How to Play Klondike Solitaire
Learn The Popular Single-Player Strategy Card Game
The term ‘Solitaire’ (or ‘Patience’) refers to a family of single-player card games. Although sharing general character, each variation is unique in terms of details and process of play.
This article focuses on Klondike, the most popular and commonly-played variation.
Set up:
A deck of 52 playing cards (less Jokers) is thoroughly shuffled at the beginning.
The four play areas are:
- Tableau: The area in front of the player.
- Foundation: Four columns are to be arranged here by suit (Club, Diamond, Heart and Spade) and in ascending rank (from Ace to King).
- Stock: The remaining cards after the Tableau is formed.
- Waste: Cards from the Stock that cannot be played.
Aim of the Game:
To move all the cards from the Tableau, Stock and Waste to the Foundation.
Game Process:
- Deal out seven columns of cards (faced down) on the Tableau from left to right. Place one card in Column 1, two in Column 2, and so on until Column 7.
- The top card of each column is revealed.
- Move Aces to the Foundation.
- Rearrange the other revealed cards in the Tableau in descending order and opposite colors. To illustrate, if the top card of Column 2 is a Five Spade and that of Column 5 is a Four Heart, the latter can be stacked on top of Column 2. The second card of Column 5 can be revealed. Say, it is a Six Diamond. Both revealed cards in Column 2 can be stacked on top of Column 5. The remaining card of Column 2 is then revealed.
- The process of rearranging the Tableau cards goes on until all combinations have been exhausted.
- Do note that when there are options, choose to first move cards that are in columns further to the right. There are more covered cards in those columns; hence it is advantageous to reveal as many of those as possible earlier on in the game.
- Move suitable cards to the Foundation whenever the opportunity arises.
- After the Tableau, the Stock cards are revealed next, in one of the following two options: For Klondike-1, one card from the Stock is revealed each time and played if possible. The next card in the Stock is then revealed. If the first card cannot be played, it will stay in the Waste. For Kondike-3, three cards are revealed each time. If the top card cannot be played, all three cards stay in the Waste. The next three cards are then revealed. After the top card is played, the second card can be considered for play. The third card can only be played after the first and second cards have been played.
- After the Stock has been exhausted, the cards in Waste are to be flipped over and replayed in exact order (i.e. no reshuffling). Depending on the variation being played, one or three cards are revealed again.
- The process is repeated until the entire Foundation is completed.
Results:
A player wins when the Foundation is completed. The opposite situation – when not a single card can be played – is deemed to be a loss.
If one or more cards have been moved to the Foundation, but the remaining cards cannot be played anymore, the game is considered unplayable.
The probability of winning a Solitaire game is actually very high, ranging between 82% and 92%. So, have a pack of cards handy and play a game of Solitaire (or more) while waiting for appointments, on transit between flights, or simply for leisure and fun!
