Solitaire

Q: Is every Solitaire deal winnable?

No — approximately 79% of Draw-3 and 82% of Draw-1 Klondike deals are solvable with perfect play. Many casual deals hit an unwinnable state.

Q: Where did Solitaire come from?

First recorded in Baltic/Nordic Europe in the late 1700s; some historians trace it further to French court games. Klondike was popularised during the 1896 Klondike Gold Rush.

Q: Why is Solitaire so popular?

Since Microsoft bundled it with Windows 3.0 in 1990, it has been on nearly every PC — making it one of the most-played games in history.

Q: What's the difference between Draw-1 and Draw-3?

Draw-1 turns one card from the stock at a time (easier); Draw-3 turns three cards but only the top is playable (harder, classic).

Q: Is FreeCell always winnable?

Almost — 32,000 canonical FreeCell deals in Microsoft Windows have all been solved except deal #11982.

Officially Klondike Solitaire (Patience)

Single-player card game where you arrange a shuffled deck into four ascending suit-ordered foundation piles, working from a tableau of seven descending face-down columns.

📐table⏱~8 min🌤both

Photo · Wikipedia

What is Solitaire?

Solitaire (in the UK 'Patience') is a family of single-player card games in which the player attempts to sort a shuffled deck into a target arrangement. The most famous variant, Klondike, spread worldwide after being bundled with Microsoft Windows from 1990. Klondike deals 28 cards into a 7-column tableau of descending face-down count; the remaining 24 cards form the stock, dealt one or three at a time to a waste pile. The player builds four foundation piles from Ace to King (by suit) and orders tableau piles down in alternating colours. Solitaire has hundreds of variants — FreeCell (fully open cards, 100% solvability), Spider (two decks, 10 columns), Pyramid (matching pairs to 13), and many more.

Quick facts

How it works

Objective

Move all 52 cards into the four foundation piles, sorted by suit from Ace at the bottom to King on top.

Match structure

Set up the tableau: 7 columns, first with 1 card, second with 2, up to the seventh with 7 cards. Only the top card of each column is face-up. The remaining 24 cards form the stock. Play by moving cards between tableau columns (in descending alternating colours), from the tableau to foundations (ascending same-suit), from stock to waste, and from waste to tableau or foundations. When you turn over a face-down card, it becomes available. Game ends when all 52 cards are on the foundations (win) or no moves remain (loss).

Rules

Basic rules

Tableau builds
Build the 7 tableau piles down in alternating colours (e.g., black 8 on red 9). Only Kings may be placed in empty columns.
Foundation builds
Build the 4 foundations up by suit, starting with Ace and ending with King.
Stock and waste
Turn stock cards (1 or 3 at a time) to the waste pile; only the top waste card is playable.
Moving stacks
You may move a sequence of cards from one tableau column to another as long as the sequence remains in descending alternating colours.
Face-down turnover
When a face-down card becomes the topmost card of its column, turn it face-up.
Foundation-to-tableau
You may take a card back from the foundation to the tableau if it helps (some variants disallow this).

Advanced rules

Draw 1 vs Draw 3
Draw 1 (turn one card at a time through the stock) is easier and higher-solvability; Draw 3 (turn 3 cards, use top) is the classic harder version.
Redeals
Windows Solitaire Draw 3 allows unlimited redeals; Vegas Solitaire is one deal-through only.
Vegas scoring
Pay $52 for the deck; earn $5 for each card moved to the foundations. Break-even is the whole deck.
Timing bonus
Faster completion earns bonus score; classic Windows Solitaire timing formula rewards sub-3-minute wins.
Auto-complete
When only foundations moves remain, most computer versions auto-play them.

Scoring

Two scoring systems: Standard (points for foundation moves and speed) or Vegas (cash equivalents).

Action	Points
Card to foundation	+10 (Standard) / +$5 (Vegas)
Card from waste to tableau	+5 (Standard)
Turn face-down card	+5 (Standard)
Card from foundation to tableau	-15 (Standard)
Time bonus (< 3 min)	700,000 / time (Standard)

Win condition · Move all 52 cards to the four foundations; alternatively, hit a positive Vegas cash total.

Playing area

Called

table

Dimensions

Any flat surface — physical cards or a screen.

Tableau (7 columns, 28 face-down cards + 7 face-up), stock (24 cards), waste pile, and 4 foundation slots.

Equipment

Standard 52-card deck
Regular French-suited deck (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs); no jokers.
Playing surface
Table or app — Windows Solitaire, Solitaired.com, Microsoft Solitaire Collection, physical cards.

Officiating

Single-player game; scoring managed by app or self-tracked.

Self-officiated

Strategies

Reveal the biggest column first
Prioritise moves that turn over cards from the 7-card column (most hidden cards).
Don't rush foundations
Sometimes keeping a low card in the tableau helps place other cards; not everything should go to foundation immediately.
Kings on empty columns
Aim to have a King ready when a column empties — otherwise the column is dead until one arrives.
Track colour balance
Keep alternating colours balanced in the tableau so stacks can grow.

Terminology

Tableau: The 7 columns of cards laid out at the start.
Foundation: The 4 target piles built by suit from Ace to King.
Stock: The face-down pile of remaining cards after the tableau deal.
Waste: The face-up pile where stock cards are turned; only the top card is playable.
Draw 1 / Draw 3: Turn one card or three cards at a time from the stock.
Klondike: The most famous Solitaire variant; the default game bundled with Windows.
Vegas rules: One deal-through only; scoring in dollars; classic 'casino' variant.
Auto-move: Automatic movement of cards to foundations when no other move affects them.
Stuck: State where no legal moves remain and the game cannot be won.
Face-down / face-up: Cards start face-down in tableau; turn face-up when they become the top of a column.

Major competitions

Microsoft Solitaire Collection Star Club
monthly · worldwide (in-app) · since 2016

Where it is played

Governing bodies

Microsoft (Klondike bundling)
Founded 1975 · Redmond, USA
Official site ↗

Famous names & records

Famous athletes

N/A — casual single-player game; competitive Solitaire is niche

Records

Estimated Windows Solitaire users (peak)
Microsoft — 400+ million users (2019)
Fastest Klondike Solitaire completion (public record)
Various speed-runners — under 30 seconds (typing keyboard shortcuts) (2020)
Best-provably-solvable-deal
Solvers (Fanucci et al.) — ~79% Klondike Draw-3, ~82% Draw-1 (2007)

Learn this sport

beginner

1
Deal the tableau
7 columns, first with 1 card, then 2, etc., with only the top card of each face-up.
2
Build down in tableau
Alternating red-black descending sequences (e.g., black 8 on red 9).
3
Build up on foundations
Same suit, ascending from Ace.
4
Play the stock
Turn one (or three) at a time; use the top waste card if it fits.

intermediate

1
Prioritise turnovers
Play to reveal face-down cards, especially from tall columns.
2
Save Kings for empty columns
Don't leave a column empty until you have a King ready.
3
Draw-3 techniques
In Draw-3, plan multi-card sequences from the waste that reveal buried cards.
4
Undo strategically
In app play, use undo to test moves before committing.

advanced

1
Perfect play recognition
Learn common patterns that make a deal unwinnable — save time.
2
Vegas optimisation
Focus on high-value early foundation moves and stop when EV turns negative.
3
Timing runs (Microsoft)
Keyboard-shortcut speedruns for the classic timing bonus.

Frequently asked

Is every Solitaire deal winnable?+