Klondike (solitaire)

Klondike is a famous card game.

You play it alone. You use a pack of 52 cards.

First, you make seven piles of cards. Each pile gets one more card than the last. The top card of each pile stays face up.

You move cards to build four new stacks. You start with an Ace and end with a King. All cards in a stack must be the same suit.

If you cannot move any more cards, you lose. You can also play this game on a computer. It is a very popular game to play!

Klondike is a very famous card game.

You play it alone. Most people call it Solitaire. In the UK, people often call it Patience. It is a very popular game. Many people first played it on computers.

You use a standard deck of 52 cards. First, you make seven piles of cards. These are called the tableau.

Each pile has one more card than the one before it. The top card of each pile is face up. The rest of the cards are in a pile called the stock.

Your goal is to build four stacks. These are called foundations. Each stack must have the same suit. You start with an Ace and end with a King. You can move cards between the tableau piles. You can also use a King to fill an empty space.

If you cannot make any more moves, you lose. Some people play with different rules. They might turn one card at a time from the stock. Others might turn three cards at a time. This can change how hard the game is.

Klondike is a very famous card game played by one person.

It is the most popular version in the solitaire family. Many people call it Solitaire if they live in the U.S. or Canada. In the UK, people often call it Patience. Some people also call it American Patience. It is known for being a very challenging game to play. Many different versions exist, like King Albert or Westcliff.

To play, you use a standard deck of 52 cards. You do not use any Jokers. First, you lay out seven piles called a tableau.

These piles go from left to right in a triangle shape. The first pile has one card, and the next has two. Each pile has one more card than the one before it. The top card of every pile is face up. You put the rest of the cards in a pile called the stock.

Your goal is to build four stacks called foundations. You start each stack with an Ace. Then, you add cards in order up to the King. All cards in one stack must be the same suit. You can move cards between the tableau piles. You must follow a rule about alternating colors. Only a King or a pile starting with a King can fill an empty space. If you cannot make any more moves, you lose the game.

The history of the name Klondike is not quite known. Some people think it comes from the Klondike Gold Rush. This happened in the late 19th century. The earliest rules for the game appeared in 1907. At that time, it was called Seven-Card Klondike. In 1913, the rules changed slightly. The game became known as Klondike instead of Seven-Card. In America, it was once called Canfield. This name might come from the Canfield Casino in New York.

Many people became fans of Klondike through computers. Microsoft included it in Windows starting in 1990. For many, it was the first way to learn a computer mouse. It was a very popular application for Windows. In the 1980s, people played it on Atari and Macintosh computers too. Some people play for points in the computer version. You get points for moving cards to the foundations. You can even play with two people in Double Solitaire.

Klondike is a single-player card game belonging to the solitaire family. It is widely considered the most popular and well-known version of solitaire. In the United States and Canada, the name "Solitaire" usually refers specifically to Klondike. In the United Kingdom, players often call it "Patience" or "American Patience." It is recognized for being a challenging game that requires strategic thinking.

The game uses a standard 52-card deck without any Jokers. To begin, a player creates a tableau of seven fanned piles. These piles are laid out from left to right in a triangular pattern. The first pile on the left contains one card, and each subsequent pile contains one more card than the previous one. The topmost card of every pile is turned face up. The remaining cards from the deck are placed face down in a pile called the stock.

Players aim to build four foundation stacks. These stacks are built by suit, starting with the Ace and ending with the King. To move cards within the tableau, players must follow a rule of alternating colors. This means a red card must be placed on a black card, or vice versa. Any face-up card, or group of cards acting as a unit, can be moved to another tableau pile if it follows this color rule. Empty spaces in the tableau can only be filled by a King or a sequence of cards starting with a King. The game ends when all four foundations are complete or when no more moves are possible.

There are several ways to deal the stock to the waste pile. Some rules involve turning three cards at once with unlimited passes through the deck. Other versions require turning only one card at a time. Some variations limit the player to only three passes through the deck. These different rules change how difficult the game becomes. The difficulty is a key part of why players enjoy the challenge of Klondike.

The history of the name "Klondike" is not fully certain. Some authors suggest it relates to the late 19th-century Klondike Gold Rush. However, there is no material evidence to prove this connection. The earliest recorded rules appeared in a 1907 edition of Hoyle's Games as "Seven-Card Klondike." By 1913, the name changed to "Klondike" and the rules were modified. In America, the game was once called "Canfield." This name may have come from the Canfield Casino in Saratoga Springs, New York. In England, "Canfield" refers to a completely different patience game called "Demon."

Calculating the exact probability of winning Klondike is very difficult. Mathematician Persi Diaconis called this difficulty one of the "embarrassments of applied probability." In a version called "Thoughtful Klondike," where the location of all cards is known, the win rate is about 81.942%. However, regular Klondike is harder because players cannot see the face-down cards. One study showed a skilled human player could win about 43% of games. Computer algorithms have different success rates depending on the rules used. For example, an AI using Monte Carlo tree search solved about 35% of random games. Another algorithm had a 52% win rate in "turn one" mode but only 18% in "turn three" mode.

Many different variants of the game exist. "Agnes" is an American version where the stock is dealt in batches of seven. "Easthaven" uses seven piles of three cards each. "Nine Across" uses nine columns instead of seven. Other versions like "Somerset" or "Whitehead" change how cards are dealt or how they are built. There are even ways to play with more than one person. "Double Solitaire" allows two players to share foundations using their own decks.

Computers have helped make Klondike extremely popular. Microsoft included it in the Windows operating system starting with Windows 3.0 in 1990. For many people, playing Klondike was their first way to learn how to use a computer mouse. In the digital version, players can earn points for specific moves. For example, moving a card from the waste to the tableau earns 5 points. Moving it from the tableau to a foundation earns 10 points. Players can even earn bonus points for finishing a timed game quickly.