Introduction
Klondike Solitaire is called sometimes by the generic name 'Solitaire',
for example a famous Microsoft's Solitaire is actually Klondike Solitaire.
This is probably the most popular solitaire game in the world.
Deal
Klondike solitaire uses one deck (52 cards). Twenty-eight cards are dealt from the deck into the 7 tableau piles
with the number of cards per pile increasing from one to seven from left to right.
The top card is face up, the rest face down.
The opening table has:
7 tableau stacks,
4 foundation piles,
stock and waste pile.
Object of the Game
The object of the game is to use all the cards in the deck to build the foundations up in suits
from Ace, 2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10,Jack, Queen, King.
Playing Klondike Solitaire
Top cards of tableau piles and waste pile are available to play.
To move cards to any of the 4 foundation piles, you must start each foundation pile with an Ace. Once an Ace has been put up in the suit stack pile, 2 of the same suit can be placed on the Ace, and so forth, ending with the King. Once a card has been placed on the foundation pile, it can be moved back to the row stack, however, a point penalty will be assessed for this action.
As the game proceeds, the 7 tableau stacks on the bottom are used only as an intermediate holding place for eventual build-up of 4 foundation piles.
Cards in tableau stacks can be placed in descending order, alternating between red and black suits. To build your stacks, you may either draw a card from the "waste pile" or move an existing stack of cards.
Spaces (empty tableau stacks) may be filled only with a King or a King-sequence.
When you have made all the available plays on the board, begin turning over cards from stock. 3 cards at a time are turned over from the Stock by default (some soitaire tournaments set 1 card at time rule). You can move cards from stock pile to the tableau piles and to the foundations according to the rules mentioned above.
After going through all of the cards in the stock, you can go through it again however, there is a point penalty for this action.
Solitaire Scoring
Any card moved to any of the 4 suit stacks earns 10 points.
Any card moved from the deck to any of the 7 row stacks earns 5 points
A closed card revealed in any of the 7 row stacks earns 5 points
A card moved from any of the 4 suit stacks back to row stacks - 15 points penalty gets subtracted
In the 3-card variation, every time you go through the deck after the 3d time, 20 points penalty gets subtracted
In the 1-card variation, every time you go through the deck after the 1st time, 100 points penalty gets subtracted
Klondike Solitaire Strategy and Playing Tips
1. If there is a choice of cards to use from the 7 row stacks, select the one with most unopened cards under it
2. When facing a choice between moving a card from the waste pile, or a card from the tableau stack, in general choose the card from the the tableau stack. If there is a choice of cards to use from the 7 row stacks, select the one with most unopened cards under it
3. Don't rush cards up to the foundation when they may still be useful in general play. In general they can be moved up when both cards of one less rank and alternate colour are available.
4. Especially in a 3 card variation, players with good memory will benefit from going through the entire deck prior to moving a single card