Rules
Patience Game rules at a glance
- This page plays draw-one Klondike Patience Solitaire.
- Use one standard 52-card deck with no jokers.
- Deal seven tableau columns, from one card in the first column to seven in the last.
- Only the top card of each tableau column starts face up.
- Build tableau cards downward by alternating color.
- Move face-up sequences when the sequence is already correctly ordered.
- Empty tableau columns accept only kings or king-led sequences.
- Build four foundations upward by exact suit from ace to king.
- Draw one card at a time from stock to waste.
- Recycle the waste back into the stock when the stock is empty.
Meaning
What is a patience game?
A patience game is a card game for one player. The word points to the same broad family many players call solitaire: layouts you solve alone by moving cards through tableau piles, foundations, stock cards, waste piles, reserves, or discard rules. Some patience games are tiny and lucky; others are long planning puzzles.
This page focuses on the most familiar member of that family: Klondike patience. If you learned "Patience" from a real deck, a Windows-style computer game, or a phone app, this is probably the layout you expect: seven columns, hidden cards to uncover, a stock pile, and four foundations waiting for aces.
How to play
How to play Patience Solitaire
Start by looking for tableau moves that uncover a face-down card. Tableau cards build downward by alternating color, so a red 6 can move onto a black 7, and a black queen can move onto a red king. When a face-down card becomes exposed at the top of a column, it flips face up and becomes part of the puzzle.
The foundations are the destination. Each suit foundation starts with its ace, then the 2 of the same suit, then the 3, and so on up to king. You win only when every card has reached a foundation, so tableau moves are not the final goal; they are the work you do to reveal and organize the deck.
Layout
The layout in this version
The tableau has seven columns. Column one receives one face-up card. Column two receives one face-down card and one face-up card. The pattern continues until column seven has six face-down cards and one face-up card. The remaining 24 cards form the stock.
The waste holds cards drawn from the stock, with only the top waste card available. The four foundations sit apart from the tableau because they obey stricter suit rules than tableau columns do.
Stock
How the stock and waste work
Tap the stock to draw one card to the waste. You may play the top waste card to the tableau or to a foundation if it fits. If it does not fit, you can draw again, but the previous waste card becomes covered until the stock cycle brings it back.
When the stock runs out, this game turns the waste back into the stock in the same order. There is no shuffle and no redeal limit. That keeps play friendly, while still preserving the importance of stock order.
Moves
Legal and illegal Patience Solitaire moves
A tableau move must go down one rank and switch color. Red on black is legal; black on red is legal; red on red and black on black are not. A run can move together only when all cards in that run are face up and already ordered correctly.
Empty columns have a special rule: only kings can enter them. Moving a queen into an empty column is illegal even if it feels useful. Aces do not fill empty columns either; they start foundations. Face-down cards are never movable until uncovered.
Legal tableauRed 6 onto black 7
Illegal tableauBlack 6 onto black 7
Foundation startAce to an empty suit foundation
Empty columnKing or king-led sequence only
Waste moveTop waste card to a legal tableau or foundation spot
Blocked cardFace-down cards stay locked until uncovered
Ranks
Card values and foundations
Patience Solitaire uses ordinary rank order, but each part of the table uses that order in a different direction. Foundations climb upward from ace to king by suit. Tableau columns descend from king toward ace while alternating colors.
AStarts a foundation and can sit low in tableau sequences
2-10Builds up by suit in foundations and down by alternating color in tableau
JRanks between 10 and queen
QCan sit on an opposite-color king in the tableau
KThe only rank that can enter an empty tableau column
Because the directions differ, not every foundation move is automatically wise. Low cards are usually safe, but higher foundation moves can remove a card the tableau still needs as a landing place.
Strategy
Patience strategy that matters
Reveal hidden cards before polishing visible stacks. A move that flips a face-down card gives you new information and often creates the next move. A move that only shifts a visible card may be harmless, but it may not improve the deal.
Treat empty columns as king spaces, not generic storage. An empty column is powerful when it lets a king move away from a buried card or carries a long king-led sequence. It is weak when it gets filled by the first legal king with no plan behind it.
Mistakes
Common mistakes in Patience Solitaire
- Moving a card to the foundation before checking whether the tableau needs it.
- Using an empty column for a king that does not reveal or unlock anything.
- Drawing through the stock before playing a helpful waste card.
- Building tidy visible stacks while easier hidden-card reveals are available.
- Forgetting that only the top waste card can be played.
- Trying to move a face-down card or an incorrectly ordered sequence.
Names
Patience, Patience Solitaire, Klondike, and Solitaire
The naming can be messy because card games travelled through countries, printed rule books, operating systems, and app stores. In the United Kingdom and older card-game writing, "patience" often means the whole one-player card-game family. In the United States, "solitaire" became the more common family name.
Klondike is the specific seven-column game implemented here. Calling it Patience Game, Patience Solitaire, Solitaire, or Klondike is normal in everyday speech, but the exact rules still matter. This version is draw one, kings-only empty columns, foundations by suit, and unlimited stock recycling.
Version
What this Patience Game includes
- Included: draw-one stock, waste pile, undo, restart, hints, and a fresh new game button.
- Included: automatic flipping when a face-down tableau card becomes uncovered.
- Included: foundation cards can move back to the tableau when the move is legal.
- Included: result dialog with new game, replay, and more games actions.
- Not included yet: draw-three mode, Vegas scoring, daily deals, numbered deals, or a timer.
- Not included: filtering the shuffle to guarantee every deal is solvable.
Difficulty
Is Patience Solitaire winnable?
Some deals are winnable and some are not. This site deals random games and does not hide the fact that Klondike patience has luck in it. Unlimited stock recycling gives you more room than a one-pass game, but buried cards can still block the path.
Skill shows up in reveal order, stock timing, and restraint. The strongest play is often the move you delay: holding back a foundation card, saving an empty column, or waiting to place a king until it frees a buried card.
Variants
Other patience game variants
Draw-three Klondike makes the stock more tactical because only every third card is immediately reachable. One-pass patience removes repeated stock cycles. Vegas scoring adds points and penalties. Those are not just cosmetic settings; they change the rhythm of the game.
Other patience games change the structure more deeply. FreeCell gives you visible cards and temporary cells. Canfield adds a reserve. Pyramid removes pairs that total thirteen. Aces Up discards lower cards by suit instead of building foundations.