Why Klondike is the most popular Solitaire game

People have played solitaire games for many decades. Essentially, any card game played only by one person can be considered solitaire. Today, there are a lot of different variations, such as FreeCell, Spider, Canfield, Pyramid, Yukon. And you can find almost all of them available online. But without a doubt, the most popular one is Klondike.

Klondike is one of the oldest solitaire card games. It is so well known and recognized worldwide that the terms “Solitaire” and “Klondike” are often used as synonyms (especially in the US and Canada). In the UK, the game is also referred to as “Patience”.

1. Klondike origins

The name Klondike most likely comes from a region in Canada famous for the Gold Rush in the late 19th century. The popularity of the game widely increases with the growing usage of personal computers and also the fact that Microsoft includes it in the Windows 3.0 operating system.

Klondike Solitaire has easy-to-understand rules and engaging gameplay. It’s perfect if you want to train your strategic thinking. Or maybe if you just want to have some fun in your spare time.

The game goal is to use all the cards in the deck to build the 4 piles of cards (the 4 foundations) classified by suits starting with the Aces in ascending order.

2. How to play Klondike

To play Klondike you will need a 52-card standard deck without jokers. The cards rank are in ascending order, from lowest to highest, starting at the Ace, and ending at the King:
A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K.

Seven piles of cards are formed and placed in an area named Tableau. Each pile must contain one more card than the previous one, and only the top card should be turned face up. The first pile consists of a single card placed face up. Then the second one has two cards – one face down, and another with the face up. The third pile contains three cards (two with the face down, one face up). Finally, the last (7th) pile contains seven cards (six with the face down and one face up).

The remaining cards are placed face down at the top left of the layout, thus forming the Stock. You can draw cards from the stock at any time. Each card you take from the stock, but haven’t played, is considered a waste.

The four foundations (at the top right) must be grouped by suit from Ace to King. To do this, you have to organize the cards in the piles in descending order and alternating colors. Each face up card in the piles (or a whole pile) can be moved to another pile based on its highest card. Any empty stack can be filled with a King or a pile of cards starting with a King.

The objective of Klondike is to transfer all cards from the Tableau, Stock, and Waste Pile into the 4 Foundations, sorted by suit. The game is finished if all 52 cards have been placed into the 4 Foundations. If the player can no longer make any meaningful moves, the game is considered blocked. At this point, winning is impossible.

See how to set up more Solitaire card games

3. Where to play Klondike Solitaire

There are many options where you can play solitaire for free.

But if you want a top-quality game with fascinating graphics and a lot of cool features, we recommend trying our brand new Klondike Solitaire Offline app. The game is available for Android and iOS, and you can play it anywhere. No need to worry about wi-fi connectivity. If you do have any internet connection, you can also play solitaire online.

Some of the exciting things you will find:

• Enjoy the classic solitaire game for free every day.
• Take advantage of the in-game customizations: table color, custom avatars and more.
• Adjust the number of cards to draw from the Stock pile.
• Play on many boards, switch to a new one when you don’t have any moves left.
• Check the detailed statistics and improve your performance.
• If you are stuck, don’t worry! We have unlimited hints for you!
• Regret a move? Just undo it with a single tap.

Here is how the scoring works:

• +10 points for each card moved to a Foundation.
• +5 points for each card moved from the Stock to a row pile.
• +5 points for each card turned face-up in a row pile.
• +3 points for each card moved from one pile to another.
• -15/0 points for each card moved from a suit stack to a row pile.
• -100/0 points for each pass through the deck after one pass.

The penalty points can be disabled in settings. The total game score is the sum of all the boards’ scores per game.

Originated decades ago, Klondike is the perfect solo card game to play in your free time. When you finish a game by completing the 4 foundations, you will feel pure satisfaction. It is a strategic game that you can become better at. The long history, easy access and simple rules make Klondike the most popular Solitaire card game.