Rules for Klondike

Return to Introduction  Previous page  Next page

Also sometimes referred to as Fascination, Triangle, Demon Patience, and Chinaman. This is also the same game as the familiar Microsoft Windows™ solitaire. Similar games in Solitaire Plus include Double Klondike and Canfield.

 

Klondike

 

Layout

 

Twenty-eight cards dealt in seven tableau piles.
The number of cards per pile increases from one to seven from left to right.
The top card of each pile is face up (exposed), the rest are face down (hidden).

 

Play

 

Build exposed cards down in value and alternating suit color.
The top card of a pile is always available for play on a foundation.
Exposed cards built down in value and alternating suit color can be moved as a unit if the bottommost card of the pile may be built on top of another pile.
Whenever the exposed cards of a pile are cleared away, the next card is exposed and becomes available for play.
A space made by clearing away an entire pile may be filled by only a King (plus the cards, if any, built on the King).

 

Stock

 

Turn up cards from the stock one or three at a time (see Variations below) in a discard pile.
The top card of the discard pile is available for play on foundations or tableau piles.
Unused cards in the discard pile are recycled after the stock is depleted.

 

Foundations

 

Move the four Aces to the row above the tableau as they are made available.
Build the foundations in ascending suit sequence from Ace to King.

 

To Win

 

Move all the cards to the foundations.

 

 

Available Variations:

 

Use the popup menu (accessible via a right mouse button click) to select either one-card or three-card draw. Once a game is started, the number to draw cannot be altered without starting a new game.

draw

 

This particular implementation of Klondike has no limit on the number of times the discard pile may be recycled.

 

Scoring: One point for each card moved to a foundation. Maximum score is 52.

 

The "Other" tab of the Options panel also offers the "Vegas Scoring" option. With Vegas scoring, one dollar is subtracted for each card to start the game. Each card played to the foundation results in $5 being added to the score. Therefore, a winning game is worth $208. Vegas scoring is displayed as a cumulative total as long as the Klondike game window remains open.

 

Chance of Winning: 1 in 30 games for three card draw variation. Better odds for one-card draw. Statistics for one card draw and three card draw are tracked separately.

 

Related Topics:

 

Common shortcuts for all games

Game options