Klondike is the game most people picture when they hear the word "solitaire." It shipped with early versions of Windows, it is the default on almost every card app, and it is the version you are playing when you deal seven columns and try to build four neat piles of cards. If you have ever wondered exactly how it works, this guide walks you through every part of the game in plain language.
By the end you will understand the goal, recognise every zone on the board, know which cards can move where, and grasp the small rule change that makes some deals far harder than others. You can follow along by opening a fresh game of Klondike solitaire in another tab and matching what you see to the descriptions below.
The goal of Klondike
Your objective is simple to state: move all 52 cards into four foundation piles, one for each suit, built up in order from Ace to King. When every foundation holds a complete suit — Ace, 2, 3, all the way to King — you have won. Everything else in the game is just the process of freeing cards and arranging them so they can climb onto those foundations.
The board, zone by zone
A Klondike deal splits the deck into four distinct areas. Knowing their names makes the rest of the rules much easier to follow.
The tableau (seven columns)
The main playing area is the tableau: seven columns dealt left to right. The first column has one card, the second has two, and so on up to seven cards in the last column. In each column only the bottom (nearest) card is turned face up; the cards above it start face down. As you clear the face-up card, the next face-down card is flipped over and becomes playable.
The stock and the waste
The 24 cards left over after the tableau is dealt form the stock, a face-down pile in the corner. When you cannot make a useful move, you draw from the stock. The cards you turn over land face up on the neighbouring waste pile (sometimes called the talon). Only the top card of the waste is available to play at any moment.
The four foundations
Above the tableau sit four empty foundation spaces. These are the piles you are ultimately filling, each dedicated to a single suit and always started with an Ace.
How cards move
Two different rules govern movement, depending on where a card is going.
- Building on the tableau: within the columns you stack cards down in rank and in alternating colours. A red six can go onto a black seven; a black jack can go onto a red queen. You may move a single card or a whole face-up sequence as a group, as long as the card you drop it onto continues the alternating-colour, descending pattern.
- Building on the foundations: foundations go the opposite direction — up in rank and in a single suit. Place the Ace first, then the 2 of the same suit, then the 3, and so on to the King.
- Empty columns: when a tableau column is completely emptied, only a King (or a sequence headed by a King) may be moved into that gap.
A sensible order of play
Beginners often draw from the stock too early. A better habit is to exhaust your options on the table first, then dip into the stock. A reliable rhythm looks like this:
- Play any Aces and 2s you can see straight up to the foundations.
- Make tableau moves that reveal a face-down card — uncovering hidden cards is how you create new possibilities.
- Move Kings into empty columns to open space, but avoid emptying a column if you have no King ready to fill it.
- Only when the table is stuck should you turn a card from the stock, then look again for fresh moves.
Do not rush cards onto the foundations. A low card left in the tableau can be a useful landing spot for the opposite colour, so sometimes it pays to keep it in play a little longer.
Draw one versus draw three
Klondike comes in two flavours that differ only in how the stock is dealt. In draw-1, you turn a single card at a time, so every card in the stock is easy to reach and the game is more forgiving. In draw-3, cards come off the stock three at a time and only the top of the three is immediately playable, which hides cards and demands more planning. Draw-1 is the gentler place to learn; draw-3 is the classic challenge. We compare them in depth in our guide to draw-1 versus draw-3 Klondike.
You are also allowed to recycle the stock. When you have gone through every card, the waste is flipped back to reform the stock so you can pass through again. Some rule sets limit the number of passes, but most casual versions let you redeal freely.
A quick worked example
Suppose your tableau shows a face-up red 7 in one column and a black 8 at the base of another. Slide the red 7 onto the black 8 — descending rank, alternating colour — and the face-down card that was hiding behind the 7 flips up. If that new card is a black 6, you could bring a red 5 across next. Each of these small chains tends to reveal more cards, and revealing cards is the engine that drives the whole game forward.
Ready to deal?
That is genuinely all there is to the rules: build down in alternating colours on the tableau, build up by suit on the foundations, mine the stock when you are stuck, and fill empty columns with Kings. Everything else is practice and a little forethought. If you would like to sharpen your vocabulary, our solitaire terms glossary defines every word used here, and the wider world of 247solitaire.my has other patience games waiting once Klondike feels comfortable. Deal a hand and give it a go — the best way to learn is to play.