Klondike

The rules, in full

A single 52-card pack is dealt into seven columns. The first holds one card and the seventh holds seven, and only the bottom card of each is face up. The other 24 cards form the deck in the top corner.

The goal is to build four foundations, one per suit, from Ace up to King. When all 52 cards are there, the deal is solved.

• In the columns, a card goes on one that is one rank higher and of the opposite colour: a red 6 on a black 7, a black Jack on a red Queen.
• Runs move together. Any part of a descending, alternating run can be lifted onto another column, as long as its top card fits there.
• Only a King goes into an empty column, alone or leading its run.
• Turn the deck one card at a time. When it runs out, tap it to turn the discard pile back over and go through it again, as often as you need. There is no penalty for it.
• A card can come back down from a foundation when a column needs it.
• A face-down card turns over by itself as soon as nothing covers it.

Scoring

Score rewards progress through the deal, not speed:

• 10 points for every card placed on a foundation
• 5 points for moving a card from the discard pile into a column
• 5 points for every hidden card you uncover
• 15 points lost for taking a card back off a foundation

The score never drops below zero.

Strategy that actually helps

Uncover the tall columns first. The seventh column hides six cards, the first hides none. A move that frees a card in a long column is almost always worth more than one that tidies a short one, because the hidden cards are where the game is decided.

Do not empty a column without a King to put in it. An empty column only takes a King. Clearing one early feels like progress, but until a King is ready to go there it is a space nobody can use.

Think twice before sending low cards up. Aces and twos belong on the foundations straight away. After that, a red 5 on its foundation may be the card a black 4 needed to get out of the way. Keep the two colours climbing at roughly the same height.

Choose which King fills a space. When two Kings are waiting, pick the one whose colour the cards underneath need. A black King wants a red Queen next, and if both red Queens are buried, the other King is the better choice.

Play the discard pile before the columns. A card in the columns can wait. The top card of the discard pile disappears under the next one you turn.

Undo, hints and finishing

Undo goes back up to 400 moves, so a deal is a puzzle you can explore rather than a gamble: try a line, and step back if it closes. The hint button (H on a keyboard) shows one move that is available right now. Once every card is face up and the deck is empty, the result is decided and the game shows tap to finish. Tap anywhere on the table, or press Enter, and the remaining cards go up to their foundations by themselves, one after another. Any press stops it, and undo takes it back a card at a time.

Not every deal can be solved, not even with perfect play. If the game says there are no moves left, undo a few steps to look for a different line, or deal again.

A little history

Klondike is the game most people simply call solitaire, or patience in Britain. Its name is usually linked to the Klondike gold rush in Canada's Yukon at the end of the nineteenth century, although where it really started is not certain. It reached hundreds of millions of screens in 1990, when Microsoft shipped it with Windows 3.0. There it partly served a purpose beyond play: it taught people who had never used a mouse to click and drag.

Common questions

Is it free? Yes. It runs in your browser, with no signup and nothing to download.

Does it work on a phone? Yes. Drag cards with a finger, or tap a card to send it wherever it can legally go. It works in portrait and landscape.

Is it draw one or draw three? Draw one: every tap on the deck turns a single card.

Can I install it? Yes. Bananai can be installed as an app from the browser, and a game you have already opened usually keeps working when the connection drops.