Why strategies?
When playing the card game of patience, also called the klondike variant of solitaire, not all moves help you in the same way to progress or even win the game.
With a haphazard choice of moves, which unnecessary blocks the future use of too many cards, you very likely get stuck too early in a random game or can’t win a winnable game because in the end one or two cards are still not available.
When selecting decks of 52 playing cards that are winnable, the app assumes that you select the best possible moves. This article describes all strategies used by the Patience Solitaire Classic iOS app to check “winnability” plus a few more. You can benefit from these strategies to get as far as possible in any of your solitaire games.
Easy to learn
When trying out these strategies to improve you results when playing patience/solitaire, you will find out that they are easy to learn and based on common sense. You don’t need to look 10 moves ahead like in chess and you also don’t need to be clairvoyant, correctly guessing the suit and rank of revealed cards.
Our strategies to help you enjoy playing solitaire more are:
1. Move the tableau cards first
Start with moving cards in the seven columns/piles of the tableau. This might already move some cards to a build pile and will reveal hidden cards (from face down to face up), opening up more possibilities to place cards from the waist pile later on. When no more moves are possible with the tableau cards, look at the waist stack.
2. Draw from the stockpile for more options
If no more moves are possible with the face up cards on the tableau and waist pile, tap on the stockpile (face down card on top left or right) to deal three or one new card from stock to waist.
3. Move aces and twos to the foundation piles as soon as possible
Playing aces or twos (on top of an ace of the same suit) right away to the foundation helps free up space and uncover hidden (face down) cards. This gets you closer to winning the game. There are no possible strategies requiring an ace or two to move back from the foundation. So building your foundation this way is a no brainer.
4. Fill an empty Tableau space with a King whenever possible
According to the Klondike solitaire rules, only a King can be moved to an empty column slot or “space” in the Tableau. This type of move helps your game forward because it offers more options for future moves, like a Queen (of the alternate colour) somewhere in the Waist or Stock piles or in another column of the tableau.
If you play klondike solitaire more often you will notice that it is almost impossible to win a game without all of the four Kings on top of a pile or column on the tableau. So unless you have higher priority moves like Ace or Two to the Foundation and you don’t violate other strategies (see 5. and 6. below), this King move is a no brainer.
In the example below, the only alternative to filling the top of the empty Tableau pile with a King is dealing another 3 cards (by tapping on the Stock pile: the face down card top left). This is a move you can always do later and that will likely not progress as much towards winning as moving a King:
5. If you can choose, always reveal a facedown cards first
If there are multiple moves you can make, first free up facedown cards. Uncovering these hidden cards by having them turn face up, offers more possibilities to place other cards. This can prevent you from getting stuck and will greatly increase your chances of winning the solitaire game.
In the example above, there are multiple moves possible to occupy the empty slot or “space” in the tableau with a King. Choosing the King of hearts from the waist pile is not a good move, because choosing any of the other Kings will reveal a card. And revealing tableau cards must always have your top priority.
6. Move cards from columns with most face down cards
Revealing hidden cards helps you progress through the game of solitaire. Towards winning or at least getting stuck as late in the game as possible. So focusing on the columns or piles with the most face down cards first is a good solitaire strategy.
In the example above, both moving the King of diamonds and the King of spades to the empty slot on the left are both very good moves according to strategies 4. and 5. But the rightmost column has more face down cards so the highest potential of you getting stuck in this game. Therefore reducing the number of face down cards in this column has priority so moving the King of spades to the first column is the best move. Which is indicated by the green checkmark.
7. Create empty columns only when a King is available
If you have no more cards face down in a Tableau column, don’t create an empty column unless you have a King available to immediately move to that space. Only Kings can move to columns becoming empty in the Tableau (see the rules of the klondike solitaire game), so such a move adds no value and can even limit your options to complete the game.
In the above example screenshot from the app, it is possible to move clubs 5 on top of the diamond 6 card, creating an empty space. Because there is no King to immediately fill the empty second column from the left, moving the Queen of spades on top of the King of diamonds is a better move. As a bonus, you will find out that the card hidden below the Queen of spades is the 5 of spades. Which you can then move on top of the 6 of diamonds, revealing yet another card in the rightmost column. If you would have move clubs 5 first, you would have blocked the option of the spades 5 card to move.
8. Sometimes move cards back from the Foundation
If you get stuck, you are allowed to move cards back from a Foundation pile to the Tableau. In the example above, moving clubs 8 on top of diamonds 9 (step 1) allows moving hearts 7 and the cards below it, to the third column of the Tableau (step 2). This reveals the card below hearts 7 (step 3) giving you new options to continue the game towards winning.
9. Build foundation piles evenly
Building foundation piles too quickly or unevenly can make it difficult to move all cards from the tableau. While the ultimate goal of klondike solitaire is to move all cards, per suit and from Ace through King, in a Foundation pile with an empty Tableau, you can’t win patience/solitaire without first moving most of the cards to your Tableau and revealing all cards that are face down.
Getting too far ahead in one Foundation pile, like for clubs in the above example app screenshot, can be a sign that you have taken cards from your Tableau that might be needed to further build piles there. Because columns are built by alternating colors (black suit – red suit – black suit – red suit etc.), if you build your Foundation piles unevenly you can miss cards to cards of other suits to the Tableau. There are only two suits per color, so in the above example you have cut your chances in half to move red cards from numbers two through eight.
So watch your Foundation piles to keep them as even as possible. That means not moving cards from your Tableau to a Foundation pile until you can do so for the other Foundation piles as well. It might be tempting to move more cards to one Foundation pile, you can limit your options for future moves.
10. Move cards with future moves in mind
The best moves you make when playing solitaire are the ones where you move cards with future moves in mind. If you are shuffling your cards around the Tableau, just because you can, you may miss a better move later in the game. Always move your cards in a way that gives you a chance to progress, especially with revealing hidden (face down) cards.
For example, moving an Ace or a 2 to the Foundation helps you in future moves, because you open new places to play to (see strategy 2.). Focusing on revealing face down cards in the Tableau can also help you to select more usefull moves. The more hidden cards you reveal, the more cards you put into play. Cards are revealed if you move an entire column or the top card from a pile of hidden cards to another area of the Tableau or, in case of a single card, to the Foundation. Revealing more face down cards means more moves you can make. You also free up new cards and with that get closer to winning the patience game.
The above screenshot from the app shows a good example of thinking ahead when playing solitaire. First clubs 5 (and the cards below it) is from below diamonds 6 on top of hearts 6 (step 1). This seemingly trivial move makes it possible to put the diamond 6 to the Foundation (step 2). Now hearts 6 (with the cards below it) can be moved on top of spades 7 (step 3). Finally, the card below hearts 6 turns face up (is revealed) and can be used to play with (step 4).
11. Pay attention to the colour of the cards when stacking
On the Tableau, cards are stacked in order by alternating colour. There are only two colours in a deck of 52 playing cards and once you move cards into your Foundation piles they are no longer in play. So make sure you don’t move useful cards to the Foundation prematurely (see also strategy 9. Build your Foundatiojn piles evenly).
As an example, you need a black 4 if you want to move a red 3 to your Tableau, but if you already put one of the black fours in a Foundation pile you have limited your possible moves.
The colour of the King starting an empty Tableau pile will dictate the flow of the entire column and what cards you need for that specific column in further moves. A red King can only be followed by one of both black Qeens, a black Queen by a red Jack etc. A black King must be followed by a red Queen, then followed by a black Jack, and so on.
Both suits of each colour can be used interchangeably, but it might be more advantageous to prefer one suit over the other. Like if for your next move you can choose between a 4 of clubs or a 4 of spades, you might go for the card that is less useful to add to your Foundation.
12. Try to arrange columns of matching suits
Although the cards of each suits can be interchanged with cards of the same color, ultimately suits do matter when playing solitaire. Winning klondike solitaire (called patience in Europe) is impossible without getting all cards of each suit stacked in the four Foundation piles, from lowest (Ace) to highest (King).
Trying to arrange the columns in your Tableau in such a way that cards with the same colour in each pile are of matching suits makes it easier to play patience. If you have one column that has a 7 of hearts (red), and you add a 6 of spades (black), and then you have the option of playing either the 5 of hearts or the 5 of diamonds (both red), playing the 5 of hearts would be the best move as it matches up with your 7 of hearts in the Tableau column.
13. Use the undo button to explore alternatives
With this app it is very easy to correct a mistake, like moving a card to a build pile instead of helping you reveal further cards on the tableau. Undoing several moves allows to you to try out a different way forward, especially when you get stuck in a winnable game.
.
