How to Play Patience: A Complete Beginner’s Guide

Patience — known as Solitaire in North America — is the world’s most popular type of card game you can play alone. Whether you’ve never touched a deck of cards or you’ve seen the game on a computer screen and never understood the rules, this guide will get you playing in minutes.

What Is Patience?

Patience is a family of single-player card games played with a standard 52-card deck. The general goal is to sort all the cards into a specific order, usually by suit from Ace to King.

The name “Patience” comes from the fact that the games require — well — patience. Careful, methodical play beats rushing every time.

Patience vs Solitaire: What’s the Difference?

Nothing — they’re two names for the same thing:

  • Patience — Used in the UK, Ireland, Australia, and most of continental Europe
  • Solitaire — Used in the USA, Canada, and increasingly worldwide (thanks to Microsoft)

When people say “Solitaire” without specifying a variant, they almost always mean Klondike — the classic 7-column game. That’s the one we’ll learn first.

How to Play Klondike (Classic Patience)

Klondike is the most popular Patience game in the world. Here’s how to play, step by step.

What You Need

  • 1 standard deck of 52 cards (no jokers)
  • A flat surface with room for 7 columns of cards

Step 1: Deal the Tableau

Deal 7 columns of cards from left to right:

  • Column 1: 1 card (face-up)
  • Column 2: 2 cards (1 face-down, 1 face-up on top)
  • Column 3: 3 cards (2 face-down, 1 face-up on top)
  • Column 4: 4 cards (3 face-down, 1 face-up on top)
  • Column 5: 5 cards (4 face-down, 1 face-up on top)
  • Column 6: 6 cards (5 face-down, 1 face-up on top)
  • Column 7: 7 cards (6 face-down, 1 face-up on top)

This uses 28 cards. The remaining 24 cards become the stock pile — set them face-down to the side.

Above the 7 columns, leave space for 4 empty foundation piles (this is where you’ll build the completed suits).

Step 2: Understand the Goal

Move all 52 cards to the 4 foundation piles, building each suit in order:

Ace → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8 → 9 → 10 → Jack → Queen → King

One foundation pile per suit (Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, Spades).

Step 3: Learn the Basic Moves

On the tableau (the 7 columns):

  • Place cards in descending order with alternating colours
    • Example: Red 6 goes on Black 7. Black Queen goes on Red King.
  • Move an entire sequence of properly ordered face-up cards as a group
  • When a face-down card is exposed (nothing on top of it), flip it face-up
  • Only Kings can be placed in empty columns

From the stock pile:

  • Flip the top card(s) of the stock pile to a waste pile
  • The top card of the waste pile is available to play
  • Turn 1 mode: Flip 1 card at a time (easier)
  • Turn 3 mode: Flip 3 cards at a time, only the top one is playable (harder)
  • When the stock pile is empty, flip the waste pile over to recycle it

To the foundations:

  • Move Aces to empty foundation spots immediately
  • Build each foundation up by suit (Ace, then 2, then 3, etc.)

Step 4: Play!

Scan the tableau for moves. Your priorities should be:

  1. Play any Aces to the foundations immediately
  2. Reveal face-down cards by moving the cards on top of them
  3. Build sequences on the tableau to create movement options
  4. Draw from the stock when no tableau moves are available
  5. Move cards to the foundation when it’s safe to do so

Step 5: Win (or Don’t)

You win when all 52 cards are on the four foundation piles. If you reach a point where no more moves are possible and not all cards are placed, the game is lost.

Don’t worry about losing — about 60-70% of games are lost even by experienced players. That’s normal!

Your First Game: A Visual Walkthrough

Here’s what a typical opening looks like:

Starting position:

[stock]  [waste]        [♠] [♥] [♦] [♣]  ← foundations (empty)

 K♥      ?   ?   ?    ?    ?    ?
         9♦  ?   ?    ?    ?    ?
              J♣  ?    ?    ?    ?
                  3♥   ?    ?    ?
                       A♠   ?    ?
                            7♦   ?
                                 5♣

Good news — there’s an Ace of Spades showing!

  1. Move A♠ to the Spades foundation → this reveals a face-down card in column 5
  2. Flip the revealed card — say it’s a Red 4
  3. Move the 3♥ from column 4 onto the Red 4 → reveals another face-down card
  4. Continue building sequences and revealing cards…

Once you’ve mastered Klondike, try these popular variants:

FreeCell

All 52 cards are dealt face-up into 8 columns — no hidden information. Four “free cells” act as temporary card storage. Nearly every game is winnable with perfect play, making it a pure strategy game.

Play FreeCell free →

Spider Patience

Uses two decks (104 cards) across 10 columns. Build same-suit sequences from King down to Ace. Available in 1-suit (easy), 2-suit (medium), and 4-suit (hard) modes.

Play Spider Patience free →

Pyramid Patience

Cards arranged in a pyramid shape. Remove pairs that add up to 13 (e.g., 6+7, Queen+Ace). Kings are removed alone. A completely different mechanic from traditional Patience.

Play Pyramid Patience free →

TriPeaks

Three overlapping peaks of cards. Remove cards that are one rank above or below the current waste card. Fast, casual, and with a ~90% win rate — the friendliest Patience game.

Play TriPeaks free →

Yukon Patience

Similar to Klondike but with no stock pile — all cards are dealt to the tableau. You can move any face-up card (along with everything on top of it) regardless of sequence. More strategic and harder than Klondike.

Play Yukon Patience free →

Common Patience Terms

Term Meaning
Tableau The main playing area (the columns of cards)
Foundation Where you build completed suits (Ace to King)
Stock The face-down draw pile
Waste Where drawn stock cards go; top card is playable
Column/Pile One vertical stack in the tableau
Sequence A run of properly ordered cards (e.g., 7-6-5-4 in alternating colours)
Building Placing cards in proper sequence on the tableau
Packing Similar to building; organising cards into sequences

Tips for Beginners

  1. Don’t panic about losing. Experienced players lose most games. It’s normal.
  2. Always flip face-down cards when you get the chance.
  3. Don’t move cards to foundations too quickly. You might need them later.
  4. Empty columns are valuable. Only put Kings there.
  5. Go through the entire stock pile. Don’t give up after one pass.
  6. Use undo freely when playing digitally. It’s a learning tool, not cheating.
  7. Start with Turn 1 (draw one card) — it’s much easier than Turn 3.
  8. Try different variants if Klondike feels stale. FreeCell and TriPeaks are great next steps.

Play Patience Online Free

Ready to play? All games below are free, work on any device, and require no download: