Double Klondike, four passes

Harp Solitaire

Harp deals exactly what Gargantua deals: nine columns from two decks, thirty-six cards face down, kings in the spaces. One number differs — you get four passes through the stock instead of two — and it is enough to make this the version worth learning on.

Two decks, nine columns
Four stock passes
Kings open spaces
Double Klondike deal

Found0/104

Stock59

Waste0

Pass1/4

Hidden36

Moves0

Stock and waste

Waste empty

Draw one card to the waste. Four stock passes total.

Eight foundations

Build eight foundations by suit and use the four stock passes with care.

Read this first

Harp and Gargantua are the same deal

There is no point pretending otherwise: the layout, the packing rule, the kings-in-spaces rule, the eight foundations and the fifty-nine card stock are identical between the two games. Harp allows four passes through that stock and Gargantua allows two.

Both names are in long use for two-deck Klondike, which is why both are here. If you want the rules, the strategy below applies to either — but the sections on pass management apply only to this one, because two passes and four passes are genuinely different games to play.

Gargantua, loosened

Harp Solitaire rules

Harp Solitaire setup and rules
Setup
Decks	Two standard decks — 104 cards.
Tableau	Nine columns of one to nine cards; only the last of each is face up.
Face down	Thirty-six of the forty-five tableau cards.
Stock	Fifty-nine cards, drawn one at a time.
Foundations	Eight, two per suit, built up from the ace.
Moving cards
On a column	Down by alternating colour.
Sequences	Any correctly alternating run moves as one unit.
An empty column	Kings only.
Turning cards	A face-down card flips as soon as it is uncovered.
The stock — the whole difference
Passes	Four. The waste recycles three times.
Everything else	Identical to Gargantua, which allows two.
Pass length	Each pass is shorter than the last, by however many cards you played from the waste.

The same deal, four passes

How to play Harp Solitaire

Forty-five cards form a nine-column staircase with only the bottom card of each column face up. Eight foundations are built up in suit from the aces. Columns build down by alternating colour, runs move as units, and only a king may start an empty column.

The stock hands you one card at a time and may be recycled three times, giving four passes in all. That allowance is the reason to choose Harp over its twin: it is enough room to recover from a bad opening without being so much that the game plays itself.

Later passes are shorter, which cuts both ways. Cards played from the waste never come back, so each circuit is quicker than the last — you reach a card you are waiting for sooner. But it also means the fourth pass may hold only a handful of cards, so the extra allowance is worth less late in the game than the number suggests. Spend the passes while they are still long.

Counting the passes

Where the pass limit bites

Legal and illegal Harp moves
The move	Verdict	Why
A column shows the 10♦. You move the 9♠ on to it.	Legal	Down by alternating colour.
A column empties. You move a queen into the space.	Illegal	Kings only, as in every game in this family.
You move a 7♣ 6♥ 5♠ run on to a red eight.	Legal	Runs of any length travel together.
The stock empties for the second time. You recycle.	Legal	This is where Harp and Gargantua part company — Gargantua would be over.
The stock empties for the fourth time. You recycle.	Illegal	Four passes is the limit. The fourth ending ends the game.
A ♥ foundation shows the 4. You play the 5♥ from the second deck.	Legal	Either copy of a card will do.
You play a card from the waste, then draw again.	Legal	Cards played from the waste shorten every later pass.

Using four passes

Harp Solitaire strategy

Use pass one to learn the stock. With three more circuits available you can afford to decline cards you cannot place well, which is exactly what Gargantua will not let you do.

Change the tableau between passes. A recycle with an unchanged table is a wasted allowance — the cards arrive in the same order and meet the same columns.

Dig the nine-card column early. Eight hidden cards sit under it and every pass you spend before opening it is a pass spent with a fifth of the tableau invisible.

Watch the kings. Nine columns and eight kings means a space is scarce here just as it is in Gargantua, and no number of stock passes creates a king that is buried.

Where the extra passes go

How players waste the extra passes

Playing the extra passes as if they were free

Four passes is twice Gargantua's allowance, which invites drawing quickly on the assumption you can come back. You can, but only three more times, and each circuit costs you real attention while changing nothing about the tableau. The extra passes are for cards you deliberately declined, not for cards you never looked at.

Not noticing the passes are shrinking

Every card you take from the waste is a card that will not be there next time round. A first pass of fifty-nine can easily be a fourth pass of twenty. That is good — a shorter cycle reaches the card you want sooner — but it also means the late passes hold far fewer chances than the number four suggests.

Leaving the tableau untouched between passes

Recycling the waste does not change the order of the cards. If a full pass produced nothing, the next one will produce nothing either unless the tableau has changed in between. A pass is only worth spending when a new column top or an emptied space has made a card playable that was not before.

Four passes, two decks

Is Harp Solitaire winnable?

More often than Gargantua, and by a clear margin — the extra two passes are worth a great deal in a game with thirty-six hidden cards. It remains harder than single-deck Klondike, which allows unlimited passes over a much smaller stock.

The deals that still lose are the ones where kings are stacked deep and no amount of recycling exposes them. We do not publish a win rate: this family's figure is driven almost entirely by the pass limit, which is the one thing that differs between these pages.

This version

Gargantua's deal at four passes

Two decks: nine columns of one to nine cards, last of each face up.
Eight foundations built up in suit from the ace.
Down by alternating colour, runs of any length move together.
Empty columns take kings only.
Draw one at a time, four passes through the stock.

Undo is unlimited and unpenalised, with no timer or score. Harp and Gargantua are both names for two-deck Klondike; this site uses Harp for the four-pass version and Gargantua for the two-pass one.

Pass limits compared

Choosing a pass limit

The four pages below are close to a controlled experiment. Three of them share a packing rule and a spaces rule, and mostly differ in how many times you may see the stock.

Harp compared with Gargantua, Batsford, and Klondike
Game	Stock passes	Stock	Columns	Character
Harp	4	59	9	The forgiving setting
Gargantua	2	59	9	The same deal, tighter
Batsford	1	49	10	One look, with a king reserve
Klondike	Unlimited	24	7	One deck, no pass limit

If you like the nine-column deal but find four passes too generous, the same game is one click away at two.

Explore

More solitaire games

The same deal at two passes, a one-pass cousin, and the single-deck original.

Tested rules

How this solitaire game is checked

Game logic is implemented and tested by Brian Hamilton, then reviewed by Karan Hamilton for rule clarity, player flow, and correction notes.

How we make and test solitaire games