recycled.

What to do when you are stuck

First, check the stock and the waste. A draw can change the whole board, and recycling the waste is part of the normal game rather than a failure. Second, look for a move that reveals a face-down card. Third, use Hint to see a legal move you may have missed.

Undo is the best learning tool in Solitaire. If a move makes the board worse, step back and try a different order. Restart deals the same game number again; New Game creates a new deal.

The game may mark a position as stuck when no progress is available even if cosmetic moves remain. In that case, undo a move or start a new deal. A stuck position is not a scoring failure; it is information about the deal.

Controls and keyboard

Use New Game to start a fresh deal, Undo to step back, Hint to highlight a legal move, and Restart to replay the current game number. Click or tap a card to select it, then click a target pile to move it. You can also drag a card or sequence directly.

Keyboard shortcuts are available on the game table: U for Undo, H for Hint, N for New Game and R for Restart. Progress is saved in the browser after each move, so you can return to the same deal on the same device.

Try the game

The playable Klondike table is available on the Solitaire homepage. The dedicated Solitaire Turn 1 and Solitaire Turn 3 pages give each draw mode its own board and rules. You can also read the scoring guide for point values and rule variations.

Common Solitaire terms

The tableau is the seven-column playing area. The stock is the face-down pile you draw from, and the waste is where drawn cards land. The foundations are the four suit piles that build from Ace to King. A sequence is a group of tableau cards in descending order and alternating colors.

“Face-down” means the card is hidden; “face-up” means it is visible and can be used. “Empty column” means a tableau column with no cards. In Klondike, only a King can start an empty column. In FreeCell, any card can start one, which is one reason the two games feel so different.

How to practise Solitaire

Play a few Turn 1 games without using Undo, then review the board after each loss. Ask which face-down card you could have revealed earlier and which empty column you filled too soon. Short review sessions improve decision-making faster than playing quickly through many deals without noticing the same mistake.

Frequently Asked Questions