How to win solitaire: 10 strategy tips

Klondike is the solitaire most people know: seven columns on the table, four foundation piles to build from Ace to King, and a deck to draw from. If you’re new, start with how to play solitaire. This guide is about the next step: the habits that turn a lot of stuck games into wins.

10 tips to win more solitaire games

1. Turn over face-down cards first

This is the most important rule. Every hidden card you uncover can open new moves, so when you have a choice, pick the move that reveals a card.

2. Start with the tallest columns

The column on the right starts with six hidden cards, the one on the left with none. Freeing the long columns early digs out the most cards, so give them priority.

3. Play Aces and Twos right away

Aces and Twos can only go to the foundations, and while they sit on the table they block other cards. Send them home as soon as they appear.

4. Don’t rush the other cards to the foundations

A red 6 on the table can hold a black 5 for you. Once it’s on the foundation, it’s gone. Moving cards up too early can leave you with nowhere to put the next card, so keep middle cards on the table while they’re still useful.

5. Only empty a column for a King

An empty column can only take a King (or a run starting with a King). Emptying one with no King ready wastes a space. Wait until a King is free, ideally one that’s sitting on hidden cards.

6. Choose the right King

When two Kings could take an empty column, think about which Queens are around. If you have a red Queen ready, move a black King, and the other way round.

7. Use the deck as a tool, not a last resort

Before you draw, check the table for moves first. Draw when you need a specific card to free something, not just to keep busy. Every card you play from the deck is one less card stuck in it.

8. Keep runs of alternating colors flexible

Don’t move a card from one column to another just because you can. If the move doesn’t uncover a card or free an Ace, it often just shuffles the problem around.

9. Look one move ahead

Before you play a card, ask what it leaves behind: does it uncover a card you can use, or bury one you need? A few seconds of thinking saves a lot of undos.

10. Keep going even when it looks stuck

Run through the deck one more time and scan every column. A single card from the deck often unlocks a whole chain of moves.

Can every solitaire game be won?

No. Some deals are blocked from the start, with the cards you need buried under the ones that need them. That’s part of Klondike. What strategy changes is how many of the winnable deals you actually win. Playing slowly, uncovering cards first and keeping columns flexible makes the biggest difference.

Other kinds of solitaire to try

Each solitaire game takes a different kind of thinking:

• Kepo Spider Solitaire: two decks and ten columns. Build full runs from King to Ace in one suit. Choose 1, 2 or 4 suits.
• Kepo FreeCell Solitaire: every card is face up from the start, with four free cells to park cards. Pure strategy, no luck in what’s hidden.
• Kepo Pyramid Solitaire: remove pairs of cards that add up to 13 to clear the pyramid.
• Kepo TriPeaks Solitaire: clear three peaks by playing cards one higher or one lower than the pile.
• Kepo Golf Solitaire: the same higher-or-lower idea, with seven face-up columns and no wrapping from King to Ace (golf solitaire rules).

Play solitaire online

Kepo Solitaire is classic Klondike, free in your browser with no ads and no sign-up. It deals one card at a time and lets you go through the deck as often as you like. It has unlimited undo, a hint button (Kepo looks right at the card to play), and when every card is face up, the rest go home by themselves.