How to Win at Solitaire
Most Klondike games are won or lost on a handful of choices: which hidden card to go after, what to send home and when to empty a column. This guide takes those choices one at a time.
It assumes you already know the rules. If you don't, start with the how to play guide and come back.
Judge a loss by what you could see
A deal can have a solution that nobody could find from the cards in view. Computer studies of Klondike usually let the program see every face down card, so their win rates are a ceiling for ordinary play. The winnability guide explains the difference. When you look back at a loss, look for a choice you could have made with what was showing at the time. The move that looks obvious once the whole deck is face up is hindsight.
Look at the whole board before you touch a card
Before moving, find the exposed Aces and 2s, then compare the moves you have on the tableau. If a red 7 can take either black 6, which 6 uncovers a card? Which column has more hidden cards behind it? On a fresh deal, moving the exposed card from any column except the first turns over a new card. Later in the hand, count how many face-up cards must move before you get another reveal.
In the deal below, only 2 moves are open before you touch the stock. The Ace of spades goes up, and the 7 of clubs can go on the 8 of hearts in column 5. Both turn over a card, so play them and then read the table again. The two red 3s have to wait for a black 4, and the Queen of diamonds for a black King.
Free the hidden cards first
Every card you turn over is one more card you can use and one fewer surprise left in the deal. When two moves want the same spot, pick the one that turns a card over, unless the other one sets up something better. A long column deserves attention, but being long doesn't make every move out of it the right one.
Check what happens after the reveal as well. Moving a run onto the only black 8 may expose a card, but it also uses the landing place for a red 7 waiting on the waste. Compare both lines before committing that destination. Undo is there for exactly this kind of test.
Do not race the foundations
Foundation progress is useful, but a higher card may still be needed on the tableau. Before sending an exposed red 6 up, check for a black 5 on the waste or elsewhere in the columns. Keeping the 6 available could let you move that 5 and reach the card underneath it.
Aces and 2s can leave safely. For higher ranks, compare the opposite-color foundations: if they already contain the lower cards that could need this landing place, keeping it back serves no purpose. That check is more useful than trying to make all 4 foundations rise at the same speed.
Know which King goes into an empty column
An empty column accepts a King or a King-led run. Its value depends on the King you can move there: a tableau King may release hidden cards, while a waste King may expose another useful stock card. Leaving the space open for a while is fine. It just can't hold a lower card in the meantime.
Used well, an empty column lets you lift a whole run out of the way to reach a face down card, or reorganize 2 columns into a continuous sequence. Before you clear a column, know which King is going into it, and if you can, line up a Queen of the other color to follow the King.
Work the stock on purpose
On Draw 1 every card in the stock comes around again, so there is no rush. Go through it, see what is waiting and plan which card you want to catch on the next pass. On Draw 3 you can only reach the top card of each set of 3, so the order of the stock matters. If a card you need is stuck in an awkward spot, count the cards so you know which draw brings it to the top and time your plays to land on it. Drawing without a reason just flips cards past you. The Turn 3 strategy guide covers that stock puzzle in detail.
Know when a deal is dead
If a full stock pass changes nothing, look over the tableau for a rearrangement that could create a new landing place. In Draw 3, check whether playing one waste card would change which cards come up on the next pass. Not seeing a move does not mean there is none. If nothing turns up, undo back to the last real choice and try the other branch, or start a new deal.
Common questions
What is a good win rate at solitaire?
Even perfect play can't win every deal, so the best yardstick is your own record over a few hundred games. For a ceiling: in a computer study by Charlie Blake and Ian Gent, a program that knew where every card was could win about 90% of Draw 1 deals and about 82% of Draw 3 deals (Blake and Gent). You can't see the face down cards, so on random deals your number will sit well below that. Every Winnable deal has a solution, so a much higher rate is possible there.
Should I always move an Ace to the foundation?
Yes. No card builds below an Ace, so an exposed Ace can go up immediately. A 2 is just as safe, because the only card that could go on it is an Ace, and Aces never stay on the tableau. Higher ranks may still be needed to receive a lower opposite-color card.
Is Draw 1 or Draw 3 easier to win?
Draw 1. Every stock card comes up on every pass, so you have more control. Draw 3 hides some cards behind others and rewards planning, which makes it the harder and slower game. There is more on the difference in the how to play guide, while the 3 Card Solitaire guide covers Draw 3 decisions in depth.
Practice a specific stock decision in the Turn 3 stock exercise.