How to Play Kingsley Solitaire

Reverse Klondike where foundations start with Kings and build downward instead of upward. The tableau rules are flipped—build upward in alternating colors, and only Aces can fill empty columns.

Setup

1. Deal the tableau in seven columns: 1 card to the first, 2 to the second, up to 7 in the seventh column.
2. Only the top card of each tableau pile is face-up; others are face-down.
3. Place four empty foundation piles to the side.
4. Keep the remaining cards as the stock.

How to play

• Click the stock to draw one card at a time to the waste pile.
• Build tableau piles upward in alternating colors (opposite color moves)—place a black 8 on a red 7, for instance.
• Move sequences together when each card is one rank higher and opposite color from the card below it.
• Only Kings can start new foundation piles; build foundations downward by suit to Ace.
• Cards automatically move to the foundations when they no longer have playable cards to build on them (you can change this in Settings).
• Empty tableau columns can be filled with Aces or sequences starting with an Ace.
• You have only one pass through the stock—no redeal.

How to win

Objective: Move all 52 cards to the four foundations, building down by suit from King to Ace.

All four foundation piles complete (King down to Ace in each suit). Because you're building upward in the tableau instead of downward, it takes some getting used to if you're coming from standard Klondike.

Tips

• Expose face-down tableau cards as quickly as possible to find buried Aces.
• Remember that Aces fill empty columns—preserve them for tight situations.
• The single pass through the stock makes card order critical—plan carefully before wasting cards.

Play Kingsley free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Kingsley alongside 300+ other games. It saves every move as you play, so you can close the window and pick the game up later, replay any deal, and take on a new Daily Challenge deal every day. Browse every game in the Game Gallery.

Related games

More games from the Klondike family:

• Lady Cadogan — A two-deck game with a distinctive dual foundation approach: one foundation builds up in suit from Aces, while the other accumulates complete sequences.
• Lanes — A streamlined Klondike variant played on just six lanes of three cards each.
• Lily — Lily challenges you to sort two decks into 13 tableau piles, each building down into one complete King-to-Ace run of alternating colors.
• Manx — Build complete 13-card runs in descending rank order across four tableau piles, using a single spare cell to help maneuver cards.
• Pantagruel — Pantagruel is a two-deck Klondike variant with nine tableau piles, giving you a bit more room to maneuver while you build in alternating colors and work through a single-pass stock.