When Should a Klondike Empty Column Be Kept Open?
Keep an empty column open when it is needed to rearrange sequences or no King move creates immediate access. Fill it when a King-led move reveals or clears.
Keep an empty column open when it is the only workspace for reorganizing the tableau or when every available King move merely parks a card. Fill it when a King or King-led sequence creates immediate access: a hidden card, another empty column, or a useful chain.
An empty lane is an option. Once a King enters, that option is spent until the entire column can be cleared again.
Preserve the lane for a planned transfer
Suppose you need to move 8♣–7♦ away temporarily so that 9♥ can leave another column and reveal a card. The empty lane can hold a King-led sequence that makes those transfers possible. Filling it early with a bare K♣ from the waste may remove the only route.
Because only Kings can start the lane, you cannot use it as freely as a FreeCell empty column. Its value lies in choosing the right King at the right time.
Fill it when the gain is concrete
If K♠–Q♥ covers a face-down card, moving the pair into the lane reveals that card. If the source then becomes empty, the move effectively trades one empty column for another while improving information.
That is very different from moving an already-exposed K♦ into the lane with no Queen, no reveal and no follow-up.
Avoid indefinite preservation
Keeping a column empty forever can also waste progress. If a strong King line is available and all other moves depend on it, use the lane. Workspace matters because it enables moves, not because an empty rectangle is inherently valuable.
A lane-use test
- Name the King or King-led sequence that would enter.
- Identify what leaves its source column.
- Check whether the source reveals a card or becomes empty.
- Ask whether another rearrangement needs the lane first.
- Fill only when the gain is larger than the lost flexibility.
Practice the decision in Play Klondike Draw 1 or Play Klondike Draw 3.
Sources used
This guide distinguishes PlaySoli's current game rules from historical variants and marks disputed claims instead of presenting them as settled facts.