Free Online Klondike Solitaire

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How to Play Klondike Solitaire

Klondike is the game most people mean when they say “Solitaire” — the one that shipped with Windows and turned a quiet coffee break into a small puzzle. You play with a single 52-card deck, and the whole game is a race to sort every card into four tidy, ordered piles. It is easy to learn in a minute and takes a lifetime to master, which is exactly why it has stayed popular for more than a century.

The Objective

Your goal is to move all 52 cards onto the four foundations in the top-right of the board. Each foundation collects one suit and is built up in order, starting with the Ace and finishing with the King: A, 2, 3, … J, Q, K. Complete all four suits and you have won.

The Setup

Twenty-eight cards are dealt into seven tableau columns — one card in the first column, two in the second, and so on up to seven in the last. Only the bottom card of each column starts face up; the rest are hidden until you uncover them. The remaining 24 cards form the stock, which you draw from when you run out of moves.

The Rules

Strategy Tips to Win More Often

Klondike rewards patience and planning. A few habits raise your win rate quickly:

Turn 1 vs Turn 3: What’s the Difference?

The Turn 1 and Turn 3 buttons control how many cards you draw from the stock at once. In Turn 1, cards come off one at a time, so every card in the stock is reachable — it’s the friendlier, higher-winning-percentage way to play. In Turn 3, cards are dealt three at a time and only every third card is immediately playable, which demands more planning and makes each deal a tougher puzzle. You can switch modes whenever you like; each switch deals a fresh game. Prefer a dedicated table? Play Turn 1 Solitaire or Turn 3 Solitaire on their own pages.

Are the Deals Always Winnable?

Not every random Klondike shuffle can be won — some are dead ends no matter how well you play. Turn on “Winnable games only” in Settings and every deal we hand you is guaranteed to have at least one solution, so a loss is always down to the moves you chose, not the luck of the shuffle. Prefer a pure random draw? Switch the option off any time. Fancy a shared puzzle? Everyone plays the same deal in the Game of the Day.

Learn more about Solitaire

New here, or want to get better? Our guides go deeper than this page. Read the full how-to-play guide for every rule step by step, pick up strategy tips to win more often, or look up any unfamiliar word in the Solitaire glossary.