Solitaire
Also known as Klondike, Klondike Solitaire and Patience
Klondike, the patience game most people mean by Solitaire. Move every card to the four foundations, each built ace to king in one suit. Tap a card to pick it up and every legal destination lights up, so you spend the round thinking rather than hunting.
How it works
- Move every card to the four foundations, each built from ace to king in one suit.
- Tap a card to pick it up, then tap where it should go. Every legal destination lights up while you hold it.
- Tableau piles build downwards in alternating colours — a red six goes on a black seven.
- Only a king may move into an empty tableau column.
- Deals are shuffled, so not every one can be won. Give up the deal from the ⋯ menu to take a fresh one.
Good if you want…
- The longest sit-down game in the app
- Cards rather than grids
- Something to do with half an hour
How to win at Solitaire
Turn over the hidden cards
Klondike is won or lost on the face-down cards in the tableau. Every move you make should, sooner or later, turn one of them over. When you have a choice between two moves, prefer the one that frees a card from the column with the most face-down cards left in it — that is where the cards you need are buried.
Play the tableau before the stock
Look for moves among the columns before turning the next card from the stock. The stock will still be there; a tableau move that exposes a new card may give you somewhere to put the card you draw, and drawing first can bury a card you needed under one you did not.
Do not rush cards to the foundations
Aces and twos should go up straight away. Beyond that, think before sending a card to its foundation: a black five in the tableau may be the only place a red four can go. Keeping the middle cards in play as long as they are useful is one of the biggest differences between winning and losing deals.
Only empty a column when a king is ready
An empty column can only take a king. Clearing a column is a good move if a king is waiting to fill it, especially one with a long run beneath it or one hiding face-down cards. Clearing a column with no king in sight wastes the space.
Choose kings carefully
When two kings could fill an empty column, pick the one whose colour suits the cards you will need to build on it. A red king wants a black queen next; if the black queens are buried, the black king may be the better choice.
Common mistakes
- Drawing from the stock whenever you are unsure. Check every column first.
- Moving a card just because a legal destination lights up. A move should turn a card over or set one up.
- Emptying a column with no king ready to take it.
Where Solitaire comes from
Klondike takes its name from the Klondike Gold Rush in Canada at the end of the nineteenth century. It became the game most people mean by Solitaire after it shipped with Windows in 1990, which also made it the way a generation learned to use a mouse.
Solitaire questions
Is every deal winnable?
No. Deals are shuffled, and some Klondike deals cannot be won however well they are played. You can give up a deal from the ⋯ menu and take a fresh one.
What can go in an empty column?
Only a king, or a run of cards starting with a king.
Solitaire in Winters Puzzles
Solitaire is one of 40 puzzles in Winters Puzzles, so it sits alongside Spider and everything else in the app rather than being a download of its own. It counts towards your stats and streak like any other puzzle. It is not one of the puzzle types included in Pip’s dailies.
Play Solitaire.
Free on iPhone and iPad, with 39 other puzzles alongside it. Or play it in your browser — no download, nothing to sign up for.
