Klondike Solitaire

Also known as Canfield, Klondike Solitaireis one of the most popular variations of the famous game of cards that belongs to the Solitaire family. The popularity of the game is however contrary to the fact that it has one of the lowest win rates amongst all others.

Klondike Solitaire grew in popularity around the late nineteenth century after the Klondike Gold Rush occurred during 1896-99. However, in the modern world, it was Microsoft that spiked its popularity by including the game as free to play in Microsoft Windows.

Today, there exist over 100 variations of Klondike Solitaire. A fair test of calculation, strategy and decision making is involved in this game of cards that's typically played with a standard deck of 52 cards without the help of Jokers. Let’s understand how to play Klondike Solitaire online.

Set Up of the Klondike Game

All cards are shuffled and distributed into 7 piles of cards. The seven piles are laid out from left to right with each pile having one more card than the previous pile on the left. The leftmost pile features one face up card, the second pile has two cards, the third pile three cards, the fourth pile has four cards and so on.

As per the free Klondike Solitaire rules, the first card on top of each pile is laid face up. The rest of the cards make the stockpile and are kept face down at the top left corner above the layout. Then, there are four foundations on the upper right corner . These piles need to be filled with cards of the same suit from Ace low to King High. For this, the player needs to build the tableau piles below by placing cards in sequence in alternate colours.

Each face up card in a tableau can be moved as a single card or as a unit to another pile to form relevant sequences in alternating colours in Klondike Solitaire online. The player can fill any empty pile with a King followed by a pile of cards in sequences of alternating colours in the descending order.

Here's a list of recommended calculators:

Object of the Game Klondike

The object of the game is to create and build four complete stacks of suited sequences of cards from King High to Ace low. When such a stack is complete, it shall be transferred to the foundation pile as per its suit. When all cards have been arranged to four complete suited stacks, they are transferred to the foundation pile at which point, the player wins the Klondike game. You can play your moves in Klondike Solitaire online by either of the following ways.

• By turning 3 cards together to the waste pile without any limit when passing through the deck.
• By turning just once card onto the waste pile using three passes using the deck
• By turning just once card onto the waste pile with one pass through the deck of cards
• By turning over one card at a time to the waste pile without any limits when passing through the deck.

In case the player fails to make a valid move during the game, the game is over right there.

Variations of the Klondike Game

There exists many famous variations of free Klondike Solitaire online. Some of the best ones are mentioned below.

• Single Deck

Agnes, Nine Across, Easthaven, Thumb and Pouch, Whitehead and Westcliff are some of the fun variations of Single deck Klondike Solitaire. For instance, in Nine Across, 9 columns are dealt as opposed to 7 standard piles in Classic Klondike. Here, the player has the option to choose the cards to form a foundation.

• Tarot Deck

This variation is played with the use of Tarot themed 78 card deck.

• Gambling variation

Some casinos featuring this game have turned into a game of chance. In this version, you deal cards one at a time and check out the stockpile only once. This means, if a player pays 50 rupees to play the game, the house pays 5 rupees for every card the player manages to move to a foundation pile.

• Joker Solitaire

This version of Klondike Solitaire adds two cards that can be played as wild cards, as a result, upping the skill level in the game.

• Digital Klondike Solitaire

This variation is simply called Solitaire and has been featured in Microsoft Windows OS since the inception of Windows 3.0 in the year 1990. Today, you can easily play free Klondike Solitaire online either on Microsoft Windows or any android gaming application that features the game. So, when alone by yourself and you’re up for a quick mental workout, go play Klondike Solitaire online and have fun!