Klondike Solitaire

Klondike solitaire is the standard single-deck patience card game. You build four foundation piles, one per suit, from Ace to King, using seven columns and a stock. This page lets you play a Klondike solitaire game directly in your browser, with no account needed.

The game deals a shuffled 52-card deck and shows the stock, the waste, four foundations and seven tableau columns. You can play with a mouse, touch or the keyboard, and you can undo any move. Each deal has a number, so you can replay the same layout or share it as a link. The page tracks your moves, score and time, and keeps your best winning time for each draw mode.

How to play klondike solitaire online

1. Pick a Draw setting: Draw 1 (default) turns up one card from the stock at a time, and Draw 3 turns up three.
2. Pick a Stock passes setting: Unlimited passes (default), 3 passes, or 1 pass (no redeal).
3. Click or tap the stock to draw. You can also press D.
4. When the stock is empty, click the stock slot (it shows ↻) to turn the waste back into the stock, if your passes allow it.
5. Tap or click a card to send it to the best legal place, or drag it to a column or foundation.
6. Build down on the columns in alternating colours, and build up on the foundations by suit from Ace to King.
7. Click Hint when you are stuck. It highlights one move for 5 seconds.
8. Click Undo to take back any move.
9. When every column card is face up and the stock and waste are empty, click Auto-finish.
10. You win when all four foundations hold 13 cards.

Use New game for a new deal, or Restart this deal to replay the current deal from the start. The keyboard shortcuts are: arrow keys to move the cursor, Enter to send a card, Space to pick up and drop a card, Esc to cancel, D to draw, H for hint, U to undo, N for new game, A for auto-finish and F for fullscreen. The page address keeps the deal number and your settings (?seed=, draw= and passes=), so you can copy the URL to share the same deal.

How to play solitaire: Klondike solitaire rules

Klondike solitaire uses one 52-card deck. Seven columns start with 1 to 7 cards, and only the top card of each column is face up. The other 24 cards form the stock.

On the columns, build down in alternating colours: red on black, or black on red. Any face-up run can move together onto a card one rank higher of the opposite colour. Only a King, or a run that starts with a King, can go on an empty column. When a face-down card becomes the top of its column, it turns face up automatically.

On the foundations, build up by suit, starting with an Ace, then 2, 3 and so on to King. Only one card moves at a time. The top card of a foundation can be moved back onto a column if the rules allow it. In the waste, only the top card can be played.

How does Klondike solitaire scoring work?

The score on this page follows a simple point table:

• Waste to column: +5
• Waste to foundation: +10
• Column to foundation: +10
• Turning over a face-down column card: +5
• Foundation to column: −15
• Column to column, drawing, and turning the waste over: 0

The score never goes below 0. There is no time bonus and no penalty for passes or redeals. Some programs offer a separate “Vegas” scoring mode that counts money per card; this page does not have one, and it keeps only the points above plus your best winning time.

What does klondike solitaire mean?

Klondike is the name of the most common one-deck solitaire, the game most people simply call “solitaire”. The name is usually linked to the Klondike region of Canada’s Yukon and its 1890s gold rush. In British English card games of this kind are called patience, so “klondike patience” is the same game.

What is klondike solitaire strategy?

Most deals are won or lost on the hidden cards in the columns. When you have a choice, make the move that turns over a face-down card, and prefer the column with the most hidden cards, since it holds the most cards you cannot reach yet. Do not empty a column unless you have a King ready to move into it, because only a King can fill an empty column. Play cards to the foundations when it is safe, but keep low cards in the columns if you still need them to move other cards down. A card can come back from a foundation to a column when that unlocks a move, at a cost of 15 points. Draw 3 is harder than Draw 1, because only every third card of the stock is reachable on each pass.

What are the klondike solitaire tips?

Use Undo to test a move before you commit to a plan. The position is restored exactly, including the score and move count. For example, in deal #5, the black 3♣ on column 6 can move onto the red 4♦ on column 1, since the colours alternate and the rank is one lower. That move turns over the hidden 6♣, so the score goes to 5. Undo returns the score to 0 and the moves to 0.

Also, the deal does not guarantee a win. If a deal gets stuck, try Undo or Restart this deal and look for a different route.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need to sign up to play klondike solitaire?

No. You do not need an account or a sign-up. The game runs entirely in your browser and makes no network requests.

Can I play klondike solitaire on a phone?

Yes. The layout fits a screen as narrow as 320 px, and the page never scrolls sideways. You can drag cards with touch. On an iPhone, the Fullscreen button gives a full-window mode.

Is my game saved?

Yes. The game in progress is saved in your browser after every move, along with the undo history and elapsed time, and it is restored when you reload. The save stays on this browser and site only. A saved game is cleared after you win.

Is every klondike solitaire deal winnable?

No. A deal does not guarantee that the game can be won. If you get stuck, use Undo or Restart this deal to try a different route.

What does Auto-finish do?

Auto-finish is enabled only when every column card is face up and the stock and waste are empty. It then moves all cards to the foundations one by one. The game never does this by itself.

What is the difference between Draw 1 and Draw 3?

Draw 1 turns up one card from the stock each time. Draw 3 turns up three, and only the top card of the waste can be played. The best winning time is kept separately for each mode.

Can I replay the same deal?

Yes. Each deal has a number shown as Deal #. Add ?seed= and the number to the page address to load that exact deal, or click Restart this deal to replay the current one from the start.

More games

• FreeCell: every card is dealt face up and four free cells hold cards for you, so almost every deal can be won with planning.
• Spider Solitaire: a two-deck solitaire where you build King-to-Ace runs in one suit.
• TriPeaks Solitaire: clear three peaks of cards by playing one rank higher or lower than the open card.
• Pyramid Solitaire: remove pairs of cards that add up to 13.
• Golf Solitaire: clear seven columns one rank up or down onto a single pile.
• Crescent Solitaire: a two-deck game with sixteen piles around eight foundations.
• Hearts: a trick-taking card game against three computer players.