Klondike Solitaire Cheat Sheet

Opening Priorities (in order)

1. Send any visible Ace to the foundations immediately.
2. Send any visible 2 to the foundations if its Ace is already up.
3. Prefer the move that uncovers a face-down card in the longest column (column 7 first, then 6, then 5).
4. Move a King to an empty column only if it uncovers a face-down card AND you have a Queen of the opposite color ready.
5. If two moves both uncover a face-down card, pick the move on the column that still has the most face-down cards.
6. Draw from the stock only after all tableau-to-tableau moves are exhausted.

Draw 1 vs Draw 3 — Decision Matrix

Learn on Draw 1 until you hit a 40%+ win rate. Then switch to Draw 3 — the harder version is what most of the historical Solitaire canon and Vegas rule sets assume.

Vegas Scoring Quick Reference

Vegas rewards conservative play. Do not send a card to the foundation if you will need it to build a tableau sequence within the next few moves — that $5 costs you more than it pays.

King Placement Checklist

Before moving a King to an empty column, confirm:

• ✅ It uncovers at least one face-down card, OR
• ✅ You have an opposite-color Queen ready to build on it, OR
• ✅ It frees a trapped card that will let you reach an Ace or 2.
• ❌ Otherwise: leave the King where it is.

Empty columns are most valuable when they are empty. Do not fill them with a King just because you can — an empty column is the most powerful tempo tool in the game.

Which Color King Goes in the Empty Column?

• Red King (♥ or ♦): you will build Black Queen, Red Jack, Black 10, Red 9, etc. Pick the red King when you have more black Queens than red Queens available.
• Black King (♠ or ♣): you will build Red Queen, Black Jack, Red 10, Black 9, etc. Pick the black King when you have more red Queens than black Queens available.

This sounds minor but determines whether your next 10 moves flow or stall. Look at the tableau and stock before committing.

The 10 Mistakes That Cost Most Games

1. Playing Aces and 2s to the foundation too eagerly when they were still useful as tableau anchors.
2. Filling an empty column with the first available King instead of the right-color one.
3. Moving a card just because you can, without checking whether it uncovers a face-down card.
4. Drawing from the stock before exhausting tableau-to-tableau moves.
5. Failing to count remaining stock cards in Draw 3 — missing the last-pass planning window.
6. Building long mixed-color sequences in a column you will need to unstack later.
7. Ignoring a face-down card in the shortest column because the longer columns looked more promising.
8. Sending a 3 or 4 to the foundation when you still needed it to anchor a 2 of the opposite color.
9. Not restarting a deal that is clearly dead — sunk-cost bias.
10. Playing every new deal identically instead of reading what the deal gives you first.