How to Play Double Klondike Solitaire
Double Klondike takes the structure of single-deck Klondike and gives it 104 cards. The tableau widens to 9 columns, the foundations increase to 8 and the stock holds 59 cards after the opening deal. Tableau builds still go down in alternating colors, so the game feels familiar, but the longer columns take some getting used to.
The rules below match Double Klondike on Solitaire.cx: Draw 1 with one redeal, King-only empty columns and movable alternating-color runs. Other versions sometimes change the stock limit, so check that setting before you take this guide to another table.
Setting up the deal
Shuffle 2 standard 52-card decks together. Deal 9 tableau columns from left to right. Column 1 receives 1 card, column 2 receives 2 and the pattern continues until column 9 receives 9. The last card dealt to each column goes face up and the rest stay face down. This uses 45 cards.
Place the remaining 59 cards face down as the stock. Leave room beside it for the waste and 8 foundations. There are 2 foundation piles for each suit because the pack contains 2 copies of every card.
Build down in alternating colors
A tableau card may be placed on the next higher rank of the opposite color. A red 9 can land on a black 10, and a black Queen can land on a red King. Suit does not matter on the tableau. Rank and color do.
You may move one face-up card or an ordered group. Every card in that group must already go down by one rank and alternate color. If a move uncovers a face-down card, turn it face up immediately. You can start a move from any card in a run, but every card stacked on it has to come along.
Only Kings fill empty columns
Clearing a tableau column creates a space that accepts only a King or a sequence beginning with a King. No other rank can enter. The empty column is useful because a King-led group can move out of a crowded column and reveal another card there.
Do not fill the space automatically. With 2 copies of every King, several candidates may appear. Prefer the King that frees a covered card or carries a useful run. A bare King from the waste may be correct when it opens another waste card, but it gives less immediate table access than a King moved from a deep column.
Two foundations for every suit
Each foundation begins with an Ace and rises in suit through King. Because there are 2 decks, every suit gets 2 foundations. Either copy of a card may go on a pile that fits it. Once all 104 cards reach the foundations, the game is won.
Duplicate foundations create choices that single-deck Klondike does not have. If one heart pile shows a 5 and the other a 2, a 3 of hearts can only go on the lower pile. When both piles need the same rank, either copy works. Keep both piles moving when you can, so a low pile does not hold up a whole suit.
How the Draw 1 stock works
Turn over one stock card at a time. The exposed waste card may move to a tableau column or foundation if it has a legal destination. You may keep drawing without playing it; the next card covers it on the waste.
When the stock is empty, turn the waste back over as the stock once, without shuffling. That starts the second and last pass, and when it runs out there is no further redeal. A card buried in the waste can only come back into play when the cards above it are played off, on either pass.
Start by opening the deep columns
Column 9 begins with 8 hidden cards, while column 2 has only one. Turning a card over helps just as much in either column, but the deep one has far more cards still waiting behind it. When 2 moves are otherwise equal, working on the deeper column gets you to those later cards sooner.
Do not ignore the short columns. They are easier to clear and often give you the first empty space. Try to clear one of them while you build exits from the deeper columns. Piling every easy card onto a short column works against that. The column may be impossible to empty when you finally need the space.
Which of two identical cards to play
The two 7s of hearts are the same card, but they are rarely worth the same. One might be on the waste while the other is the exposed card of column 8. If a black 8 can take either one, moving the tableau copy turns over a card in column 8. Moving the waste copy may instead bring up a stock card you need right away.
Look at where each copy sits before choosing. Count the face-down cards behind the tableau copy, check the next waste card if you know it and think about which spot will be harder to get back to.
Keep opposite-color ranks available
Long alternating runs need cards of both colors. Sending every low black card to the foundations can leave red tableau cards with nowhere to land. Before moving a card to a foundation, check whether an opposite-color card one rank lower still needs it.
With 2 decks you have a little more slack than in ordinary Klondike, because another copy may still be on the table. Do not count on that copy being reachable, though. A card is safe to send up when all 4 opposite-color cards one rank lower are already home, or when the move directly turns over a face-down card.
Before the redeal
During the first pass, note stock cards that had nowhere to go. Before redealing, try to create those landing spots. If the Queen of clubs went by without a red King to land on, uncovering or moving a red King becomes a specific goal. By the second pass you should already know what you are waiting for.
Avoid using the only suitable landing spot for a less urgent card shortly before the redeal. A waste card you will see on both passes can wait; a card that comes up late on the second pass has no such margin. When the stock falls below 10 cards, check what the tableau and foundations still need before each draw.
Double Klondike next to Forty Thieves and Turn 3
Forty Thieves starts with 10 columns of 4 face-up cards and builds them down in the same suit, one card at a time. Double Klondike hides cards in a staircase and lets whole alternating-color runs move. Both use 2 decks and 8 foundations, but they play very differently on the table.
Compared with Klondike (Turn 3), Double Klondike offers more tableau landings and shows you every stock card on each pass. Its difficulty comes from 104 cards, 9 columns and a single redeal, while Turn 3 is hard because of its packets of 3. The types of Solitaire guide places these games within the wider builder family.
Common questions
How many cards are in the opening tableau?
Forty-five. The 9 columns get 1 to 9 cards each, and the remaining 59 cards form the stock.
Can a complete sequence move together?
Yes. A face-up group may move when it goes down by one rank at a time and alternates color throughout.
What can fill an empty column?
Only a King or a movable sequence beginning with a King.
How many times can the waste be redealt?
Once on this version, so you get 2 passes through the stock in total.
Why are there 8 foundations?
The game uses 2 decks, so each suit needs 2 Ace-to-King foundation piles.
Do the 2 copies of a card have fixed foundations?
No. Either copy may go on either foundation of that suit, as long as it is the next rank.