Solitaire

How to play

How to play Solitaire

Solitaire is the game many players mean when they say "classic Solitaire": seven tableau columns, a stock pile, a waste pile, and four foundations. Your job is to uncover the hidden tableau cards and gradually send every suit to its foundation from ace through king.

Most of the game happens in the tableau. Move face-up cards onto cards of the opposite color and one rank higher: a red 6 can go on a black 7, a black queen can go on a red king, and a 2 can go on a 3. As soon as a face-down card becomes uncovered at the top of a column, it flips face up and gives you a new option.

Name

Solitaire, Klondike, and patience

Solitaire is a broad word for one-player card games, but in everyday use it often points to Klondike. That happened because Klondike became the familiar computer solitaire layout: seven columns, hidden cards to uncover, and suit foundations at the top.

In older books and in many places outside the United States, the wider family is also called patience. The names overlap, but the rule details matter. This page is not Pyramid, Spider, FreeCell, or Aces Up. It is draw-one Klondike Solitaire with unlimited stock recycling.

Moves

Legal Solitaire moves

A face-up tableau card can move to another tableau column when it builds down by alternating color. A whole face-up sequence can move together when the sequence is already in that same order. If a column is empty, the incoming card must be a king, or the sequence must begin with a king.

Foundations are stricter. An ace starts its foundation, then the 2 of that suit, then the 3, and so on. The top waste card can move to a tableau column or a foundation if legal. Top foundation cards may also move back to the tableau on this page, which makes undo-friendly exploratory play less punishing.

Ranks

Card ranks and foundations

Solitaire uses ordinary card order, but the direction changes by area. Foundations climb up: ace, 2, 3, 4, and eventually king. Tableau columns build down: king, queen, jack, 10, and toward ace, while alternating red and black.

This difference is the source of many good decisions. A low card may look automatic for the foundation, but moving it too soon can remove a useful landing place from the tableau. A high card may look clumsy, but it can be exactly what opens a column and reveals two hidden cards.

Examples

Legal and illegal move examples

If a black 8 is on top of a tableau column, you may place a red 7 on it. If the red 7 has a black 6 and red 5 already beneath it, that whole 7-6-5 sequence may move together. You may not place a black 7 on a black 8, and you may not place a red 9 on a black 8 because the rank direction is wrong.

An empty column accepts a king, not just any card that happens to be movable. A queen can move only onto a king of the opposite color. An ace does not move into an empty tableau column; it starts a foundation.

Strategy

Solitaire strategy that changes the deal

The first priority is usually revealing face-down tableau cards. A move that flips a hidden card often beats a move that merely tidies a visible stack. Hidden cards are the unknown future of the deal, and every reveal gives you more real choices.

Be careful with foundations. Aces and twos are usually safe, but higher cards may still be needed as tableau supports. If moving a 5 to the foundation removes the only place a black 4 can land, the move may slow the game rather than help it.

Use the stock with intention. In unlimited draw-one Solitaire, you can cycle again, but the waste order still controls timing. Before drawing past a useful card, check whether it can expose a hidden card, fill a foundation safely, or create a king space.

Scoring

How Solitaire is tracked here

This page keeps scoring simple. A win means all 52 cards reach the foundations. The game tracks moves, foundation progress, stock cards, and hidden tableau cards so the state of the deal is easy to read while you play.

There is no timer, leaderboard, daily challenge score, or point penalty in this first version. Undo restores the previous position. Restart returns the same shuffle to the opening deal. New game starts a fresh random deal.

Variants

Draw one, draw three, Vegas scoring, and other variants

Klondike changes dramatically when the stock rule changes. Draw one is friendlier because every stock card appears one at a time. Draw three is stricter: only every third card is immediately available, and playing a waste card changes which cards appear on the next pass.

Redeal limits also matter. Some versions allow unlimited passes, as this page does. Others allow three passes, one pass, or none. Vegas scoring adds another layer by attaching points and penalties to foundation moves, redeals, and time. Those rules are not merely cosmetic; they change how risky a stock cycle or foundation move feels.

Nearby games

How Solitaire compares with FreeCell, Spider, Golf, and Aces Up

Solitaire sits between luck and planning. FreeCell gives you all the information up front and asks you to manage space. Spider hides many cards and rewards long sequence building. Golf and TriPeaks are faster up-or-down games where the waste card drives the whole turn.

Aces Up is shorter and sharper because it discards cards instead of building foundations. Classic Solitaire is the better choice when you want the familiar rhythm of reveal, build, draw, and gradually turn a messy tableau into four clean suits.