Solitaire

How to play

This is Klondike, the game most people mean when they just say "Solitaire." Seven piles hold the tableau, each with one card face up on top and the rest face down beneath it — the first pile has one card, the last has seven. Build down the tableau in alternating colors: a black 7 takes a red 6, and so on. The four foundations, one per suit, build up from the ace to the king. Tap a card to select it, then tap where you want it to go — a fitting foundation, or a fitting spot in another tableau pile. Selecting a face-up tableau card also picks up every card stacked on it, so a whole valid sequence moves together.

Tap the stock (top left) to turn over new cards to the waste pile beside it — one at a time in Draw 1, three at a time in Draw 3, with only the top card of the waste in play. Once the stock runs out, tapping it again turns the waste back into a fresh stock so you can go through it again. An empty tableau pile can only be started by a king (or a valid run beginning with one). You win once every card is up on its foundation.

A word about winning

Unlike the puzzles elsewhere in this catalog, a Klondike deal is not guaranteed to be winnable. That's true of the real card game, not a limitation of this version — a certain fraction of genuine, honestly shuffled Klondike deals simply can't be solved no matter how well you play them, and that's part of what makes the game what it is.

Tips for a stronger game

Get every card face up as early as you can. Uncovering a new tableau card, even one you can't immediately use, gives you more information and more options than leaving cards buried out of caution.

Don't rush cards to the foundation. A card sitting on the foundation can't be used to build down on the tableau anymore, and a low card moved too early sometimes strands a card of the opposite color that needed it.

Empty tableau piles are valuable — they're the only place a stray king can go, which is often what unlocks the rest of a stuck-looking pile. Try to clear one out fully before you commit to filling it back in with the first king you find.