Klondike foundations: when to play a card up and when to wait

A card that can go to its foundation usually should, but not always. Every Klondike tableau card is also a landing spot, so sending one up too early can leave another card with nowhere to go. Here is how to tell the difference, how to bring a card back down, and what Finish does at the end.

Every card has two jobs

Klondike foundations build up by suit from Ace to King. The tableau builds down in alternating colours, so a red 7 holds a black 6. While a card sits in the tableau it does a second job: it is one of only two homes for the cards of the other colour one rank lower. The 7♥ and the 7♦ are the only tableau cards a 6♠ or a 6♣ can go on.

Aces and 2s have no second job worth keeping. Nothing goes on an Ace, and the only card that fits on a 2 is an Ace, which belongs on a foundation. Play them up at once.

The safety test

A card is always safe to send up when both cards of the other colour one rank lower are already on the foundations. Then no card can ever need it as a landing spot. For a red card, look at the clubs and spades foundations; for a black card, at hearts and diamonds.

With clubs at 5♣ and spades at 4♠, a red 5 is safe, because both black 4s are home. A red 6 is not, because the 5♠ is still out.

Failing the test does not make a move wrong. It means asking first: which card might want to land here, and where else could it go?

Worked example: a card stranded too early

The foundations stand at 6♥, 5♦, 4♣ and 4♠.

• Column 2: two face-down cards with the 6♠ on top.
• Column 3: one face-down card with the 7♥ on top.

The 7♦ is still face down. The 7♥ can go to its foundation, but neither black 6 is home, and here the cost is real. If the 7♥ goes up, the 6♠ has nowhere to go: its foundation needs the 5♠ first, and the other red 7 is hidden. Column 2 stays shut until one of those cards turns up.

The better order:

1. Move the 6♠ onto the 7♥, a black 6 on a red 7. Column 2 turns over a card.
2. Leave the 7♥ there. It can go up once the 6♠ moves on, to its foundation after the 5♠ or onto the 7♦.

You give up a foundation move and gain a face-down card. With 21 cards face down at the start of every deal, that trade is usually worth it.

Bringing a card back down

Cards may be moved from a foundation back to the tableau, as long as the normal rule holds: the card lands on a card one rank higher of the other colour.

The foundations stand at 8♥, 3♦, 6♣ and 5♠, and the stock still holds a few cards.

• Column 4: three face-down cards with the 7♠ on top.
• Column 6: one face-down card, then the 10♦ and the 9♣.

The 8♦ is face down. The 7♠ cannot go to its foundation, which needs the 6♠, and no red 8 is showing in the tableau. But the 8♥ is on top of its foundation.

1. Move the 8♥ from the foundation onto the 9♣, a red 8 on a black 9.
2. Move the 7♠ onto the 8♥. Column 4 turns over a card.

The hearts foundation is back at 7♥. Once the 6♠ and then the 7♠ reach their foundation, the 8♥ can go up again.

Two things to know about these moves:

• Hint never suggests one, and neither does Auto move, which plays what Hint would show. Hint points to another move or to the stock instead, so spot the rescue yourself.
• A move back down does not keep a round alive. If the only moves left start on a foundation and a full pass through the stock and waste would offer nothing, the game ends the round with "No moves left". Make these moves while the deal still has other play in it.

Finish: the end of the deal

When every card is face up and the stock and waste are empty, the game offers Finish, which plays the remaining cards to the foundations automatically. From there every card can go home in order, so timing no longer matters.

Finish counts each card it plays as one move. With 16 cards left, it adds 16 moves: it saves clicks, not moves, and your fewest-moves record comes out the same either way.

Finish does not appear while a card remains in the stock or waste, or while a tableau card is face down. Until then, double-click or double-tap a top card to send it to a foundation whenever that is legal.

Try it

The foundations stand at 5♣, 4♠, 3♥ and 6♦. Four top cards could go up: 6♣, 5♠, 4♥ and 7♦. Which pass the safety test, and in what order?

Answer: Only the 4♥ passes at first, since both black 3s are home. Once it is up, the 5♠ passes too, because both red 4s are then home. The 6♣ fails while the 5♥ is out, and the 7♦ fails because neither black 6 is home. You may still play them, after checking that no card on the table needs them.

Practise in Klondike Draw 1 or Klondike Draw 3, and see which Klondike move to make first for opening priorities.