Rules
Gargantua Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use two standard 52-card decks, for 104 cards total.
- Deal nine tableau columns, from one card in the first column to nine cards in the ninth.
- Only the top card of each tableau column starts face up.
- Eight foundations build upward by suit from ace to king.
- Tableau columns build downward by alternating color.
- A face-up packed tableau sequence can move together.
- Empty tableau columns accept only kings or king-led sequences.
- Draw the stock one card at a time to the waste.
- The stock has two passes total: the original pass, then one waste redeal.
- After the second pass, leftover waste cards are not recycled again.
- Win by moving all 104 cards to the foundations.
How to play
How to play Gargantua Solitaire
Gargantua Solitaire plays like Klondike after a second deck has been added and the tableau has grown from seven columns to nine. Your job is still familiar: uncover face-down cards, build tableau sequences downward by alternating color, and move cards to suit foundations from ace through king. The scale is what changes the puzzle.
Start by reading the nine top cards. A black 8 can land on a red 9, a red queen can land on a black king, and a face-up packed sequence can move as a group if its front card fits the destination. Empty columns are powerful but narrow. They accept kings only, or legal sequences with a king at the front.
The stock is the other pressure point. Draw one card at a time to the waste. Only the top waste card is playable. When the first stock pass is exhausted, the waste can be turned over once for a second pass. There is no third pass, so covering a playable waste card is a real decision.
Background
What is Gargantua Solitaire?
Gargantua is a two-deck patience game in the Klondike family. It is often called Double Klondike because the foundations, deck size, and layout all expand beyond one-deck Klondike. The name can be confusing because Double Klondike can also refer to a two-player race game. This page uses the one-player patience meaning.
The opening tableau contains 45 cards, with 36 hidden and 9 face up. That is less hidden pressure than Batsford's ten-column layout, but the game is still large. Eight foundations need to be completed, two for each suit, and the limited stock means you cannot treat the waste as an endless source of second chances.
Setup
Gargantua setup and layout
- Column 1: 1 card, top card face up
- Column 2: 2 cards, top card face up
- Column 3: 3 cards, top card face up
- Column 4: 4 cards, top card face up
- Column 5: 5 cards, top card face up
- Column 6: 6 cards, top card face up
- Column 7: 7 cards, top card face up
- Column 8: 8 cards, top card face up
- Column 9: 9 cards, top card face up
- Stock: the remaining 59 cards, face down
- Waste: starts empty and receives one stock card at a time
- Foundations: eight empty suit foundations, two per suit
Foundations
How the eight foundations work
Foundations build upward by suit from ace to king. Because Gargantua uses two decks, each suit has two foundation slots. A hearts ace can start either hearts foundation. A 2 of hearts can then build on a hearts ace, but not on an ace of diamonds and not on an empty foundation.
Duplicate foundations help, but they do not remove the need for timing. If one club foundation races far ahead while the second club foundation has not started, later club cards may still wait in the tableau or waste. Opening both copies of a suit often keeps the game smoother.
Tableau
Tableau building and hidden cards
Tableau cards build down by alternating color. Suit does not matter in the tableau. A black 6 may land on either red 7, and a red 6 may land on either black 7. A face-up sequence can move together only when every step inside it already follows that rule.
Hidden cards are the main source of progress. A move that reveals a face-down card in column nine can be stronger than a neat-looking move near the left side of the board. Since the stock has only two passes, hidden tableau cards often decide whether the deal has enough foundation starters and king spaces to keep moving.
Moves
Legal and illegal Gargantua moves
A card must be available before it can move. In the tableau, that means face up. In the waste, only the top card is available. Foundations accept one card at a time, so a sequence can move between tableau columns but cannot jump to a foundation as a group.
LegalBlack 9 onto red 10 in the tableau
LegalA packed Q-J-10 alternating-color run onto a black king
LegalA waste ace to an empty matching-suit foundation
LegalA king-led tableau sequence into an empty column
IllegalRed 9 onto red 10
IllegalQueen into an empty tableau column
IllegalA broken face-up group with two same-color cards inside it
IllegalAny face-down card before it has been uncovered
Empty columns deserve special attention. They are not general storage. A single queen, jack, or 7 cannot move into an empty column, even if that move would be convenient. You need a king, or a legal face-up sequence whose first card is a king.
Stock
The two-pass stock rule
This site uses the classic limited stock rhythm: draw one card at a time, turn the waste over once when the original stock is empty, then finish from the second pass. The pass counter above the board shows whether you are on pass 1 or pass 2.
Only the top waste card is playable. If you draw again, the old top card is covered by the new one. During the first pass, a covered waste card may return on the second pass. During the second pass, covering a card can be final unless later waste cards move away.
Empty columns
Why king spaces matter
A Gargantua empty column is one of the few ways to reorganize a crowded tableau. It can hold a king, a king-led sequence, or nothing. That restriction makes every empty space a commitment: once a king fills it, that column may stay occupied for a long time.
The best king move usually reveals a hidden card, carries useful lower cards with it, or creates a landing place for a sequence from another deep column. Playing a king just because there is space can waste the one organizing tool that the next few moves need.
Foundation order
The rank path from ace to king
Each foundation follows the normal suit order. An empty foundation needs an ace. A foundation topped by the 6 of spades needs the 7 of spades next. It cannot accept a 7 of clubs, and it cannot skip directly to the 8 of spades.
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The duplicate deck means you complete this same path twice for each suit. The cards do not need to remember which physical deck they came from. A spade from one deck can build on the matching foundation copy started by the other deck as long as the suit and rank are legal.
Strategy
Gargantua Solitaire strategy for the two-pass version
Reveal before you tidy. A visible alternating-color stack can look satisfying, but hidden cards decide the game. Moves that uncover cards, especially in the longest columns, usually matter more than moves that simply make the visible tableau cleaner.
Start foundations, but keep tableau support in mind. Aces and twos are normally safe because they open foundation lanes. Middle cards can still be useful as landing places. If moving a red 8 to a foundation leaves a black 7 with nowhere to go, wait until the foundation move actually improves the position.
Spend the first stock pass deliberately. During pass 1, you can afford to note a card that will return later, but you should still play waste cards that reveal, start foundations, or create king spaces. During pass 2, slow down. Every draw can bury a card that will never cycle back.
Keep duplicate suits balanced when possible. If both diamond foundations are open, future diamond cards have more routes home. If one copy of a suit is far behind, the tableau may need to hold low cards longer, which can clog alternating-color builds.
Mistakes
Common Gargantua mistakes
- Drawing through the stock while the top waste card still has a useful move.
- Using an empty column for a king that reveals nothing and supports no sequence.
- Moving middle cards to foundations before checking whether the tableau needs them.
- Forgetting that a face-up group must be perfectly packed before it can move together.
- Letting one copy of a suit foundation advance while the duplicate foundation stays closed.
- Treating the second stock pass like an unlimited redeal.
Difficulty
Why Gargantua feels different from Klondike
One-deck Klondike has fewer cards, fewer foundations, and shorter columns. Gargantua gives you more tableau room, but it also asks you to clear twice as many cards and manage two copies of every suit sequence. The board can look generous while still hiding the one ace or king that the deal needs.
The stock limit keeps the game from becoming a relaxed sorting exercise. Two passes are enough to plan, but not enough to ignore timing. The strongest games are won by combining Klondike instincts with stricter waste discipline.
Winnability
Is Gargantua Solitaire winnable?
Gargantua is not always winnable from a random shuffle. A deal can bury low foundation cards under long columns, hide useful kings until empty spaces are gone, or put critical waste cards in an order that the two-pass stock cannot recover.
Skill still matters. Undo is useful when you want to compare reveal orders, foundation timing, and king-space decisions. This page does not quote a win-rate percentage because a meaningful number would need to be measured against this exact implementation, including the two-pass stock and movable packed sequences.
This version
What this Gargantua page includes
- Included: two decks and eight ace-to-king suit foundations.
- Included: nine tableau columns dealt one through nine cards.
- Included: top-card-only opening reveal, with automatic flips after uncovering.
- Included: alternating-color tableau builds and packed sequence movement.
- Included: king-only empty columns.
- Included: draw-one stock with two passes total.
- Included: undo, restart, hints, and the shared win or stuck dialog.
- Not included: draw-three stock, unlimited redeals, scoring, timed challenges, or guaranteed-winnable deals.
Variants
Gargantua variants and house rules
The main Gargantua variant question is the stock. This page uses two passes total. Some related software or house-rule versions may give more passes, fewer passes, draw three, or unlimited recycling. Those changes are not cosmetic because the stock controls how much time you have to rescue buried tableau cards.
Harp is a nearby two-deck Klondike-family game that is commonly described with more stock passes. Batsford is another relative, but it uses ten columns and a special king reserve. Ultra Klondike pushes the doubling idea even further by scaling the number of decks, foundations, and columns. Gargantua is the cleaner two-deck stop: nine columns, eight foundations, and a limited waste redeal.
Nearby games
How Gargantua compares with Klondike, Batsford, and Forty Thieves
Klondike is the direct ancestor. It has seven columns, four foundations, and one deck, so it is shorter and easier to scan. Gargantua keeps Klondike's alternating-color tableau but doubles the foundations and stretches the opening layout to nine columns.
Batsford is harsher in a different way: ten columns, a one-pass stock, and a one-king reserve. Forty Thieves also uses two decks and eight foundations, but it builds tableau cards by suit and often limits movement more strictly. Gargantua is the best fit when you want Klondike movement with a larger two-deck board.