Klondike Solitaire - Rules, History & Strategy Guide

Klondike takes its name from the Klondike gold rush region of the 1890s, where the game is said to have passed the long hours between digs. It grew into the best-known member of the solitaire family and later became the default card game on office computers, which cemented the seven-column layout as the version most people simply call solitaire.

The appeal has never changed: one deck, a clear goal, and a stream of small decisions. Every deal looks similar, yet the order of the hidden cards makes each run its own puzzle, which is why the game still rewards attention after more than a century.

In Arcadia's version you play the classic rules with a move counter and foundation progress instead of a points system. Easy and Medium deal one stock card at a time with unlimited passes; Hard deals three at a time with three passes in total.

1. Build the seven tableau columns downward in alternating colours, one rank at a time.
2. Move aces to the foundations and build each suit upward from ace to king.
3. Draw from the stock when you have no useful tableau move, and recycle the waste when the stock runs out.
4. Fill an empty column only with a king or a run headed by a king.
5. Win by moving all 52 cards onto the foundations; use Finish when the engine can prove the endgame.

Good solitaire play is about information and flexibility rather than speed. Moves that reveal hidden cards are usually worth more than moves that only tidy the table.

• Prefer moves that turn a face-down card face up, especially in the deep right-hand columns.
• Do not send every card straight to a foundation; a 2 or 3 kept in the tableau can hold a run together.
• Plan which king gets an empty column before you empty it.
• On Hard, count your remaining stock passes before recycling, and think in packets of three.
• Use undo to compare branches from the same position; some deals still have no winning line.

Draw 1 and draw 3 are the two classic stock rules, and stricter tables limit the number of stock passes, which is exactly how the Hard level plays. Cousins such as FreeCell and Spider share the tableau idea with open information or multiple decks, while Vegas-style scoring turns every foundation card into money. Arcadia keeps the pure Klondike form.