Home / Strategy tips

Solitaire Strategy: 10 Tips to Win More Games

Klondike has luck in it, but how you play matters a lot. These habits make the difference.

Nobody can control the shuffle, but you control what you do with it. Most lost games come down to a handful of avoidable habits.

1. Look before you draw

Before you touch the stock, check every move the board already allows. Drawing changes what is on top of the waste, so finish what is available first. Many players draw out of habit and miss a move that was sitting there.

2. Turn over hidden cards first

The game is won by getting hidden cards into play. When you have a choice, pick the move that turns over a card, and prefer the column with the most hidden cards. A column with only one hidden card can wait.

3. Play Aces and 2s straight away

Low cards are almost never useful in the columns, because very few cards can be placed on them. Send them up as soon as they are free.

4. Do not rush the higher foundation cards

A red 5 on a foundation is a spot that a black 4 can no longer use. Cards in the columns hold sequences together and give other cards somewhere to go. Keep the foundations fairly even and avoid pushing one suit far ahead of the others.

5. Be careful with empty columns

An empty column is powerful, but only a King can fill it. Do not empty a column unless you have a King ready, or one that is likely to come soon. If two Kings are available, choose the one that lets you turn over the most hidden cards.

6. When two moves look the same, think about what each uncovers

If a red 8 can go onto either of two black 9s, work out which move turns over a card or frees a card that is needed. The two moves are rarely equal.

7. Move the smallest run you need to

Long runs are hard to move later, because the new column has to accept the first card. Avoid building a tall run on a column where it will get in the way of other cards.

8. Keep track of what you have seen

After your first pass through the stock you know where many cards are. If a black 6 you need has not appeared, it is still ahead of you. This matters even more in draw 3, where cards in the middle of each group stay buried.

9. Use Undo to explore

This is solitaire, so nobody is watching. Try a line of play, see where it leads, and take it back if it fails. You learn quickly this way, and Undo steps back through draws as well as moves.

10. Know when a deal is stuck

Some random deals cannot be won. If you have gone through the stock twice with no useful move and no new cards in play, it is fine to start again. Try Hint if you think you missed something, and it will say when there is nothing useful left.