Matte Games

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Solitaire strategy: make each move useful

Six practical habits for Klondike Draw 1 and Draw 3, with small card examples you can use at the table.

Practice Klondike →

Your goal is to build four same-suit foundations from Ace to King. The working columns, called the tableau, descend in alternating colors. A legal move is not automatically a useful one: look for what it reveals or makes possible next.

1. Prefer revealing a hidden card

Suppose a face-up black 7 covers a face-down card. A red 8 is exposed in another column. Moving the 7 onto the 8 turns over the card beneath it and gives you new information.

▧7♣8♥
Before: the 7♣ covers a hidden card. Move it onto the exposed 8♥ in another column; the hidden card can turn face up.

If two legal moves compete for the same destination, compare how many hidden cards each might unlock. Revealing from a deeper column is often useful, but an immediate follow-up move can make a shallower column the better choice. This is a heuristic, not a guaranteed winning rule.

2. Move a sequence when it opens a path

A descending, alternating-color run can move together. A black 7, red 6 and black 5 can go onto a red 8. Check the entire run before moving it; a same-color pair breaks the sequence.

8♥7♣6♦5♠
After: 7♣–6♦–5♠ moved together onto 8♥. The newly exposed card in the source column is the reason for the move.

3. Empty a column with a King in mind

Only a King or a valid sequence starting with a King can fill an empty tableau column. Before making a space, locate the King you would use. If both colors are available, choose the one that accepts a Queen you need to move.

K♠Q♥J♣
A black King accepts a red Queen; that Queen can carry a black Jack. Choosing this King is useful when it frees those cards elsewhere.

An empty column without an accessible King may offer no immediate benefit. Do not shuffle cards just to create a space you cannot use.

4. Keep useful foundation cards available

Aces belong on empty foundations, and each foundation grows in its own suit. Higher cards sometimes still have work to do in the tableau. For example, a red 5 may be the landing place you need for a black 4 that covers a hidden card.

Before sending that 5 to its foundation, inspect both black 4s if you can see them. Matte Klondike allows legal moves from foundations back to the tableau, and Undo can help you explore a decision. Auto-complete is useful when the remaining position is ready for it.

5. Plan the stock pass, especially in Draw 3

In Draw 3, only the top waste card is playable. A useful card underneath it is not available yet. Playing the top card exposes the next one; drawing again covers the waste with the next group. Removing cards can change the grouping after recycling.

Before clicking the stock, check whether the exposed waste card helps uncover a tableau card or starts a useful sequence. Read the worked Draw 1 versus Draw 3 example for the difference.

6. Use restart to learn from the same deal

Restart this deal returns to the same starting cards. New deal gives you a different arrangement. If you reach a dead end, replay the same deal and try one different decision: which King you placed, which hidden card you uncovered first, or when you used a waste card.

Some random deals cannot be won under the selected rules. A legal-move hint does not prove a winning continuation. Treat these habits as ways to preserve options, not a promise that every deal is solvable.

A quick check before your next move

Try the strategy on a deal →Practice Draw 3 →