Rules · 1 player

How to play Solitaire

Move all fifty-two cards to the four foundation piles, each built up from ace to king in a single suit.

The rules, step by step

1. 1

   Seven tableau columns are dealt out, the first with one card and the last with seven. Only the bottom card of each column starts face up.

2. 2

   Build the tableau columns downward in alternating colours — a red six goes on a black seven.

3. 3

   Move an exposed card, or a correctly ordered run of cards, from one column to another. Turning over a face-down card is always progress.

4. 4

   Only a king may be placed into an empty column, so think before you clear one out.

5. 5

   Click the stock pile in the corner to turn over new cards when you run out of moves on the table.

6. 6

   Send aces to the foundations as soon as they appear, then build each foundation up in suit until every card is home.

Three tips that change how you play

• Uncover face-down cards before anything else. A move that reveals nothing usually costs you the game later.
• Do not rush every low card to the foundations — a two left on the table is often the only place a lower card can land.
• Empty columns are worth more than they look. Hold one open for a king rather than filling it with the first card that fits.

A worked opening

Say your columns show, left to right, a black four, a red jack, a red seven, a black nine, a red two, a black king and a red six. Start with the red six onto the black seven — that reveals a face-down card in the sixth column at no cost. Do not move the black four onto the red jack yet: the four is the only place a red three can land, and you have not seen the threes. If the freed card is an ace, send it up. The black king is already in place at the bottom of its column, so an empty column later has somewhere useful to go. Two moves in, you have turned one card and kept every option open — that is a good Klondike opening.

Three mistakes that cost beginners the game

Sending every ace and two straight to the foundation the moment it appears.

Aces always go up, but a two is often the only landing spot for a black or red ace-low sequence still buried in the tableau. Hold low cards on the table until the column above them is clear.

Filling an empty column with whatever card is to hand.

An empty column is the most valuable square on the board because it can hold a king and everything that follows it. Leave it open until you have a king ready to move.

Turning the stock over and over hoping the deal changes.

The stock order is fixed. If a pass through it produced no move, take a different tableau move first — the stock will only help once the table has changed.

Common questions about Solitaire