Klondike solitaire is the game most people simply call 'solitaire' — the one that shipped with Windows and taught the world to stack red on black. You deal seven tableau columns, keep the rest as a stock to draw from, and try to clear all four foundations from Ace to King.
What makes Klondike different from FreeCell is hidden information: most of the tableau starts face-down, and cards you need may never surface, so a share of deals are simply unwinnable. That mix of luck and skill is exactly its charm. Prefer a game where every card is visible and nearly every deal is solvable? Play FreeCell.
How to play Klondike solitaire
Klondike deals 28 cards into seven tableau columns — one in the first, two in the second, up to seven in the last — with only the bottom card of each column turned face-up. The remaining 24 cards form the stock, which you turn over to the waste pile to bring more cards into play.
In the tableau you build downward in alternating colours: a black jack lands on a red queen, a red ten on a black jack. Turning over a face-up card reveals the hidden one beneath it, which is how you dig into the deal. Only a King (or a run headed by a King) may move into an empty column. The four foundations build upward by suit from the Ace, and the game is won when all 52 cards have travelled home. Depending on the mode you draw one card at a time (Draw 1, more forgiving) or three at a time (Draw 3, tougher). New to solitaire altogether? Klondike is the friendliest place to start before moving on to FreeCell or Yukon.
Klondike solitaire strategy & tips
Your enemy in Klondike is the face-down card, so make exposing them your top priority. Always prefer a move that flips a hidden card over one that merely shuffles face-up cards around, and work the columns with the most buried cards first.
Don't rush every card to the foundations. Once a low card is sent home it can no longer catch an off-colour card in the tableau, so keeping a two or three in play often unblocks a tricky column. Think before you empty a column, too — since only Kings fill an empty slot, an empty column is useless unless you have a King ready to occupy it. In Draw 3, learn the rhythm of the waste pile: count in threes so you know which cards will land on top, and cycle the stock to plan access to a card you need. Above all, use undo to test a line before you commit — Klondike punishes a premature flip you can't take back.
Can every Klondike game be won?
No — and that honesty is part of what separates Klondike from FreeCell. Because most of the deal starts face-down, some layouts hide a needed card under a blocker you can never legally clear. Studies of Draw-1 Klondike with perfect play put the theoretical win rate somewhere around 80–91%, but under normal play without takebacks most people win far fewer, and Draw 3 is harder still.
That means a lost Klondike game is not automatically your fault the way a lost FreeCell game is. The skill lies in squeezing the most out of the winnable deals and recognising early when a game is dead so you can start a fresh one. If the luck factor frustrates you, the antidote is a fully-visible game: try FreeCell, where planning — not the shuffle — decides the outcome.