Double Klondike Solitaire is exactly what the name promises: Klondike played with two full decks, nine tableau columns, and eight foundations to fill instead of four. The rules are the same as classic Klondike — alternating-color descending builds, stock-and-waste draw — but the doubled card pool and wider tableau create a deeper, slower game that experienced Klondike players describe as genuinely satisfying rather than merely harder.
What is Double Klondike Solitaire?
Double Klondike Solitaire is a two-deck variant of classic Klondike. Where standard Klondike uses 52 cards, seven columns, and four foundations, Double Klondike uses 104 cards, nine tableau columns, and eight foundations — two per suit. Every suit must be built Ace through King twice, once on each of its two foundation piles.
Because the deck is doubled, every card appears twice. You'll see two Ace of Spades, two Queen of Hearts, two Seven of Clubs. This creates a subtly different strategic environment: early in the game you have twice as many potential moves, but the board is also twice as congested. The nine-column tableau gives you more room to maneuver, partially compensating for the larger card pool.
Double Klondike is also known as Double Patience in British card game literature. It's one of the cleanest two-deck solitaire games because it adds complexity without adding new rules — if you can play Klondike, you can play Double Klondike. The win rate of roughly 35–40% for skilled players makes it hard enough to feel like an achievement without the crushing difficulty of games like Canfield or La Belle Lucie.
How to play Double Klondike Solitaire
Step 1 — Deal nine tableau columns
Two decks (104 cards) are shuffled together. Column 1 gets one card face-up; column 2 gets one face-down plus one face-up; column 3 gets two face-down plus one face-up; and so on through column 9, which gets eight face-down plus one face-up. The remaining 59 cards form the stock pile.
Step 2 — Build the tableau down by alternating colors
On the tableau, build downward by alternating red and black — a black card on a red card one rank higher, and vice versa. Both copies of each card are in play, so you may have two Kings of Spades available and two opportunities to place a red Queen below one.
Step 3 — Draw one card at a time from stock
Click the stock to flip the top card face-up to the waste pile. Only one card is drawn at a time. The top of the waste pile is always available for play. When the stock is empty, recycle the waste to continue drawing.
Step 4 — Build foundations Ace to King — eight of them
There are eight foundation piles: two for Clubs, two for Diamonds, two for Hearts, and two for Spades. Each starts with an Ace and builds upward to King by suit. You win by filling all eight foundations — 104 cards total, 13 per pile.
Step 5 — Move runs freely between columns
Any face-up run forming a valid alternating-color descending sequence can be moved as a unit. This is the same supermove rule as classic Klondike — no free-cell limit applies. Use long runs strategically to uncover buried face-down cards.
Step 6 — Win by filling all eight foundations
The game is won when all eight foundations are complete. Given the 59-card stock, long games with multiple stock recycles are common. Track which cards you still need to surface from the stock, and don't commit foundations cards too early when they might be needed to receive other cards.
The Double Klondike play area
The Double Klondike board is wider than standard Klondike. The top row holds the stock pile on the far left, the waste pile beside it, a gap, and then the eight foundation piles running to the right — two per suit in the order Clubs, Diamonds, Hearts, Spades. The bottom area holds the nine tableau columns spread across the full board width.
Because the foundations are doubled, a common early-game error is sending a card to one foundation when the matching second foundation also needs it. Mr. Solitaire labels each foundation pair clearly, but it helps to develop a mental habit of checking both before committing.
The nine tableau columns mean slightly narrower cards on screen than standard Klondike. On mobile, horizontal scrolling is available for the tableau area on very small screens.
Available moves in Double Klondike
Double Klondike uses exactly the same move vocabulary as standard Klondike — only the board geometry changes.
Draw from stock. Click the stock pile to flip the top card to the waste. One card per click, no limit on recycles.
Recycle waste to stock. When the stock is empty, click the empty pile slot to flip the waste back face-down. The number of recycles is unlimited.
Move from waste. The top waste card can be played to any tableau column where it fits (alternating color, one rank lower than the receiving card) or directly to a matching foundation.
Move tableau runs. Any face-up run forming a valid alternating-color sequence moves as a unit. Size is limited only by the run's validity, not a free-cell count.
Move to foundation. A single card matching the suit, one rank above the current foundation top. Both foundations of a suit accept cards; you choose which one to play to.
Move foundation card back to tableau. Legal, and occasionally necessary to unblock a stuck position.
Double Klondike Solitaire strategy
Prioritize flipping face-down cards
With 36 face-down cards on the initial deal — more than standard Klondike — uncovering hidden information is even more important. Any move that flips a face-down card is usually worth making, even over tidier-looking reorganizations. The more face-up cards you have, the more options you can plan around.
Use the duplicate cards strategically
Having two copies of every card is double-edged. It means more receiving opportunities — two red Sixes for your black Seven — but also more blocking potential. When you spot two copies of the same card near the top of different columns, consider how you'll unblock both rather than treating them identically.
Don't rush both foundations of a suit
You need both Aces of a suit to fill both its foundations. But sending cards up too eagerly to one pile can leave the second pile empty while cards of that suit pile up in the tableau. Advance both foundations of a suit roughly in parallel once you have both Aces in play.
Empty columns are your most valuable resource
With nine columns you might expect empty columns to be relatively easy to create, but the wider initial deal means more work to clear each one. An empty column is worth creating — only a King or King-led run can fill it, giving you a high-value staging area for deep reorganizations.
Plan around the stock — 59 cards is a lot
The 59-card stock is significantly larger than Klondike's 24 cards. You'll cycle through it multiple times. Keep a mental list of the key cards you need (the second Ace of a suit, a specific card to unblock a buried column), and draw with purpose rather than reflexively.
Balance the tableau before foundations
In Klondike, the temptation is to fire cards to foundations as fast as possible. In Double Klondike, with twice the deck, moving cards too quickly to foundations removes potential receivers for other tableau cards. Keep key mid-rank cards (7s and 8s especially) in play as long as other cards of complementary rank remain buried.
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Odds of winning Double Klondike Solitaire
Double Klondike Solitaire is harder than standard Klondike but less punishing than many two-deck games. The consensus win rate for skilled players with unlimited undos and stock recycles is roughly 35–40%, slightly below Klondike's ~45% Turn-1 rate. The larger stock and the duplicate-card dynamics create positions that are easier to misplay but also easier to recover from.
The doubled card pool means that more deals are technically winnable — duplicate cards create more alternative paths to a solution. However, the 36 initial face-down cards (versus 21 in standard Klondike) mean that bad early draws hide information for longer, and a locked-down early board is harder to repair.
If you're coming from standard Klondike, expect your early Double Klondike win rate to be lower than your Klondike rate while you adjust to tracking eight foundations and the larger stock. Most experienced players close that gap within a few dozen games.
History of Double Klondike Solitaire
Double Klondike belongs to the broader family of "double patience" or "two-deck patience" games that became popular in card-game collections in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. As single-deck Klondike Solitaire gained mass familiarity — first through physical card decks, then through the Microsoft Windows bundling that started in 1990 — the two-deck variants provided a natural extension for players who had mastered the standard game.
The game appears in classic card game references under names including Double Patience and Double Solitaire, though the latter name is sometimes also applied to two-player competitive Solitaire games. The nine-column layout is the most common form, mirroring the Klondike triangle deal scaled up from seven columns.
In the digital era, Double Klondike found a home alongside standard Klondike in the more comprehensive solitaire collections, typically listed as an advanced Klondike variant. It never achieved the cultural ubiquity of standard Klondike or Spider, but it has a loyal following among players who find standard Klondike too quick and Spider too punishing.
Frequently asked questions
How is Double Klondike different from regular Klondike?
- Double Klondike uses two shuffled decks (104 cards) instead of one. There are nine tableau columns instead of seven, and eight foundations to fill instead of four — two per suit, each needing a complete Ace-to-King run. The tableau rules are identical: alternating-color descending builds, face-up runs move as a unit.
How many cards does Double Klondike use?
- Two standard 52-card decks shuffled together, for 104 cards total. The initial deal places 45 cards across the nine tableau columns (1+2+3+4+5+6+7+8+9). The remaining 59 cards form the stock pile.
Can I win Double Klondike? What is the win rate?
- Yes — Double Klondike is winnable. Skilled players with unlimited undo and stock recycles win roughly 35–40% of games. The game is harder than standard Klondike but significantly more winnable than games like Canfield (3%) or La Belle Lucie (1–5%).
How do the eight foundations work in Double Klondike?
- There are two foundation piles for each suit. Each needs to be built from Ace to King independently. Since each suit has two Aces in the double deck, you'll need to find and play both Aces of each suit before that suit is complete. The foundations are labelled by suit — you choose which of the two same-suit foundations to play to.
Can I move runs of cards in Double Klondike?
- Yes. Any face-up run of cards forming a valid alternating-color descending sequence can be moved as a unit to any tableau column that can legally receive the run's top card. There is no supermove limit tied to empty columns — the same unlimited-run rule as standard Klondike applies.
How many times can I recycle the stock in Double Klondike?
- Mr. Solitaire's Double Klondike allows unlimited stock recycles. When the stock is empty, click the empty pile to flip the entire waste back face-down. The game draws one card at a time only — there is no Draw 3 mode in Double Klondike.
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