How to play Solitaire

 

🃏 How to play Solitaire

Usually, when people say Solitaire, they mean Klondike Solitaire, the classic one-player card game.

🎯 The goal

Move all 52 cards into four foundation piles, one for each suit:

A → 2 → 3 → 4 → ... → Q → K

You win when all four suits have been completed.

🃏 Set up

You create 7 columns of cards:

• Column 1: 1 card
• Column 2: 2 cards
• Column 3: 3 cards
• ...
• Column 7: 7 cards

Only the top card of each column is face-up.

The remaining cards form the stock/waste pile.

🔄 How you move cards

In the seven columns, you build downward in alternating colors.

For example:

Black 8 → Red 7 → Black 6 → Red 5

You can move an entire correctly ordered sequence together.

🂡 Aces and foundations

Whenever you uncover an Ace, move it to a foundation.

Then build upward in the same suit:

A♥ → 2♥ → 3♥ → 4♥ → ... → K♥

Do the same for ♠, ♦, and ♣.

👑 Moving Kings

An empty column can generally only be filled with a King (or a sequence beginning with a King).

For example:

K♠ → Q♥ → J♣ → 10♦

can be moved into an empty column.

🔄 Using the stock

When you can't make useful moves from the seven columns, draw cards from the stock.

Depending on the version you're playing, you draw one card or three cards at a time.

🏆 You win when...

All four foundation piles contain:

Ace → 2 → 3 → 4 → ... → Queen → King

🌱 Beginner tips

1. Expose face-down cards whenever possible. This gives you more options.
2. Prioritize uncovering hidden cards over making moves that simply look convenient.
3. Don't automatically move every card to the foundation. Sometimes keeping a card in the tableau is strategically useful.
4. Create empty columns strategically because they allow you to move Kings and long sequences.
5. Think several moves ahead.
6. Don't worry about losing. Some Solitaire deals are difficult or impossible depending on the version and deal.

It's a lovely quiet, inexpensive game—you only need a standard 52-card deck, and it works particularly well as a short solo activity. 🃏