The best opening move in Klondike Solitaire is the legal move that turns over a face-down tableau card. If two moves do that, prefer the move from the column with more buried cards. That is the practical answer, not a superstition.
A good Klondike opening move buys information. You begin with only the exposed tableau cards and the stock order still unknown, so the first job is to increase the number of known cards without blocking future landings. The solitaire first move that uncovers a card often creates the next move as well: an Ace to send up, a low card to clear, or a King problem to plan around.
The evidence is thin for exact opening rankings because hidden cards decide many deals. Still, the best solitaire strategy is not vague. Use a fixed order: reveal if you can, favour deeper covered columns, move Aces and 2s when they clear space or expose cards, and go to the stock when a tableau move only tidies the surface.
What is the best first move in Klondike Solitaire?
The best first move is a reveal. If a tableau card can be moved so that a face-down card turns over, do that before making a move that merely rearranges visible cards. A hidden card is both information and material. It may be an Ace, a needed opposite-colour card, or a card that proves a line is dead. This heuristic is wrong when you have two reveals and one is clearly better; the mere fact of revealing is not enough to beat a deeper or lower-cost reveal.
Next, compare depth. A reveal from a column with more face-down cards usually beats a reveal from a shorter column. The long columns contain more of the problem you must solve, and leaving them untouched often produces an ordered tableau with no access to the buried half of the deal. This is wrong when the shorter move is a zero-cost foundation move, such as moving an Ace that exposes a card, while the deeper move consumes the only landing spot for a visible run you already need.
After that, move safe low cards only when they help. Aces are safe; 2s are normally safe once their Ace is up. They clear space. They also cannot be used to build down for long. This is wrong if you extend the idea to 3s, 4s, and higher cards without checking whether they are still needed as tableau landing points.
If none of those moves exists, turn the stock. In Turn 1, each click shows one new card, so stock gives you fresh information. This is wrong when a visible tableau move creates a usable empty column for a King stack that immediately uncovers a face-down card.
Which move should you take when there are two decent options?
- Choose the move that reveals from the more buried column. Count the face-down cards under each exposed card, then move from the larger count. The longer column is the slower one to open later. This is the wrong move when the shallower option is an Ace or 2 moving to foundation and revealing for free, while the deeper option uses a scarce tableau landing spot.
- Choose a reveal over making an empty column, unless a King is ready. An empty column has value only when it lets you move a King or King-led run that reveals, unblocks, or carries a useful sequence. Empty space cannot hold an ordinary card. This is wrong when the empty column immediately accepts a visible King from a covered pile and that King move reveals another card.
- Choose the move that leaves more legal landings visible. If one move keeps both colours of the next rank available and the other buries the only useful landing card, keep the choice alive. Klondike punishes single-lane plans. This is wrong when the narrower move uncovers a face-down card from a deep column; new information beats a larger set of visible options.
- Choose low foundation clearance over surface sorting. Moving an Ace, or a 2 onto its Ace, often clears a blocking card without creating a tableau obligation. Those cards have little future work below them. This is wrong when you start pushing 3s and 4s up before the opposite-colour lower cards are safely placed.
When should you ignore a tableau move and start on the stock?
Start on the stock when the available tableau move changes no hidden card, creates no useful empty column, and clears no safe low foundation card. A visible move is not automatically better than a stock card. In Turn 1 Klondike, the stock gives one new known card; a cosmetic tableau move may give none.
- Ignore a non-revealing move between tableau columns. Moving a red 7 onto a black 8 may look active, but if no face-down card turns over and no follow-up is created, you have spent a landing place. This is wrong when the moved card becomes the exact base for another visible card that is covering a face-down card.
- Ignore an empty-column move with no King plan. Clearing a space feels powerful, but only a King can use it. An empty column without a King is idle capacity. This is wrong when a visible King stack is waiting and moving it will expose a buried card.
- Ignore early foundation moves above 2 unless they reveal or unblock. A 3 or 4 may be needed as a landing card in the tableau. Building down needs intermediate ranks. This is wrong when both lower opposite-colour cards are already safe and the foundation move uncovers a face-down card.
Do not treat the stock as failure. It is often the correct first decision after checking the tableau. The mistake is clicking it before checking for a reveal; the equal mistake is refusing it because a legal but empty tableau shuffle exists.
Which opening moves usually look clever but are wrong?
- Building a neat visible run before uncovering anything. It feels organised, but it gives no new card and may occupy the only landing card for a buried-column move. It is right when the run move itself exposes a face-down card or clears a column for a King that does.
- Filling the first empty column with the first King you see. Empty columns are scarce. A bare King from an already open pile may block the space that a King-led run from a covered pile needs. It is right when that King comes from a pile with hidden cards beneath it, or carries a run that opens several future moves.
- Sending 3s and 4s to the foundation because Aces and 2s were safe. The logic changes above 2. Those cards can still be useful tableau landings. It is right when the lower cards of the opposite colours are already placed safely and the move reveals or frees a blocked card.
- Taking the first legal tableau move because it is there. Legal is not the same as useful. If it reveals nothing and creates no plan, stock may be better. It is right when the move prepares an immediate reveal that you can see before touching the stock.
- Trusting a hint without asking what it gains. A hint can point to a legal move, not necessarily the best solitaire strategy for the position. It is right to take it when it matches the reveal-first order or shows a move you missed that opens a covered card.
How do you decide fast on the next deal?
Use this as a 10-second checklist. Read the rows from top to bottom and stop at the first row that matches the deal. It keeps the solitaire first move decidable, which matters more than trying to calculate an unseen deck.
| Opening situation | First choice | Reason | Reject it when |
|---|---|---|---|
| A move reveals a face-down tableau card | Take a reveal | It increases known cards and may create the next move | Another reveal opens a deeper column or costs less space |
| Two reveals are available | Reveal from the column with more buried cards | Long columns are harder to open later | The shorter reveal is a free Ace or 2 move and the deeper one uses a key landing card |
| An Ace or safe 2 can move up | Move it if it clears or reveals | Low cards have little future tableau work | You are really moving a 3 or higher and removing a needed landing point |
| You can make an empty column | Do it only with a King plan | Empty columns matter when they move Kings from covered piles | No visible King can use the space to reveal or unblock |
| Only surface shuffles are available | Start the stock | Turn 1 stock gives one new known card | The shuffle visibly sets up an immediate reveal on the next move |
This table is deliberately strict. It will sometimes pass on a move that later proves useful, because you could not know that yet. Good opening play is about choosing the move with the best visible reason, then adjusting as soon as the next card appears.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. An ace cannot help you build downward in the tableau, so parking it on the foundation removes no useful option. It also opens the route for twos, which can free buried cards later. The risk begins higher up the foundations, where moving a card too soon can take away a colour you need for a tableau sequence.
1 priority is uncovering face-down tableau cards, especially in the longest columns. In the first few moves, a play that turns over a hidden card usually beats a play that only tidies visible cards. You are not trying to make a neat layout; you are trying to increase the number of legal choices before the stock starts deciding the game.
The common misconception is that undo is cheating; the correction is that undo is a learning tool when you use it to compare consequences. If one move reveals a playable card and another reveals a dead card, you have learnt something useful. If you simply undo until the game gives you a nicer result, you are practising hope rather than judgement.
Suppose you open a space, then move a red king with no attached cards into it while a black queen is already playable elsewhere. That empty column is now gone, and you may have blocked the better sequence: black queen, red jack, black ten. Empty columns are powerful because they accept only kings. Spend them on kings that open more cards or carry useful runs.
It depends on the king you are moving: a king with a useful descending run underneath is often worth the space, while a lone king may just clog it. Also ask what the move uncovers. If moving the king flips a hidden tableau card, it has a second benefit. If it only relocates a visible card, wait unless you have a clear follow-up.
Compared with Klondike Solitaire (Turn 3), Klondike Solitaire (Turn 1) gives you more direct access to the stock, so the opening can be a little less punishing. In Turn 3, a card hidden behind the draw order may be hard to reach for several passes. That makes tableau exposure even more valuable, because the stock is less cooperative.
Move aces and twos freely. The exception is higher foundation cards that still have work to do in the tableau. A red five, for example, may be needed under a black six so you can move a stack and turn a hidden card. Before sending mid-rank cards up, check whether their opposite-colour neighbours still need them.
Most people do wrong by chasing every legal move as if all legal moves are equal. A few neat transfers can leave the same number of hidden cards face-down and no fresh options. Look for moves that reveal cards, open columns, or free a trapped ace. If a move changes nothing important, it may only make the position look busier.
A locked card is a card you can see but cannot use yet because the card it needs is missing, buried, or blocked by colour. A red seven with no black eight available is locked. So is a black queen waiting for an empty column to release its king. Good opening play reduces the number of locked cards before the stock runs thin.
Check what the move reveals, what it blocks, and whether it uses an empty column. If the hint flips a face-down card or frees an ace, it is probably worth considering. If it only shifts a visible card onto another visible card, look for a stronger move first. Hints are prompts, not orders.
Nobody knows precisely, because the answer depends on the exact rules and on what counts as perfect play. The best available computer analyses for common Turn 1 rules put winnable deals at a little over 80%. That does not mean a typical player will win that often. Many winnable deals are lost through one early blocked column or a mistimed foundation move.
A historical fact: Klondike was being played under that name by the early twentieth century, after the 1896 to 1899 Klondike Gold Rush had made the word famous. The exact naming path is thinly documented. What matters for play is simpler: Klondike is the seven-column patience game with a stock, waste pile, tableau, and four foundations.
The cost is information. A poor opening move may leave a face-down card buried, spend an empty column on the wrong king, or send a useful middle card to the foundation too soon. You may not lose immediately. You lose ten moves later, when the one card that would connect two stacks is no longer available.
Final thoughts
The habit to build is not brilliance. It is refusal to make empty moves. Before you touch a card, ask what changes after the move. If the honest answer is only that the tableau looks cleaner, wait. Cleaner is not progress.
Undo is useful for learning this, not because you should replay every branch like a machine, but because it shows the cost of a move you made too quickly. Move a card that reveals nothing, then undo it and look again. Often the better line was sitting there: a low foundation clearance, a deeper covered column, or the stock card you were avoiding for no good reason.
Some deals will punish the correct opening. That is Klondike. Hidden cards can make a sound first move look foolish three moves later. Do not learn the wrong lesson from one bad reveal. Judge the choice by what you knew at the moment: did it uncover, preserve space, or create a visible follow-up?
If you play several deals with that standard, your openings become calmer. You will still lose plenty. You will also stop donating games in the first six clicks.