pips&pegs

Klondike, Turn Three

Three cards at a time. Two out of three are out of reach — this is the hard one.

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Same seven columns, same four foundations, one cruel difference: the stock turns over three cards at a time and you may only play the top of the three. Two out of every three cards are visible and untouchable, taunting you, until the order of the pile shifts and lets you at them.

That single change is what separates the two games. Turn one is a pleasant way to pass ten minutes. Turn three is a puzzle you have to plan — the pile has a rhythm, and learning to count it is the whole skill.

How Klondike, Turn Three works

  1. Everything in Klondike applies: build down in alternating colours, kings into empty columns, aces up.
  2. The stock turns three at a time. Only the top one is playable.
  3. Redeals are unlimited, and they matter far more here — each pass through the deck re-shuffles which cards are reachable.
  4. Because you get fewer chances, think before you take an easy move. Emptying a column early can be worse than useless if you have no king.

Questions

How much harder is turn three, really?

A lot. Best estimates put the winnable proportion at around a third of Klondike turn one's — so where a good turn-one player wins often, the same player on turn three will lose most games and think hard about all of them. That's the appeal.

Any strategy that actually helps?

One thing above all: don't take a move just because it's available. Every card you play from the waste changes which cards you'll see on the next pass. Experienced players will deliberately skip a legal move to keep the pile's rhythm intact. And be very slow to empty a column unless you already have the king to fill it.

Is the undo button cheating?

It's your table. The undo here is unlimited and there's no score to protect, so use it as a way to explore the deal rather than as a confession. If you'd rather play it clean, just don't press it — nobody's watching.

The rest of the table

Same engine, different rulebooks. They're all free, and none of them want your email.

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