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Solitaire Glossary: Klondike Terms Explained

Every word you'll meet on the board, in plain English.

Solitaire has a small vocabulary of its own. Once you know these words, guides and tips make far more sense. Here is every term you'll come across, in alphabetical order. If you're just starting out, our how to play guide puts them all together.

Alternating colours
The rule for building tableau columns: each card must be the opposite colour of the one it sits on. Red cards are hearts and diamonds; black cards are clubs and spades. So a red six goes on a black seven, and a black five on a red six.
Build
To place a card onto another according to the rules — building down in alternating colours in the tableau, or up by suit on a foundation. “A legal build” simply means a move the rules allow.
Column
One of the seven vertical piles of cards in the tableau. Columns are where most of the game is played, and each hides face-down cards you need to uncover.
Deal
The starting arrangement of the cards for a single game, or the act of laying them out. A new deal shuffles the deck and sets up a fresh board.
Draw
To move cards from the stock to the waste. How many you draw at once depends on the mode: one card in Turn 1, three cards in Turn 3.
Empty column
A tableau column with no cards left in it. Only a King, or a run led by a King, may be moved into an empty column.
Face down / face up
A face-down card shows its back and can't be played; a face-up card shows its rank and suit and is in play. Uncovering a face-down card flips it face up.
Foundation
One of the four piles — one per suit — that you build upward from Ace to King. Filling all four foundations is how you win the game.
Hint
A helper that highlights an available move when you're stuck. On Solitaire.me it points out both the card to move and where it can go.
Klondike
The most popular form of Solitaire — the one described throughout this site. When people say “Solitaire” without naming a variant, they almost always mean Klondike.
Rank
The value of a card, from Ace (low) up through the numbers to Jack, Queen and King (high). Foundations are built up by rank; the tableau is built down by rank.
Run (sequence)
A group of face-up cards already stacked in correct order — down in rank and alternating in colour. A valid run can be picked up and moved between columns as a single unit.
Stock
The face-down pile, top-left of the board, holding the cards not dealt to the tableau. You draw from the stock when you run out of moves; when it empties, it recycles from the waste.
Suit
One of the four families of cards: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades. Each foundation is built from a single suit.
Tableau
The main playing area — the seven columns of cards where you build sequences and uncover face-down cards. Pronounced “tab-loh”.
Turn 1 / Turn 3
The draw modes. Turn 1 deals one stock card at a time, making every card reachable — the easier game. Turn 3 deals three at a time, with only the top one playable — the tougher, classic game.
Waste
The face-up pile next to the stock where drawn cards land. The top card of the waste is always available to play onto a foundation or a tableau column.
Winnable deal
A starting arrangement that has at least one solution. With “Winnable games only” switched on, every deal is guaranteed winnable, so a loss reflects your moves rather than the luck of the shuffle.

Keep going

Now that the words make sense, put them to use. Read how to play for the full rules, pick up strategy tips to win more often, or jump straight into a game on the main table, at Turn 1, or in the Game of the Day.

Where to go next

The terms above are easier to hold on to once you have seen them used. These explain the ideas behind them: