In Klondike, twenty-eight cards are dealt in seven piles, with the number of cards per pile increasing from one to seven from left to right. The top card of each pile is turned face up, the rest face down. These twenty-eight cards form the tableau.
Only the face-up cards in the tableau are playable. You must build down from the face-up cards in the tableau. However, you may only build down in alternating colors. All of the face-up cards in a pile are moved as a unit when the top most card can be played on the bottom of another pile.
Whenever all of the face-up cards in a pile are cleared off, turn up the next card. If a space is made by clearing away an entire pile, then it can only be filled by a king, plus any cards built on the king.
When playing, cards are turned up from the stock either one at a time or three at a time, depending on which method is chosen in the OPTIONS menu before the game starts. Unplayable cards are placed in a single wastepile. The top of the wastepile is always available for play.
The object of Klondike is to build up each foundation pile from aces to kings. There are four foundation piles, one for each suit, located in the upper right of the game window. The top card of the wastepile, as well as the bottom most face-up cards in the tableau, may be moved to the foundation. The game is won if all 52 cards are moved to the foundation piles.
