Rules and how to play
The game uses the 52 cards of a deck without jokers. The cards go in 7 tableau columns, the stock, the waste, and 4 foundations.[1][2]
In the tableau, you place a card on a face-up card if it is 1 lower and the other color (red or black). For example, you can place a red 7 (hearts or diamonds) on a black 8. A run of face-up cards can be moved to another column together, starting from any card in the run.[1][2]
Only a king (or a run starting with a king) can be placed in an empty column. When you move all the face-up cards out of a column, the top face-down card underneath turns face up.[1][2]
The foundations are where you build each suit up from ace to king. Put an ace on an empty foundation, then the 2, 3, and so on of the same suit. You can move the top card of a tableau column or the waste to a foundation, and you can also move the top card of a foundation back to the tableau.[1][3]
When you press the stock, 1 card (with draw 1) or 3 cards (with draw 3) are turned face up onto the waste. Only the top card of the waste can be moved. When the stock runs out, you can turn the waste over to make it the stock again. On this page there is no limit to how many times you can do this.[1][3]
You clear the game when all 52 cards are on the foundations. When you have no moves left, go back with “Undo move” and try a different move, or end the game with “Give up”.
Winnable deals and deal numbers
Some Klondike deals can’t be cleared however you play them. The “Winnable deal” option on this page only picks deals for which a solver (a program) found a sequence to clear the game, with all the face-down cards and the order of the stock visible to it.
With unlimited passes through the stock, the share of deals that can be won when all the face-down cards are visible has been calculated at about 90.5% for draw 1 and about 81.9% for draw 3. Playing with unlimited “Undo move” comes close to this all-cards-visible condition, because you can go back after seeing the face-down cards.[4]
When the operator checked deal numbers 1 to 4,000 with the solver on this page, it found a sequence for 3,059 deals (76.5%) with draw 1 and 2,804 deals (70.1%) with draw 3. The solver has a limit on how many positions it examines and also narrows down the moves it tries, so not every deal it found no sequence for is unwinnable.
Every deal is set by a number, and the same number always gives the same order. “Daily challenge” is a deal set for each date in Japan time and each draw count, and everyone who plays that day with the same draw count gets the same deal. “Random deal” deals the cards at random, so some of these deals can’t be won.
Controls on this page
In the menu, choose how many cards to draw (draw 1 or draw 3) and the deal (daily challenge, winnable deal, or random deal), then press “Deal and start”.
To move a card, drag it to where you want to put it, or press it to highlight it and then press where you want to put it. Pressing a card in the middle of a run of face-up cards moves that card and all the cards on top of it. Pressing a highlighted card again (double-clicking it) moves it to a foundation if it can go there. Press the stock to draw cards; when the stock is empty, this turns the waste back into the stock.
When there are no face-down cards left and the stock and waste are empty, the remaining cards move to the foundations automatically. “Undo move” can take back as many moves as you like. Press “Hint” to find the next move from the current position; it appears as text below “Hint” and the card to move is highlighted on the table (a move that draws from the stock appears only as text).
In the button panel to the right of the 3D view (below it on narrow screens), the moves you can make now are listed as buttons, and pressing one makes that move. With this panel, you can play even on devices that can’t show the 3D view, or with only a keyboard.
When you clear a deal, the page shows your moves and time and the records on this device (win rate, winning streak, fastest time, and fewest moves). For the daily challenge, it also shows how many people tried it that day, the share who cleared it, and where you rank by moves and by time. Send the link in the result card, and the person who opens it can play the same deal.
Strategy tips
- Turn over the columns with the most face-down cards first. The more face-down cards are turned face up, the more cards you can move.
- Only a king can go in an empty column, so while you have no king to put there, don’t rush moves that only empty a column.
- You can move aces and 2s to the foundations right away. Cards of 3 or higher are often more useful left in the tableau while you still have cards to place on them.
- Before drawing from the stock, check whether any card in the tableau can be moved. With draw 3, the order in which you use cards from the waste changes which cards come up on the next pass through the stock.
The name and history of Klondike Solitaire
Card games that one person plays by rearranging cards are called patience in English, and records of them appear in German-language books from the late 18th century. In North America, the name solitaire spread in the 20th century, and in Japanese, “soritia” is also originally the general name for games played alone.[5][8]
Early descriptions of today’s Klondike rules are found in books from the early 20th century. Some sources give “Gambler’s Delight” in a 1905 British book as the oldest, and others give “Seven-Card Klondike” in the 1907 Hoyle’s Games. The name is the same as Klondike, a gold-mining region in Canada, and some say it comes from the gold rush there at the end of the 19th century, but there is no firm record of this.[3][6]
In 1990 the game came with Microsoft’s Windows 3.0 under the name “Solitaire”, and many people started playing it. In Japan it also came with Windows under the name “Solitaire”, so Klondike is often simply called solitaire there.[7][1]
Sources
- Wikipedia (Japanese), “クロンダイク” [Klondike] (opens in a new tab)
- Bicycle Cards, “Solitaire” (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia (English), “Klondike (solitaire)” (opens in a new tab)
- Charlie Blake and Ian P. Gent, “The Winnability of Klondike Solitaire and Many Other Patience Games”, Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research 85 (2026) (opens in a new tab)
- David Parlett, “Patience / Solitaire: Historical Overview” (opens in a new tab)
- Michael Keller, “What game was played at Canfield’s Casino?”, Solitaire Laboratory (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia (English), “Microsoft Solitaire” (opens in a new tab)
- Wikipedia (Japanese), “ソリティア” [Solitaire] (opens in a new tab)
Frequently asked questions
Is Klondike Solitaire free to play?
Yes, it’s free. You don’t need to sign up or install an app. You can play either draw 1 or draw 3 in the 3D view in your browser.
Are there deals that can always be cleared?
Yes. “Winnable deal” in the menu only picks deals that a solver has confirmed have a sequence to clear the game. The daily challenge is also chosen from these. However, since you play without seeing the face-down cards, the choices you make along the way can leave the deal unwinnable.
What is the difference between draw 1 and draw 3?
The number of cards turned from the stock onto the waste at a time is different. With draw 3, you can only use the top card of the 3, so you may have to go through the stock several times before the card you want comes up, which makes it harder than draw 1.
What is the daily challenge?
It’s a deal set for each date in Japan time and each draw count, and everyone who plays that day with the same draw count gets the same deal. When you clear it, the page shows how many people tried it that day, the share who cleared it, and where you rank by moves and by time.
Where are my records saved?
Your records (win rate, winning streak, fastest time, and fewest moves) are saved only in the browser on this device. Your result for the daily challenge is sent to this site’s server to show how many people tried it and the spread of results, but the moves and the time themselves are not recorded. If you turn off “Send game statistics” at the bottom of the page, your result for the daily challenge is not sent either (see the privacy policy for details).
Can I play the same deal as a friend?
Yes. Send the link shown in the result card, and when the other person opens it, the game starts with the same deal. You can then compare your moves and times.
Are Solitaire and Klondike different games?
Klondike is one kind of solitaire (the general name for card games played alone). The game that came with Windows under the name “Solitaire” was Klondike, so in Japan Klondike is often simply called solitaire.
Sending game statistics
Information such as the start and end of each game, whether connections in games with a friend succeeded, and 3D display failures is sent to this site’s servers. It is used to find out which games are played to the end and on which devices display or connection fails, so that bugs can be fixed and the games improved. To stop sending it, turn off the switch below.
What is sent
Game type, mode (vs computer, pass and play on one device, solo, or with a friend), computer level, game settings (the rules for Gomoku and Checkers, the number of players for Ludo, Chinese Checkers, Daifugo, Sevens, Concentration, Old Maid, Bozu Mekuri and Hyakunin Isshu Karuta, the number of rounds for Daifugo, Sevens and Old Maid, the tokens per player and shorter game rules for Ludo, the draw count and the way the deal is chosen for Klondike Solitaire, and the way the deal is chosen for FreeCell), result, number of moves, game length range, the screen where a room for a game with a friend was created (the menu, the game result, or “Invite again with a new link”), whether connecting, watching, and taking a seat in games with a friend succeeded and the number of reconnections, 3D display failures and rendering speed range, the time range from opening the page until the 3D display starts (if you leave the page or switch to another tab or app before it starts, that fact and the time range until then), the connection speed range at that time (as estimated by the browser), how much of the page’s program files was loaded from the browser’s cache saved on an earlier visit (all, some, or none), the types of loading failures, device type (whether it is a phone, and memory and CPU core ranges), browser and OS type, and an identifier that is created anew each time you open a page (it is not stored).
What is never sent
Room IDs, seat tokens, moves and board positions (when you clear the daily challenge in Klondike Solitaire or FreeCell, the moves and time are sent to check the clear, but they are not recorded after the check), Hit and Blow numbers, GPU model names, and page URLs. IP addresses are only used in memory to limit the number of transmissions, and are not recorded. Data is sent only to this site’s servers and is not given to outside companies. Records are deleted after 30 days (the counts for the daily challenge in Klondike Solitaire and FreeCell after 60 days).
How the records are handled, and what ads and analytics send to outside companies, is described in the privacy policy.