How to Play Solitaire

Solitaire (Klondike) is the classic single-player card game of sorting and strategy — the goal is to move all 52 cards to four foundation piles sorted by suit from Ace to King.

What You'll Need

Solitaire is the one card game that needs no introduction. Whether you learned it on Windows 3.1 or from your grandmother, everybody knows the basic concept. What most people don't realize is how much strategy actually hides underneath the surface.

One standard 52-card deck
1 player
A flat surface big enough to spread 7 columns of cards

The most common version is Klondike Solitaire — the one on every computer — though there are dozens of variants.

Setup

Shuffle the deck thoroughly. Deal the tableau (the 7 columns):

Column 1: 1 card (face-up)
Column 2: 2 cards (1 face-down, 1 face-up on top)
Column 3: 3 cards (2 face-down, 1 face-up)
Continue this pattern through column 7: 7 cards (6 face-down, 1 face-up)

The remaining 24 cards are your stock pile (face-down, in the upper left). The four empty spaces in the upper right are your foundation piles — one per suit, built Ace through King.

How to Play

The Goal

Move all 52 cards onto the four foundation piles. Each foundation pile starts with an Ace and builds up in rank within a single suit: A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K. One pile per suit. All four complete = you win.

Tableau Rules

Within the tableau (the 7 columns), you move cards by stacking them on other cards in descending rank and alternating color:

A red 7 can go on a black 8
A black Queen can go on a red King
No card can go on an Ace in the tableau (Aces go to foundations)

You can move entire stacks of face-up cards as a unit to another column if the bottom card of the stack legally fits the destination.

When a face-down card is revealed (the top card of a column flips face-up automatically), flip it. When a column is completely empty, only a King can go there.

The Stock Pile

When you can't make a move from the tableau, flip cards from the stock pile onto a face-up waste pile. You can play the top card of the waste pile at any time.

Klondike draw-1: Flip one card at a time. Slower, more strategic, higher win rate.

Klondike draw-3: Flip three cards at a time, but only the top card is playable. Harder, more cards may stay inaccessible.

When the stock runs out, flip the entire waste pile over to reuse as stock. Some rules limit stock re-uses to 1 or 2 extra passes — or allow unlimited passes (Vegas rules go pass-by-pass and charge for each).

Foundations

Move any Ace directly to a foundation pile. Then build on it in suit: 2 on the Ace, 3 on the 2, and so on. Cards on foundations cannot be moved back to the tableau (in standard rules).

Winning

All 52 cards successfully moved to the four foundation piles. Each pile runs from Ace to King in its suit. Win rate for Klondike draw-3 is around 1 in 30 games with random play — much higher with optimal strategy. A perfectly played draw-1 game wins roughly 80% of the time.

Tips & Strategy

Uncover face-down cards first. Every covered card is hidden potential. Moves that reveal new face-down cards are almost always better than moves that don't.
Don't rush Aces to foundations. Sometimes keeping an Ace in the tableau helps you stack lower cards. Move to foundations when it opens better tableau moves.
Empty columns are gold. An empty column lets you stage Kings and reorganize sequences. Don't fill it with the first King available — wait for the King that unblocks the most.
Think ahead before drawing from stock. Sometimes a stock card could have gone somewhere useful 3 moves ago. Plan before you burn through the stock.
Not every game is winnable. Roughly 20-30% of Klondike deals are unwinnable no matter how well you play. Don't feel bad about starting fresh.

Variations

Spider Solitaire

Uses two decks, 10 columns, 8 foundation piles. Build complete suits (K down to A) within the tableau to clear them. Much harder, especially with 4-suit Spider.

FreeCell

All 52 cards dealt face-up into 8 columns. Four "free cells" let you park individual cards temporarily. Nearly all FreeCell deals are winnable. Strategy-heavy.

Pyramid Solitaire

Cards arranged in a pyramid. Remove pairs totaling 13 (K=13, Q=12, J=11, A=1). Remove all cards to win. Faster and luck-dependent.

Multiplayer Solitaire (Nertz/Nerts)

Each player has their own deck. All players play simultaneously, racing to empty their personal stock pile by building on shared foundation piles in the center. First to empty their stock wins. Chaotic and fantastic.