How Do You Plan a Useful Second Stock Pass in Klondike?

A useful second pass begins before the first pass ends. Choose a blocked target, note its position inside the Draw 3 packet, and identify one or two earlier cards that can be removed to shift the target into an exposed slot after the redeal.

Cycling the stock without a target normally recreates the same obstruction.

Choose one target, not the whole stock

Suppose 5♣ is the card you need for 6♦. It appears as the first card of a packet, with two cards above it. Record “5♣: first slot.” You do not need to memorize every surrounding card.

If one playable King occurs before 5♣, removing that King shifts 5♣ one position earlier on the next pass. Depending on its exact count, that may make it third and topmost.

Build the destination during the first pass

Access is useless without a legal move. If 6♦ is still covered, use tableau moves to expose it before engineering the stock shift. Otherwise 5♣ may become topmost and still have nowhere to go.

For example, move 7♣ onto 8♥ to expose 6♦, then use an earlier waste King in an empty column. The second pass now has both the target and its destination prepared.

Use the final partial packet

Treat the last short packet as an immediate-use opportunity and a checkpoint before redealing. Cards removed there come after an earlier target, so they do not shift that target’s next-pass slot. Only removals before the target change its position.

Know when the plan failed

If the second pass returns every card to the same accessible positions and no tableau or foundation state changed, another identical pass will not help. Choose a different target, create a new destination, or accept that the stock route is blocked.

A compact planning note

1. Target card and intended destination.
2. Current packet slot: first, second or third.
3. Earlier removable cards: zero, one or two.
4. Final-packet opportunities and checkpoint.
5. Expected slot on the next pass.

Apply the method in Play Klondike Draw 3 and compare the simpler sequential access in Play Klondike Draw 1.

Sources used

• 1 PlaySoli implementation and editorial specification.
• 3 Current PlaySoli product rules: Solitaire Turn 3.
• 2 Current PlaySoli product rules: Solitaire Turn 1.