Klondike (solitaire)

Klondike is a solitaire card game often known purely by the name of Solitaire. It is probably the best-known solo card game.

Rules

Taking a standard 52-card deck of playing cards (without Jokers), one upturned card is dealt on the left of the playing area, then six downturned cards (from left to right). On top of the downturned cards, an upturned card is dealt on the left-most downturned pile, and downturned cards on the rest until all piles have an upturned card. The pile should look like the following figure:

The four foundations (light rectangles in the upper right of the figure) are built up by suit from Ace to King, and the tableau piles can be built down by alternate colours, and partial or complete piles can be moved if they are built down by alternate colours also. Any empty piles can be filled with a King or a pile of cards with a King at the top.

There are different ways of dealing the remainder of the deck:

Turning three cards at once to the waste, either allowing three passes through the deck or placing no limit on passes through the deck.
Turning three cards at once, reversing the order of each group of three as the cards are dealt.
Turning only one card at a time, but only passing through the deck once.

Computerized versions

Microsoft has included Klondike as part of the Windows operating system since Windows 3.0, starting from 1990. The game was developed by then-intern Wes Cherry, who famously received no revenue from his endeavours, in 1989; and the card deck itself was designed by Macintosh pioneer Susan Kare. GNOME and KDE have also provided corresponding applications (sol and kpat) since early versions.

Michael A. Casteel's shareware version of Klondike for the Macintosh was first released in 1984, and has been continually updated since. Version 7.7.1, notably, can be played on any Macintosh from a 1986 Macintosh Plus through today's Intel Macs.

Windows XP

The version of Solitaire released with Windows XP includes a secret easter egg that will automatically end the game and play the winning graphic. During the game, a user only need to hold and press ALT + SHIFT + 2 to see this easter egg.

Odds of winning

The proportion of Klondike games that can be won is currently unknown. No mathematical model simple enough to allow direct computation of this probability was found up to date.

A modified version of the game called "Thoughtful Solitaire" has a known solution strategy that works 70% of the time but requires significant computing power. This solution strategy does not solve every deck that is solvable, but is about twice as good as the best human players. The difference between Klondike and "Thoughtful Solitaire" is that in "Thoughtful Solitaire" the player can see the identity of all the cards on the table at the beginning of the game.

Variations

Below are some variations of the game of Klondike:

In Agnes, the stock is dealt in batches of seven on reserve piles and every one is available. Furthermore, the bases of the foundations depends on the twenty-ninth card, which is dealt on the foundations.
In Thumb and Pouch, a card in the tableau can be built upon another that is any suit other than its own (e.g. spades cannot be placed over spades) and spaces can be filled by any card or sequence.
In Whitehead, all cards are dealt face up, building is by colour (red on red, black on black), a sequence made up of cards that are of the same suit can be moved as a unit, and a space can be filled by any card or sequence.
In Westcliff, thirty cards are dealt into ten piles of three cards, two faced down and one faced up. A space in this game can be filled with any card or sequence.
In Easthaven (a.k.a. Aces Up), twenty one cards are dealt into seven piles of three, two faced down and one faced up. A space in this game can only be filled by a king or any sequence starting with a king, and when a play goes to a standstill, seven new cards are dealt to the tableau, one top of each pile.

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