Solitaire Strategy: 10 Tips to Win More Klondike Games

Klondike Solitaire looks like a game of pure luck, and the shuffle does matter. But two people playing the same deal can get very different results. The difference is usually a handful of small choices: which card to move, which column to work on, when to hold back. Here are the habits that win more games. None of them need any math.

1. Turning Over Hidden Cards Comes First

The face-down cards in the columns are the real puzzle. Every one you turn over gives you new information and new moves. When you have a choice between two moves, pick the one that uncovers a hidden card. A move that only shuffles face-up cards from one column to another, without revealing anything, can usually wait.

2. Work the Tallest Columns

The column on the far right starts with six cards face down, and the one next to it has five. Those piles hide the most cards, and some of them are bound to be ones you need, like Aces and low cards. If you can choose between freeing a card in a short column and freeing one in a tall column, go for the tall one. Leaving the big columns until last is one of the most common ways to get stuck.

3. Play From the Columns Before the Deck

Before you turn a card from the deck, look over the columns for any move that helps. Deck cards will come around again, especially with unlimited passes. Hidden cards in the columns won’t free themselves.

4. Don’t Empty a Column Without a King Ready

An empty column feels like progress, but only a King can go there. If no King is waiting, that space does nothing for you. Worse, the cards you moved to clear it may have been holding up something else. Before you clear a column, make sure a King is face up and ready to move in, either at the top of a column or coming up in the deck.

Exception: a column that’s nearly empty is still worth clearing if doing so turns over hidden cards along the way. Just think twice about clearing a column whose cards are all face up already.

5. Choose Your King by Color

When you have an empty column and two Kings to choose from, look at what’s waiting. Say a red Queen is stuck on top of a tall column. Move the black King into the space, because that red Queen can go right on it, and so can the cards stacked below her. If the cards you need to move are black Queens and red Jacks, pick the red King instead.

6. Don’t Rush Cards to the Foundations

It’s tempting to send every card up to the foundations as soon as you can. But a card in a column can still be useful as a place to put other cards. If you move a black 5 up too early, the red 4 you turn over next may have nowhere to go. Aces and 2s are always safe to put up. Higher cards are safe once the lower cards that might need them are already up.

Our game’s auto-move option follows exactly this rule: it only moves a card up by itself when no lower card of the opposite color still needs it. So you can let the game handle the safe moves and think carefully about the rest. If you do send a card up too soon, you can bring it back down onto a column.

7. Keep Runs Flexible

When two cards could fit in the same place, such as the 7♥ and 7♦ both able to go on a black 8, think about which one you’d rather keep free. Choose the move that turns over a hidden card or opens up another column. Sometimes it pays to move only part of a run so a card further down can go somewhere better.

8. Tips for Draw 3

Draw 3 is harder because only every third card in the deck is playable on a given pass. A few habits help:

• Watch what changes the order. Each card you play from the waste shifts which cards come up next time. Playing even one card from the waste can bring a card you need within reach on the next pass.
• Remember what’s buried. As you go through, notice cards you’ll want later, like a red 9 for that black 8. You’ll know to watch for them on the next pass.
• Don’t always play the waste card right away. If playing it doesn’t help the columns, leaving it can keep the deck order that brings up a more useful card.
• Count your passes. With limited passes on, you get three passes in Draw 3. Use the first one to look, and be pickier as the passes run out.

9. Use Undo to Explore

Our game has unlimited Undo, and there’s no shame in using it. When you reach a fork, try one way. If it leads nowhere, undo back to the fork and try the other. It’s a good way to learn which choices work. It also helps with Draw 3, where you can turn through the deck to see what’s coming, then undo and plan. If you’d rather play strictly by the old rules, simply don’t press it. It’s your game.

10. Ask for a Hint When You’re Stuck

Press Hint and the game highlights a useful move, with a short reason such as freeing a hidden card. If there truly is nothing left to do, it tells you “No moves left — try Undo or a new deal.” That message is your cue to back up a few moves and try a different path, or to start fresh.

Know When a Deal Can’t Be Won

Some random deals are impossible no matter how well you play. That can be frustrating, so our game starts with winnable deals only turned on. Every deal is checked by a built-in solver with Draw 1 and unlimited passes before you see it. If you lose one of those, a different choice somewhere would have won it, so try Restart This Deal and see if you can find the way.

If you enjoy planning ahead, you might like FreeCell, where every card is face up from the start and almost every deal can be won. For a longer game, try Spider Solitaire. And if you’re new to Klondike, start with the full rules.