Klondike Solitaire

Klondike is the game most people simply call solitaire: seven columns, four foundations and a deck you turn one card at a time. Here you play it free and without ads, in your browser or installed on your phone. Once you have opened it, it also works offline.

How to play Klondike Solitaire

1. The goal. Move all 52 cards onto the four foundations at the top: one per suit, from Ace up to King.
2. The layout. The deal makes seven columns of one to seven cards, 28 in all. Only the top card of each column is face up. The other 24 cards form the deck.
3. Building down. In the columns, a card goes on one of the next higher rank and opposite colour. A red 6 goes on a black 7, a black Jack on a red Queen.
4. Runs. An ordered run moves as one block, as long as its highest card fits where you put it.
5. Face-down cards. When a face-down card is uncovered, it turns over by itself. Uncovering them is what the game is really about.
6. Empty columns. Only a King can go into an empty column, on its own or leading a run.
7. The deck. Tap it to turn one card onto the pile beside it; the top card there is playable. When the deck runs out, tap it to go through it again, as many times as you like.
8. The foundations. Each foundation starts with an Ace and builds up by suit to the King. A card can also come back from a foundation to a column, if that helps.
9. Finishing. Once every card in the columns is face up, the auto-finish button (or F) completes the game for you.

Playing on solitari.com

• Tap or drag. Tap a card and it moves by itself, to the foundations first. Drag it when you want to choose the spot yourself, for example to keep a card in play.
• Undo and hints. ↩ takes back a move, as often as you need. 💡 shows a legal move, not necessarily the best one. Both are counted: a win without them is recorded as an unaided win.
• When you are stuck. If no move is left that makes progress, the game tells you and offers to undo, replay the deal or start a new one. You can always keep looking.
• Deal numbers. Every deal has a number from 1 to 9,999,999. The Share button in the menu copies a link to it: whoever opens it plays exactly the same cards.
• Statistics. Games played, win rate, winning streaks, best time and fewest moves are all tracked.
• Keyboard. On a computer: U or Z to undo, H for a hint, F to auto-finish, M for the menu, ? for help.

Easy to read, comfortable to play

The game was designed with players who don't have perfect eyesight in mind. On small screens, card values start out larger. In the menu you can give each suit its own colour and make the board bigger on large screens. Left-handed players can move the deck to the right.

Tips to win more often

1. Uncover cards first. When you have a choice, prefer the move that turns over a face-down card.
2. Start with the tallest columns. They hide the most cards, and uncovering those cards early gives you more moves.
3. Don't rush cards to the foundations. A low card sent up too early may be the one you need in a column to hold a card of the other colour.
4. Empty a column only when a King is ready. An empty column is valuable, but without a King to fill it, it is wasted.
5. Play the columns before the deck. Make every useful move in the columns, then draw: you can go through the deck again.
6. Undo to explore, at a price. Trying a line and taking it back costs you the unaided win, and undone moves still count.

Frequently asked questions

Can every game be won?

No: some deals can't be won however you play. A study that solved a large sample of deals with every card visible found about 82% winnable, drawing three at a time. Drawing one, as here, is easier. But you can't see the face-down cards, so you will win less often than a solver that can.

Is it really free, with no ads?

Yes. There are no ads, no account and nothing to sign up for. Your stats and settings are saved in your browser, on your device.

Does it work offline? Can I install it?

Yes. Open it once with a connection and it keeps working without one: on a plane, underground, anywhere. Add it to your home screen and it opens like an app.

What is the deal of the day?

One deal, the same for everyone, that changes at local midnight. You will find it in the menu, next to the deal number.

Draw one or draw three?

Only one. You draw one card at a time and can go through the deck as often as you like; there is no draw-three mode.

Why is it called Klondike?

Nobody knows. Some writers link it, without evidence, to the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada's Yukon in the late 1890s. The earliest known rules date from 1907, and millions of people discovered the game when it came with Windows 3.0 in 1990.