From Beginner to Expert – Progression and Skill Development in Klondike and FreeCell Solitaire

Solitaire may be a classic card game that’s been played by billions of people over the years, but it’s definitely not easy to master. In fact completing just one round can be notoriously difficult – it’s certainly not a game that revolves around luck. 

If you go around randomly placing cards you won’t get far, whatever variant of the game you play – whether it’s FreeCell or Klondike. It’s also these two iterations we’ll be focusing on below too.

In any case we’ve put together five of the key ways to achieve Solitaire success for you below. Follow these points and you won’t go far wrong.

Understand the Basics: Make sure before you start that you know the actual rules and objectives of the Solitaire variant you’re playing is essential. Know the layout and how the card piles work, and ideally start with a simpler version of the game then move up to the more challenging ones. 

Develop a Strong Foundation: Mastering the foundational strategies is key. Learn how to effectively place cards so you have the biggest opportunities to build – making sure you don’t just place the first card you see wherever is important, as it’s all too easy to paint yourself into a corner. Understanding how to best manage the tableau and foundation piles efficiently is essential in completing a round. 

Sharpen Your Decision-Making: As touched upon above, make moves considering the long and short term consequences. Although you can’t predict what will happen every step of the way it is possible to strategise where opportunities may arise. Practice will help with these skills too of course – the more you play the sharper your decision making will become.

Master Advanced Strategies: This is perhaps only for the most dedicated, but card counting and sequencing can be hugely beneficial when it comes to any version of Solitaire (or indeed, most card games). It may take a certain mind but learning what cards have already been played is a massively important skill in figuring out what’s yet to be uncovered.

Find a good way to play online: There are so many ways to play Solitaire and its variants, but we’ve found this to be good for FreeCell Solitaire online and this one for Klondike Solitaire online. Happy playing, and good luck – we hope all of the above strategies prove useful.