The complete Klondike reference, with a live game you can set to turn-1 or turn-3.
Vegas is a pretend-money scoring challenge — just for fun, nothing to buy, ever.
Last updated July 20, 2026
Klondike is the proper name for the solitaire game almost everyone has played. If you have ever built four piles up from Ace to King with a single deck of cards, you have played Klondike. This page is the full reference — where the game comes from, every rule and common variant, and honest odds — with a live game right above it.
Use the variant picker to set the rules you want. You can switch between turn-1 and turn-3 and choose a scoring style, and the board deals instantly with your choice. Nothing to install, no account needed.
Klondike has a small set of rules that work together neatly. Here is the complete ruleset, including the parts that trip people up.
Klondike takes its name from the Klondike region of Canada, and the game is widely believed to have spread during the Gold Rush of the late 1890s, when prospectors passed the time with a deck of cards. The name stuck, and the game became the standard one-player card game across the English-speaking world.
For millions of people, Klondike simply became “Solitaire” when it shipped with early personal computers in 1990, introducing the drag-and-drop version most players picture today. The computer version also taught a generation to use a mouse — the small, satisfying drag of a card was the point.
The biggest rules choice is how many stock cards you turn at once. Turn-1 reveals one card per tap and gives you the most control, which makes it the friendlier, higher-winning version. Turn-3 reveals three at a time and only the top is playable, so reaching a buried card takes planning.
If you want a relaxing game or you are learning, start with turn-1. If you want a stiffer challenge, switch the picker to turn-3. Both use the same tableau and foundation rules — only the stock changes.
Standard scoring rewards good play with points and lets you recycle the stock as often as you like, so it is forgiving and good for practice. Vegas scoring is stricter: you limit your passes through the stock and the game is framed as a running tally, which raises the stakes on every card.
For learning the game, standard scoring with turn-1 is the gentlest combination. As you improve, tightening the rules toward turn-3 and limited passes is a natural way to keep the challenge fresh.
Not every random Klondike deal can be solved, even with perfect play. Studies of solvable deals suggest that, with best play and full knowledge, a large majority of turn-1 deals are winnable, while turn-3 deals are solvable less often because the stock is harder to work through.
Human win rates are much lower than the theoretical best, simply because we cannot see the face-down cards. That gap is why the deals on our main Solitaire page are chosen to be winnable — so a careful player is always rewarded rather than handed an impossible board.
The game is named after the Klondike region of Canada and is thought to have spread during the 1890s Gold Rush. It later became the default “Solitaire” bundled with early home computers.
Klondike is the specific game most people mean by “Solitaire.” Solitaire is really a whole family of one-player card games, but Klondike is by far the most famous member.
Twenty-eight cards are dealt into the seven columns — one in the first column up to seven in the last — with only the bottom card of each column face up. The remaining 24 cards form the stock.
With perfect play and full knowledge of the deck, most turn-1 deals are solvable; turn-3 deals are solvable less often. Real players win much less because the face-down cards are hidden, which is why our main Solitaire deals are pre-selected to be winnable.
Yes. The variant picker above the board lets you switch between turn-1 and turn-3 and pick a scoring style. The board re-deals instantly with your choice.
Turn-3 with limited stock passes is the toughest standard combination, because you get fewer chances to work cards out of a stock that only shows one of every three cards at a time.