🧩 Solitaire (Klondike): card game rules

How to play Solitaire (Klondike)

Goal: Sort every card into four piles by suit, from Ace up to King.

Setting up

1. Lay out 7 columns: one card in the first, two in the second, and so on up to 7 cards in the last.
2. In each column only the top card is face up. The rest are face down.
3. The remaining cards are the stock. Leave room above the columns for four foundation piles.

How to play

1. Every Ace you uncover goes to its own foundation pile, and you build up the same suit on it in order: 2, 3 and on to the King.
2. In the columns, build down in alternating colors, for example a black 6 on a red 7.
3. You can move a group of ordered face-up cards from one column to another.
4. When you move the last face-up card off a column, flip the card underneath it.
5. Only a King (or a group starting with a King) can move into an empty column.
6. When you get stuck, turn over a card from the stock and try to use it.

Who wins

You win when all 52 cards are sorted into the four foundation piles.

Tips

• Favor moves that uncover face-down cards in the longest columns.
• Don't rush to empty a column unless you have a King ready to move in.

Variations

• Easy version: turn over one card at a time from the stock. Harder version: turn over three and only use the top one.