Learn to Play Klondike: Rules & Tips

Players	1 Player
Difficulty	3/10
Recommended Age	8+
Game Category	Solitaire

Understanding Klondike

Klondike is a classic solitaire card game that is played with a standard 52-card deck. The goal of the game is to move all the cards to the foundation piles, which are built up in suit from Ace to King.

Setup for Klondike

To set up Klondike, shuffle the deck and deal out 28 cards into seven piles, in the following manner, called a tableau:

• The first pile (left to right) includes one card
• The second pile includes two cards
• The third pile includes three cards
• And so on, up to the seventh pile, which includes seven cards.

Turn the top card on each pile face up, so that there are seven face-up cards. You will also start a stock pile to draw new cards from and reserve a space for your discard, or waste, pile.

Winning the Game

You win Klondike by moving all the cards to the foundation piles in suit from Ace to King. If you get stuck and cannot make any more moves, you can draw from the stock pile to draw three more cards to the waste pile. You can do this as many times as you need to, but be careful not to run out of cards in the stock pile.

Now that you understand the basic rules of Klondike, you can start playing and see how far you can get!

The Card Deck

To play Klondike, you will need a standard deck of 52 playing cards. The deck includes four suits: hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. Each suit has 13 cards, including an Ace, numbered cards 2 through 10, and face cards Jack, Queen, and King.

Card Values

In Klondike, the Ace is the lowest value card, and the King is the highest value card. The numbered cards have their face value, meaning a 2 of hearts is worth two points, a 3 of diamonds is worth three points, and so on. The face cards are worth 10 points each.

Card Suits

The four suits in a standard deck of playing cards are hearts, diamonds, clubs, and spades. The suits do not have any inherent point value in Klondike, but they are important for building the foundation piles.

To win the game, you need to move all the cards from the tableau to the foundation piles, organized by suit and in ascending order. For example, the first foundation pile should start with an Ace of hearts, followed by a 2 of hearts, 3 of hearts, and so on, until the King of hearts is placed on top. The same process is repeated for the other three suits.

Understanding the values and suits of the cards in a standard deck is essential for playing Klondike. Make sure you have a good grasp of these concepts before moving on to the next steps of the game.

Game Setup

Before you can start playing Klondike, you need to set up the game. This involves shuffling the deck and dealing the cards. Here’s how to do it:

Shuffling the Deck

To shuffle the deck, simply mix up the cards so that they are in a random order. You can do this by splitting the deck in half and then shuffling the two halves together, or by using a riffle shuffle technique. Make sure to shuffle the deck thoroughly so that the cards are well mixed and there is no predictable order to them.

Game Play

Turning Up Cards

The game starts by turning up the top card of the stock pile. This card is placed face-up on the waste pile. If the card on the waste pile can be moved to one of the foundation piles, then it should be moved immediately. If not, the card can be used to build on the tableau.

Moving Cards

Cards can be moved to other tableau piles if they are of the opposite color and in descending order. For example, a red seven can be moved onto a black eight. Cards can also be moved to empty tableau piles.

Building Piles

The goal of the game is to build all four suits onto the foundation piles starting with the Ace and ending with the King. To build on the foundation piles, you need to move the cards from the tableau piles. Each foundation pile should only contain one suit and should be built in ascending order.

Remember, you can only move the top card from each tableau pile. If you have a choice between moving two cards of the same value, you should choose the one that will free up the most cards.

That’s it! You now know the basic game play of Klondike. With a little bit of practice, you’ll be able to master the game and become a Klondike champion.

Scoring and Winning

In Klondike, the goal is to move all the cards to the foundation piles, building them up from Ace to King in each suit. While keeping score is not necessary to win the game, some players choose to do so by counting the number of cards that are moved to the foundation piles.

To win the game, you need to use strategy and planning to move cards from the tableau to the foundation piles. You can only move cards to the foundation piles if they are in the correct order and suit. For example, if the foundation pile for Hearts has an Ace, you can only add cards to that pile in ascending order of Hearts.

You can also move cards between tableau piles, but only if the card you are moving is one lower in rank and the opposite color of the card you are placing it on. For example, you can place a black 6 on a red 7. You can move a sequence of cards from one tableau pile to another if they are in descending order and of alternating colors. For example, you can move a red Queen, black Jack, and red 10 from one tableau pile to another.

If you get stuck and cannot make any more moves, you can draw cards from the stock pile. You can draw one card at a time and can go through the stock pile as many times as you need. However, each time you go through the stock pile, you lose 100 points.

The game ends when you have moved all the cards to the foundation piles. If you kept score, add up the number of cards you moved to the foundation piles and subtract any points lost from going through the stock pile. The higher the score, the better you did. However, the ultimate goal is to win the game, so focus on strategy and planning to achieve that.

Strategies and Tips

Playing Klondike is all about strategy and making the right moves at the right time. Here are some tips to help you improve your game:

• Focus on building descending sequences: One of the most important strategies in Klondike solitaire is to focus on building descending sequences of cards on the tableau. This means that you should try to place cards in descending order, alternating between red and black suits. For example, if you have a black 6, you can place a red 5 on top of it.
• Expose larger stacks first: When you’re targeting hidden cards to expose, it’s always recommended that you choose columns with huge stacks behind their current face cards. Whittling down these columns of hidden cards as soon as possible always has a better chance of revealing useful cards you can use to build piles of revealed cards.
• Start with just the seven columns: Once the Solitaire game is laid out, focus on moving cards that are in the seven columns before drawing from the hand, so that more cards in the columns can be exposed.
• Don’t move cards to the foundation too soon: It’s important to avoid moving cards to the foundation too soon. Instead, try to keep cards in the tableau as long as possible, so that you can build longer descending sequences and expose more cards.
• Use the stock pile wisely: As you play the game, keep an eye on the stock pile. If it starts to get low, you may need to start moving cards around on the tableau to free up space for new cards.
• Take your time: Klondike solitaire is a game that requires patience and careful planning. Don’t rush through your moves or make impulsive decisions. Take your time and think through each move carefully.

By following these strategies and tips, you’ll be well on your way to becoming a Klondike solitaire master.

Related Card Games

If you enjoy playing Klondike, you may also enjoy these similar card games:

• Spider Solitaire
• FreeCell Solitaire
• Pyramid Solitaire
• Golf Solitaire