In Klondike, you have a relatively strong say concerning the stock and, thus, can make it a relevant part of your Solitaire strategy. When and how to use it is up to you and requires some trying out. We are showing you here what to keep in mind.
What the Stock Can Do
At the Solitaire Palace, we are playing Klondike Solitaire. In this variant, the stock comes with a waste panel since you get to flip through the stock card by card. You decide which one will be used and either placed in the tableau or foundation.
That gives you some control over the game’s course. When the stock is depleted, any remaining cards in the waste will go back to the stock in the same order as before. That means you could theoretically access all cards in the stock at any time.
But proceed with caution: Each time you flip through the stock anew, you are losing two points.
Run-Through?
Some players will give the stock a run-through first thing in the round and place any suitable card in the tableau and the foundation. After all, the stock might hold a few Aces and each card in the foundation yields five points. If there is at least one Ace in the stock, you will gain at least three points following this process. We recall: For each time browsing the stock after depleting it, you will lose two points.
But if you append any card from the stock without paying attention to the tableau, you might obstruct potential combinations and, in doing so, complicate revealing more cards.
Additionally, you get to know the stock by browsing it at the beginning. With a good memory, you can track which cards are safely accessible and which ones you should urgently unlock in the tableau.
Combine Cautiously
Employing the stock right from the game’s start is a reasonable approach. But we advise you to combine cards in the tableau as far as possible first. Depending on the card distribution, that will sometimes be a lot and sometimes very little. Also, each revealed card in the tableau checks out at 2 points for you.
After that, you can still browse the stock. When playing against fast players, it is worthwhile fetching all Aces from the stock to secure a few high scores. Keep in mind that revealing a card from the stock counts as a move each time. And when several players solve the game, the one using the fewest moves wins.
It’s in the Mix!
Depending on the setup, different approaches will make sense.
Combining a few cards in the tableau at first and browsing the stock for useful cards in between is worth it. Whenever you encounter an Ace in the stock, secure it in the foundation right away to gain points and not waste moves. Before bringing a card from the stock to the tableau, it is best to make sure that no matching card is already in the tableau. When sticking to these principles, nothing should be able to stop you!
Find out more about the other play zones in our Solitaire Lessons, or check out what the Solitaire School has to offer beyond them.