Solitaire Tips and Plays to Up Your Game

So you’ve decided to tackle Solitaire – congratulations! With millions of players every day across the globe, it’s no wonder Solitaire has become such a gaming phenomenon.

To be the very best at Solitaire you’ll need to practice and strategize with every game. Here are a few of our best tips and tricks for beginners looking to improve their Solitaire game.

Solitaire tips and tricks to improve your gameplay

Solitaire is a complicated game, which means that the tricks to playing it well may seem a little daunting to understand at first. This leads us to our first and easiest tip for improving your Solitaire gameplay – learn the rules before you begin.

Learn the rules of Solitaire before you play

One of the best strategies for any game is research! Solitaire is a complex game, with many different variations, strategies, and rulesets. Knowing a lot about the challenge you’ll be attempting will allow you to be more prepared for the tasks ahead.

If you’re looking for a guide to help you learn the rules of Solitaire, 247 Solitaire has got you covered! We’ve written numerous guides on the best Solitaire practices for many Solitaire variations, including Freecell, Spider, and more. To get started, check out our beginner’s guide to Solitaire.

Prioritize moves that help reveal hidden cards

When you’ve set up your first games of Solitaire you’ll initially be faced with a wide, daunting tableau. This is the playing area where much of the action takes place.

Countless times, new Solitaire players trap themselves with this one simple mistake: not prioritizing their early game moves to reveal all of the hidden cards possible.

It’s an easy misplay to fall into, as many new players are so focused on getting to the “goal" (building those foundation piles!) and aren’t familiar with the necessary juggling to get there. Without knowing what the hidden cards of your tableau are, you can’t interact with them or play around them. This can lead to the game becoming a gridlock, with unknown possibilities and no moves to make.

For new players, our advice is this: take extra care to reveal hidden cards as your very first task in the game. Reveal as many cards as you can before attempting to create large stacks across your tableau. Larger columns will have more cards to reveal, so it’s a good idea to start with them first. Take care of this task first, and you’ll set yourself up for a more successful rest of the game!

Don’t forget the stockpile…

The stockpile makes up the remaining cards that weren’t consumed while constructing your tableau. At some point in your early game, you may find yourself running out of moves to make. If you feel confident, you’ll likely want to draw cards from your stockpile.

If you’re playing classic Klondike Solitaire, this means you’ll be drawing three cards at a time from your stockpile. You can play these cards if there is a valid move to make and add to your tableau, increasing your options for stacking and foundation building. Keep in mind, however, that in the classic ruleset, you must play in the order you drew. If you cannot play a card, that card and any card behind it in order will have to go into the waste pile.

…but use it wisely!

Misplaying the stockpile can be a hindrance as much as it can help progress the game. If you haven’t revealed enough hidden cards in your tableau, you may be simply burying them beneath even more cards you now have to shuffle around your tableau for access. Strategic use of the stockpile is essential to a successful Solitaire strategy.

When discarding stockpile draws into the waste pile, remember to preserve the order in which they were drawn. This is necessary since, if your stockpile is depleted, you flip the entire waste pile to recreate it and continue playing. Shuffling or altering that order in your waste pile will completely rearrange the stockpile later.

Move cards with purpose and make each move count

Beginner players tend to rush – and make more mistakes while doing so!

Unless you’re playing for speed, there’s no need to make hasty moves. Solitaire is best played at a relaxing pace where every move is carefully considered.

As you play, consider how your actions will affect your tableau, what cards it may cut off access to, and what you’ll gain! Take note of every time you realize a move in hindsight you could have made. With practice, you’ll be able to deepen your understanding of the intricacies of Solitaire. Using this experience in your future games will give you a sense of well-earned progression. You’ll understand better why you’ll get stuck in a game, what led to that point, and ultimately be able to avoid similar missteps in future games. Soon, you’ll be winning Solitaire in the least number of moves!

Play aces and twos as soon as possible

Building your foundations is the goal of Klondike Solitaire. These foundational piles are four towers of cards arranged by their suit, built up from lowest to highest value.

As the very lowest-value card, you won’t be able to stack anything underneath your aces or move them around the tableau easily. However, you can safely place them in your foundation right off the bat to remove them entirely. The same goes for twos, which come right after the ace in the card value order!

As you build your foundations, make sure you’re not building them up too unevenly. In Klondike Solitaire, a tableau column must be built in a pattern, with red and black cards stacked in alternate order. If you run out of black cards and you have reds you need to move around, you’re in trouble. As with many elements of Solitaire, planning ahead can help to avoid this.

Move kings with caution

On the opposite side of the card value order, kings are the highest-value card you can get. This means they are the only card that can start a new tableau column in an empty space. This makes kings one of the trickiest cards to move around if they’re at the front of the tableau. If they’re closer to the front of the column they were slotted in, you’ll need to create a free space for that king to begin a new build.

So keep an eye out for those kings while you’re uncovering the hidden cards of your tableau! They’re some of the most powerful and important cards in Solitaire if you know how to play around them.

Don’t be afraid to use the undo button

They say practice makes perfect, and here at 247 Solitaire we agree! With the undo button you can remove the pressure of making an innocent misplay that derails your game. Using the undo button can help you learn the intricacies of the game and analyze mistakes made. Don’t be afraid to experiment and try different moves at the same junction!

Ready to put your Solitaire skills to the test?

Head on over to 247 Solitaire for some of the greatest Solitaire titles on the internet! With dozens of game variations, quality rulesets, and even more guides just like this, we hope to be your one-stop hub for all things Solitaire.

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