This article contains everything you need to know about Arkadium's Klondike Solitaire game.
Use the list below to navigate specific topics about Klondike Solitaire.
How to play
ATTENTION: Both Klondike and Classic Solitaire games on our website are identical. Despite minor differences in the rules, we opted to present them under distinct titles as they are essentially the same game.
Please watch the video below to learn more about Arkadium's Klondike / Classic Solitaire gameplay.
Goal. The aim of Klondike / Classic solitaire is to order a 52-deck of cards into four suited piles, with the ace of the suit at the bottom and the king at the top.
The piles are called tableaus, and they are laid out on the table from left to right:
- Single card
- Two cards
- Three cards
- Four cards
- Five cards
- Six cards
- Seven cards
The bottom card in each tableau is face-up, and the remaining 24 cards (those not dealt out) remain in a single pile called the stock.
NOTE: once all the cards are laid out, you then move individual cards from the stock to make your four suited piles
How to make moves. This is how to move your cards when you’re playing Klondike / Classic Solitaire online:
- Stack solitaire cards sequentially from ace to king by suit on the foundation piles. Each foundation has its suit.
- Fill the foundations by suit & in ascending order. The goal is to fill the four foundation stacks with cards separated by suit and arranged in order of value, from lowest to highest (Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king)
- Add kings to empty stacks. Kings can be dragged to empty card stacks.
- Draw cards by clicking on the deck. Click on the deck in the upper left corner to draw cards.
- Flip a card to find its value. Click on a face-down solitaire card to flip it face up and see its value.
- 1 or 3 draws. Cards are dealt from the reserve to the waste one or three at a time, based on which you choose to start.
You can play the top card on the waste to the table or to the foundations.
Now that you know how to make moves in solitaire, you just need to decide whether to play the games that waste one or three cards at a time.
NOTE: Usually Klondike / Classic Solitaire deals three cards at a time, but one card is easier for beginners
Our version of Klondike / Classic Solitaire is a patience game that lets you choose from one or three-card deals.
You can cycle through the waste and reserve endlessly until you run out of possible moves.
Tips
Klondike / Classic Solitaire is a game of patience. This means you should put real thought into the moves you make and be prepared to persevere with the games you play — you won’t win in a single move.
But while patience is the game, there are some great tips you can use to increase your chances of winning when you’re playing free solitaire online:
1. Ace. Always move an ace or deuce card to the foundation whenever it is possible. This increases your chance of winning at Solitaire.
2. Double-click aces to add them to card foundations. Drag or double-click aces to add them to one of the four card foundations that can be found in the upper right corner of the game.
3. Drag cards onto cards of opposite color and suit. You should click and drag a card onto any card of an opposite suit and color.
The card you drag needs to be one rank lower than the one you’re placing it on — for example, you can drag an eight onto a nine).
NOTE: Aces are considered the lowest value cards, while Kings are the highest
3. Unexposed cards. If you have multiple move options, you'll want to choose from the column that contains the largest number of unexposed cards.
4. Open more moves. The best move is always the one that opens up other moves. So, think ahead when you’re moving cards.
5. Long suits. You'll want to avoid building up one suit of Klondike / Classic solitaire cards relative to others in the foundation. Doing this generally makes it hard to flip over additional solitaire cards in the tableau of a color opposite to the “long” suit in the foundation.
6. Undo function. Remember that you can change your mind when you make moves. This is because you're playing an online version of Klondike / Classic solitaire, so you have unlimited use of the undo function.
Scoring
General scoring. There are several possible situations in this game:
- Transfer of a card from the tableau when a new card is revealed: 15 points
- Transfer of a card from the tableau when a new card is not revealed: 10 points
- Transferring a card from the stockpile to a foundation pile: 10 points
- Transferring one card under another (and also to an empty space): 5 points
- Transferring the last card (there are no other cards behind it): 0 points
- Remaining time bonus: number of seconds remaining