Draw 3 solitaire: classic Klondike

How Draw 3 works

When you tap the deck, up to three cards move to the pile and only the top one is in play. Play it and the card under it becomes available. When the deck runs out, turn the pile over and go through it again, as many times as you like.

Because cards come off the deck in groups of three, some cards stay buried pass after pass. Playing a card from the pile shifts every group after it, which can bring a buried card to the top on the next pass.

Why Draw 3 takes more planning

With every card's position known, research estimates that about 82% of random Draw 3 deals can be won, against about 90% in Draw 1 (Blake and Gent, Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research). You see only the face-up cards and cannot reach every card when you want it, so thinking a few moves ahead pays off.

Every House blend, Double shot and Triple shot deal here has at least one solution, so a game you lose could have been won another way.

Tips for Draw 3

• Before you play from the pile, think about which card that play will bring up on the next pass.
• Free the face-down cards in the tallest columns first: they hide the most cards.
• Keep low cards in the columns while you still need them to hold a lower card of the other color.
• Stuck? A hint shows a good move, and if the deal can no longer be won you can rewind to the last point where it still could.