How to Play Solitaire: seven techniques that win more games
Within a single deal, Klondike is decided far more by the order you make moves than by the shuffle. Our deals are a real shuffle — we do not filter them — and research puts roughly 80% of deals as theoretically winnable. Most players win nowhere near 80%. Everything below is aimed at that gap.
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Turn face-down cards before anything else
The hidden cards are the only real unknown on the board. A move that flips one buys information; a move that only tidies the tableau buys nothing. When two moves look equally good, take the one that reveals.
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Dig the deepest pile first
The seventh column hides six cards, the second hides one. Working where the pile is deepest returns the most new material per move, and the shallow piles stay easy to clean up later.
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Do not send every card to the foundation
A red six sent up early cannot catch a black five later. Aces and twos are always safe. From three upward, ask whether a card of the opposite colour one rank lower is still buried — if it is, leave the card in the tableau.
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Know which King is going into an empty column
An empty column accepts only a King. Emptying one with no King in reach turns your best resource into a hole you cannot fill. Find the King first, then clear the column.
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In turn 3, change the offset instead of cycling
The stock hands you every third card, so two thirds of it is out of reach on any given pass. Cycling again shows you the same cards. Play one tableau move that uses a stock card, and the whole cycle shifts.
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Prefer the move that changes the most
Between two legal moves, the better one exposes a face-down card, empties a column, or unblocks a suit. A move that only rearranges cards you can already see costs you a pass through the stock and gains nothing.
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A dead end may be the deal, not you
We deal a genuine shuffle and do not hide that some deals cannot be won. If you are stuck, undo back to the last real branch and try the other line before assuming you misplayed — and if the deal is simply lost, that happens to everyone.
The first three change your win rate on their own. The rest start to matter once you have stopped losing games to cards you never turned over.