Klondike Solitaire: the one-player card game that has never gone out of fashion

Solitaire, or Patience, as plenty of Kiwis still call it, is the card game you play on your own. One pack of 52 cards, four piles to build, and a quiet ten minutes to yourself. The version you are playing here is Klondike, the classic that most people picture when they hear the word "solitaire".

The name comes from the Klondike gold rush in Canada's Yukon (1896-1899, according to Wikipedia's account of the rush), and the game was being printed in card books by the early 1900s. It survived the goldfields, the kitchen table and the office computer, and it still works beautifully on a phone on the Northern Explorer or a tablet at the bach.

Everything on this site is completely free. There are no ads of any kind, no pop-ups and no paywalls. You do not download anything, install anything, sign up or hand over an email address. Open the page, and the cards are dealt.

The rules, explained simply

What is on the table

• The tableau, seven columns across the middle. The first column has one card, the second two, and so on to seven. Only the last card in each column starts face up.
• The foundations, four empty spaces at the top. One for each suit: hearts, diamonds, clubs and spades.
• The stock (draw pile), the 24 cards left over, face down in the corner.
• The waste, where drawn cards land, face up. Only the top one is playable.

How you move cards in the columns

• Build columns downwards in rank and alternating in colour: a black 9 goes on a red 10, a red 4 goes on a black 5.
• You may move a single face-up card, or a whole run of correctly ordered cards, onto a suitable card.
• When you move the last face-up card off a column, the face-down card beneath it is turned over. Turning cards over is the real engine of the game.
• An empty column can only be filled by a King (or a run headed by a King).

How you win

Build each foundation up from Ace to King in a single suit. Aces go up first, then the 2, then the 3, and so on. Get all 52 cards home and the game is won.

Turn 1 and Turn 3

When the columns are stuck, you draw from the stock. This site offers both draw modes:

• Turn 1, one card at a time. Friendlier, because every card in the stock eventually becomes playable.
• Turn 3, three cards at a time, and only the top of the three can be used. Harder, and the version many older players grew up with on early office computers.

New to it? Start with Turn 1. Once you are winning comfortably, switch to Turn 3 for a proper challenge.

How to play here

This board was built for comfort first. The cards are large and clear and the text is easy to read, which matters if your eyes get tired by the evening. There is a zoom control to make the whole board bigger, a fullscreen mode, and table colour settings if green is not your favourite. Sound can be switched off entirely.

Every feature is available to everyone, nothing is locked, and there is nothing to buy:

• Drag and drop cards with a mouse, or simply tap to move them on a phone or tablet.
• Hint when you cannot see a move.
• Unlimited Undo, take back as many moves as you like, as often as you like.
• Restart to begin the deal again.
• Auto Play to finish off a game once it is clearly solved, instead of clicking 30 more times.
• Wins, time and moves are tracked for the game you are playing.

It runs in any modern browser on desktop, tablet and phone. There is no gambling, no in-app purchases and no timer pushing you along, the game exists purely for enjoyment. If you fancy something different afterwards, have a look through our other free games, or read a few how-to pieces on the blog.

Strategy that actually works

1. Play Aces and 2s immediately. They can never help you in the columns.
2. Turning over face-down cards beats everything else. When choosing between two legal moves, take the one that uncovers a hidden card, and prefer the column with the most cards still face down.
3. Do not rush higher cards to the foundations. A 6 sitting in a column may be the only home for a 5 you need later. Send cards up when they are no longer useful below.
4. Empty a column only when you have a King ready. An empty column with no King to fill it is dead space.
5. Before you draw, check the whole table. Scan all seven columns, then the waste. Most "stuck" positions have a move hiding in plain sight.
6. In Turn 3, count the cycle. Make a mental note of the useful cards you pass, so you know when they will come round again.
7. Use Undo as a thinking tool. Try a line, see where it leads, undo it and take the better path. It is your board, not an exam.

Common mistakes

• Filling an empty column with a random card just because it fits.
• Flying every card to the foundations early, then having nothing to build with.
• Drawing from the stock out of habit before the columns are truly exhausted.
• Moving a long run across for no gain, when a single card would have done the job.
• Giving up on a deal at the first blockage, a Hint and one Undo often reopens it.

What the numbers actually say

Solitaire is one of the most heavily studied card games there is, so we can be specific rather than vague.

• About 82% of Klondike deals can be won, in theory. Blake and Gent's peer-reviewed study of their "Solvitaire" solver reports Klondike winnability at 81.945% (± 0.084%) in the thoughtful variant, meaning a player who can see every card's rank and suit. See The Winnability of Klondike Solitaire and Many Other Patience Games.
• An earlier study agrees. Bjarnason, Fern and Tadepalli of Oregon State University found that no fewer than 82% and no more than 91.44% of thoughtful solitaire deals have a winning solution, in Searching Solitaire in Real Time.
• Real players win less than that, and that is normal. Because you cannot see the face-down cards, some guesswork is unavoidable. Published platform data from SolitaireX.io reports 913,106 games of Classic Solitaire played in a single month with 409,374 wins, an overall win rate of roughly 45%.

The practical message: roughly one deal in five is unwinnable no matter how well you play, so a lost game is often the cards, not you. And a personal win rate anywhere near the 40s is a genuinely respectable result.

Worth knowing too that plenty of us have the time for it, InternetNZ has reported that New Zealanders spend an average of about three hours a day online for personal use. Ten quiet minutes of Patience is a decent way to spend a slice of it.

A few Kiwi ways to enjoy a game

• The cuppa game. One deal while the jug boils and the tea brews. Turn 1, no fuss.
• The ferry crossing. Picton to Wellington on the tablet, cards zoomed up nice and big.
• The wet Sunday in winter. Southerly outside, fullscreen inside, Turn 3 for the challenge.
• The grandkids' round. Take turns choosing the next move and explain why, it is a painless way to teach card ranks and a bit of forward planning.
• The long-weekend streak. Play the same draw mode all weekend and watch your wins and move counts as you go.

Questions we get asked

Is it really free, with no ads?

Yes. Free to play, no ads of any kind, no pop-ups and no paywalls. No download, no install, no sign-up, no account and no email address.

Is every deal winnable?

No. Around one in five Klondike deals cannot be won even with perfect play, as the research above shows. If a deal is genuinely dead, hit Restart and enjoy the next one.

Is using Hint or Undo cheating?

Not here. There is no prize, no wager and no leaderboard to protect, the game is built for enjoyment. Many players use unlimited Undo to explore a position and learn faster.

Should I choose Turn 1 or Turn 3?

Turn 1 if you want more winnable, relaxing games. Turn 3 if you want the harder, more traditional test. Both are available, and you can switch whenever you like.

Can I make the cards bigger?

Yes. Use the zoom control to enlarge the board, and fullscreen mode to clear everything else off the screen. The cards and text are large and high-contrast to begin with, which suits older players and tired eyes.

Will it work on my phone or iPad?

It runs in any modern browser on desktop, tablet and phone. Tap to move cards on a touchscreen, or drag and drop with a mouse.

Is there any gambling or money involved?

None. No gambling, no in-app purchases, no real or pretend stakes. Just cards.

Does it keep score?

Wins, time and moves are tracked for the current game, so you can see how your play is going without any pressure from a countdown clock.

What is the single best habit to build?

Before every draw, look for a move that turns a face-down card over. Do that consistently and your win rate will climb on its own.

Ready? Deal a hand from the main table, or browse the full list of free games when you want a change of pace.