Klondike Solitaire is played with a standard 52-card deck, without Jokers.

Seven fanning heaps of cards are placed out in a tableau from left to right after shuffling. Each pile has one more card than the one before it, starting from the left. One card is turned over in the first and leftmost pile, followed by two cards in the second pile, three cards in the third pile, four cards in the fourth pile, five cards in the fifth pile, six cards in the sixth pile, and seven cards in the seventh pile. Each pile's top card is turned face up.

The remaining cards form the stock and are placed facedown at the upper left of the layout.

The tableau piles can be constructed down in different colors while the four foundations (the light rectangles in the upper right of the illustration) are built up by suits from Ace (low in this game) to King. The highest card in each face-up pile, whether it be full or partial, can be used to move the entire pile as a whole to another tableau pile. A King can be used to fill any empty heaps or a pile of cards. The object of the game is to build up four stacks of cards on one of the four foundations, starting with an Ace and finishing with a King, all of the same suit. If you succeed, you will have won.

The Rule

There are different ways of dealing with the remainder of the deck from the stock to the waste, including the following:

• Turning three cards at once to the waste, with no limit on passes through the deck.
• Turning three cards at once to the waste, with three passes through the deck.
• Turning one card at a time to the waste, with three passes through the deck.
• Turning one card at a time to the waste with only a single pass through the deck, and playing it if possible.
• Turning one card at a time to the waste, with no limit on passes through the deck.

If the player can no longer make any meaningful moves, the game is considered lost. At this point, winning is impossible.