Solitaire Card Games Explained: Klondike, TriPeaks and Other Classics

By the Happy Life Games team · Updated October 19, 2026 · 6 min read

"Solitaire" isn't a single game. It's a whole family of card games for one player, and the members differ more than you might expect. Some are long sorting puzzles you can plan dozens of moves ahead; others are quick, rhythmic games built around chaining plays.

Below are the most common solitaires, followed by a closer look at TriPeaks, which you can play on our TriPeaks Solitaire page.

A few terms first

Most solitaires share some vocabulary:

• Tableau: the main layout of cards on the table, where most of the play happens.
• Stock: the face-down pile you draw new cards from.
• Waste: the face-up pile where drawn or played cards land.
• Foundations: the piles where you build complete suits, usually from ace up to king.

Klondike: the one most people know

When people say "solitaire," they usually mean Klondike. It reached an enormous audience when Microsoft included it as Solitaire in Windows 3.0 in 1990.

Setup: 28 cards are dealt into seven columns. The first column has one card, the second has two, and so on up to seven. Only the top card of each column is face up. The other 24 cards form the stock.

Rules: In the tableau, you build downward in alternating colors, so a red 9 can go on a black 10. You can move a correctly ordered run as a group. When you uncover a face-down card, flip it. Only a king, or a run starting with a king, can fill an empty column. Aces go to the foundations as soon as they appear, and each foundation is built up by suit. You win when all four suits are complete. Depending on the version, you turn cards from the stock one at a time or three at a time, and three-card draw is noticeably harder.

Strategy in brief:

• Prefer moves that flip a face-down card.
• Don't empty a column unless a king is ready to move into it.

FreeCell: almost pure skill

FreeCell deals the entire deck face up into eight columns. Four "free cells" each hold one card temporarily, and four foundations are built up by suit. Like Klondike, you build downward in alternating colors, but officially you move one card at a time. In practice, free cells and empty columns let you move longer runs.

Because nothing is hidden, nearly every deal can be won with good planning. The key skill is protecting your free cells: each card parked there reduces your flexibility, and an empty column is even more valuable than a free cell.

Spider: building whole suits in place

Spider is usually played with two decks across ten columns. You can place any card on a card one rank higher regardless of suit, but only same-suit runs move together, and a complete run from king down to ace in a single suit is removed from the table. When you run out of moves, you deal one new card onto every column from the stock. Playing with one, two or four suits changes the difficulty dramatically, and the main lesson is to build in suit whenever you can.

Pyramid: pairs that add up to 13

In Pyramid, cards are dealt in a triangle of overlapping rows. You remove pairs of uncovered cards whose values total 13: an ace with a queen, a 2 with a jack, a 3 with a 10, and so on. Kings count as 13 and are removed alone. The puzzle is choosing which pairs to take, since one removal can strand a card whose partners are buried.

Golf: TriPeaks' close cousin

Golf lays out seven columns of five face-up cards. You move cards from the bottom of the columns to a single waste pile, and each card must be one rank higher or lower than the waste card. When you're stuck, you turn a new card from the stock. Traditional Golf doesn't let you go from king to ace or back. TriPeaks uses the same "one up or one down" idea in a different layout.

Quick comparison

TriPeaks in depth

Classic TriPeaks deals cards into three overlapping pyramids. A card is free once no card overlaps it from below. Your goal is to clear every card from the peaks into the waste pile.

How our TriPeaks works

• Tap an uncovered card that is one rank above or below the top waste card. Suits don't matter. In our version ranks wrap around, so a king can go on an ace and an ace on a king.
• Tap the stock to draw a new waste card when nothing fits, or when you choose to.
• Clear every peak card to win. If the stock is empty and no card fits, the round is over.
• Every deal is built to be solvable, so a loss always means a better order of plays existed.
• Consecutive plays without drawing build a streak, shown on the meter above the piles.

The early levels start with a single peak and add twin and triple peaks as you go. Later levels bring face-down cards that flip only when uncovered, and locked cards that can't be played until you've played their matching key card. Hint, undo and skip buttons are available throughout.

Strategy 1: choose the card that keeps the run going

Often two cards fit at once. Say the waste shows a 7 and both a 6 and an 8 are free. Before tapping, look one step ahead: what's under each card, and what fits after it? If playing the 8 lets you follow with a 9 and then a 10, while the 6 leads nowhere, play the 8. A long chain clears more cards per stock card, and stock cards are your real budget.

Strategy 2: play up and down

Runs don't have to go one way. 7-8-7-6-5 is a perfectly good run, and players who only think "up" miss half their options.

Strategy 3: sometimes draw even when a card fits

This feels wrong at first, but it's one of the most important TriPeaks skills. If the only playable card is one you'll badly need later, for example the only 5 that can bridge to a buried 4, playing it now can waste it. Drawing instead may set up a longer run. Our hint will sometimes say "Hold back — draw first!" for exactly this reason.

Strategy 4: open face-down cards and chase keys

Between two equal choices, prefer the one that uncovers a face-down card. On lock-and-key levels, find the key card first and plan a route that reaches it, because the locked card blocks everything beneath it.

Strategy 5: watch the stock count

The number on the stock shows how many draws you have left. With two or three remaining, plan each run fully before you tap, and remember the king-to-ace wrap when looking for plays. If a run dead-ends, undo and try the other branch.

Which solitaire should you play?

If you like long, careful planning, try FreeCell or Klondike. If you want something quicker with satisfying chains, TriPeaks is a great fit, and it's more thoughtful than its speed suggests. For the general problem-solving habits that help in every card and puzzle game, read how to solve logic puzzles, and when you're ready, deal a hand of TriPeaks.