Klondike Turn 3 made friendly: a hands-on guide to drawing three
Klondike Turn 3 uses exactly the same layout as ordinary Klondike, with one change that alters everything: when you click the stock, three cards come over at once, and only the top one is yours to play. The other two sit underneath it until the top card has gone somewhere useful.
That small change turns a relaxed game into a proper puzzle. This page is a hands-on guide to playing it well: how the three-card turn really works, which cards you can reach on each trip through the stock, when to take a card from the waste and when to leave it, and a worked example you can follow along with. For the full set of odds, see our Solitaire Turn 3 page; here we keep to the practical side.
Three cards over, one card free
The table is dealt just as in Klondike: seven columns of 1 to 7 cards with only the bottom card of each face up, and 24 cards left over in the stock. Every tableau rule is the same: build down in alternating colours, move whole runs, and fill empty columns only with Kings.
The difference is in the stock. Each click turns three cards onto the waste, fanned so you can see them, but only the top card may be played. Play it and the card below becomes available. Leave it and, on the next click, three more cards cover it. When the stock runs out you turn the waste over and go again, and on this site you may do that as many times as you like.
Which cards can you actually reach?
This is the heart of Turn 3, and once it clicks the game becomes far less mysterious.
With 24 cards in the stock and nothing taken from the waste, a full trip through the stock shows you the 3rd, 6th, 9th, 12th, 15th, 18th, 21st and 24th cards, eight cards out of 24. The other sixteen stay out of reach, buried under their neighbours.
Now the key idea: every card you play from the waste shifts the pattern. Take one card off the waste and the next group of three starts one card earlier than before, so on the following trip a different set of cards comes to the top. Taking cards from the waste is therefore not just about the card you take. It is about changing which cards you will see next time round.
| What you do during a trip | What happens on the next trip |
|---|---|
| Play nothing from the waste | You see exactly the same eight cards again. The stock is "frozen". |
| Play one card from the waste | Every group after that point starts one card earlier, so new cards appear. |
| Play several cards from the waste | The pattern shifts again with each one, opening up more of the stock. |
So a trip in which you take nothing from the waste teaches you nothing new. If the tableau is stuck and the stock is frozen, the game is effectively over unless you undo something.
Technique: cycling the stock with a plan
Make the first trip a survey
On your first pass, turn through the whole stock and note the eight cards that show. Which of them could you use? Which are you likely to want later? You do not have to play every card that fits; you are gathering information.
Play from the waste to unlock the cards you need
If you spotted a black 8 you badly want but it sits second in a group, you need to shift the pattern by one. Playing any single waste card earlier in that trip will do it.
Clear the tableau first, then turn
Before each click, make every sensible tableau move. A card that goes up to a foundation or onto a column from the tableau does not change the stock, so it costs nothing to do it first.
Keep count as the waste grows
Towards the end of a trip, count how many cards are left in the stock. If there are one or two, the last "group" will be short, and that card is also reachable. Endings like this often hand you the card you needed.
When to take a card from the waste, and when to leave it
- Take it when it uncovers a face-down card, fills a gap in a run you are building, or goes straight to a foundation without leaving a column short of a landing spot.
- Take it when shifting the stock pattern would expose a card you already know you want.
- Leave it when it would cover a card in the tableau that you need to reach soon.
- Leave it when it is a high card with nowhere good to go. Parking a Queen on a King you wanted for something else can close more doors than it opens.
Following along with a sample deal
Imagine the start of a deal. Your face-up cards include a red 9 and a black 10, and the rest of the tableau offers nothing. You play the red 9 onto the black 10, which uncovers a face-down card in that column: a black 4. Nothing else moves, so you turn to the stock.
First click: the top card is a red 3. It fits on the black 4, so you play it. That was worth doing twice over: it builds your column and shifts the stock pattern for the next trip.
Second click: the top card is a King. There is no empty column, so it stays. Third click: an Ace of clubs. Straight to a foundation, shifting the pattern again. You carry on to the end of the stock, noting what you saw, then turn the waste over.
On the second trip, because you took two cards from the waste, the groups start two cards earlier and a new set of cards shows on top. One of them might be the black 2 you need for that Ace. This is the rhythm of good Turn 3 play: small, useful plays from the waste that keep the stock moving.
What the numbers tell a Turn 3 player
We ran the same simple computer player on both versions of Klondike, 10,000 deals each. It won 42.3% of deals turning one card and 10.6% turning three. Its winning Turn 3 games went through the stock 3.8 times on average, against 2.3 at Turn 1. The lesson is simple: at Turn 3, expect to cycle the stock more and to plan harder. The full figures, including how many deals are winnable with perfect play, are on the Solitaire Turn 3 page.
Turn 3 on solitaire-free.nz
Klondike Turn 3 on this site is free, with nothing to download or sign up for, and plays in any modern browser. The cards are large and clear with a zoom control, you can drag or tap to move, and Hint, unlimited Undo, Restart and Auto Play are always available. Undo is especially handy in Turn 3: step back to before a waste play and see how the stock looks if you leave that card alone. Wins, time and moves are tracked for each game, and you can switch off the sound, go fullscreen and pick your table colour.
Where our numbers come from, one step at a time
The solitaire-free.nz team ran this study in September 2026. Klondike Turn 3 here uses exactly the same game code and rules as our Solitaire Turn 3 page, so the two pages share one set of results.
- Rules from the code. Three cards per click, only the top waste card playable, unlimited trips through the stock, and the usual Klondike tableau rules with Kings only in empty columns.
- A program that plays the game. We rebuilt Klondike in software and checked that it only makes legal moves.
- Numbered deals. 10,000 deals, each from a seed number, so the whole test can be repeated card for card.
- A modest player. The same rule-following program we used for Turn 1. It sees only the face-up cards, never looks ahead and never undoes, so its result is a floor rather than a ceiling.
- Counting the stock trips. For every won game we recorded how many times the stock was turned over.
- Margins of error. The 10.6% has a 95% range of 10.0% to 11.2%.
- Limits. A player this simple cannot say how many Turn 3 deals are winnable; that took a separate solver, reported on the Solitaire Turn 3 page.
The nuts and bolts
Everything is written in Python 3.11 with just the standard library. The Klondike rules and the player live in klondike.py; for Turn 3 the player may only use the top card of each three-card group. A shared runner spreads the deals across the computer's processor cores with multiprocessing, and each deal is shuffled from its seed so results can be reproduced exactly. The 95% ranges are Wilson score intervals.
An AI assistant, Claude from Anthropic, helped us write and check the code and draft this guide. None of the numbers came from the AI: they come from running the simulation, and we compared them with published research before publishing.
By Admin, solitaire-free.nz. Study date: September 2026.
Frequently asked questions
Why are the two lower waste cards out of reach?
That is the rule that makes Turn 3 what it is. The two cards underneath become available only once the one above them has been played.
Is it worth playing a waste card just to change the stock?
Often, yes, as long as the card goes somewhere harmless. Shifting the pattern is how you reach cards that would otherwise stay buried.
What does a "frozen" stock mean?
If you go through the whole stock without playing a single waste card, the next trip shows the same cards in the same places. Nothing new will turn up until you play something.
Is there a limit on trips through the stock?
Not here. You can turn the waste back over as many times as you like.
Should I learn Turn 1 first?
It helps. The tableau skills are the same, and Klondike with one card at a time lets you practise them without the stock puzzle on top.
What else is good practice for Turn 3?
FreeCell sharpens the planning side, since every card is on show. You will find more ideas on our blog and games page.