Play Las Vegas Solitaire online
Vegas Solitaire is Klondike with a different way of keeping score. You start each game $52 down and earn $5 for every card you get onto the foundations. The money is pretend, but it changes how you play: every card counts, and the stock won't last for ever.
How Vegas scoring works
| What happens | Score |
|---|---|
| Start of each game (the ante) | -$52 |
| Card to a foundation | +$5 |
| Card taken back off a foundation | -$5 |
| Every other move | $0 |
You need 11 cards on the foundations to break even. Get all 52 home and you finish $208 up.
Limited passes
In normal Klondike you can go through the stock as often as you like. Vegas is stricter:
- Turn 1: one pass. Each stock card comes up once, and that's it.
- Turn 3: three passes, turning three cards at a time.
The Pass counter at the top shows where you are. The Draw button switches between Turn 1 and Turn 3 and starts a new game, since the number of passes depends on it. When there are no passes left and nothing useful to move, the game ends and you keep whatever you've earned.
Vegas strategy
Every foundation card is money
In standard scoring there's often a reason to keep low cards in the columns. In Vegas, a card on a foundation is $5 in the bank. Unless keeping it back clearly unlocks more cards, send it up.
Treat the stock as a one-off
With only one pass in Turn 1, a stock card you skip is gone. Before you turn the next card, check whether the current one can go anywhere useful.
Aim for eleven
Eleven cards is break-even. On a tough deal, getting past that line is a good result even if you can't finish.
Use Undo to compare lines
When two moves look equal, try one, undo, and try the other. With limited passes, the order you do things in matters more than in normal Klondike.
Where the name comes from
Klondike was once offered as a casino game, played with a single pass through the stock: you paid to play and were paid for each card you got onto the foundations. Windows Solitaire borrowed the idea for its Vegas scoring, with a $52 ante and $5 a card. That one-pass version is also where the old claim that only 1 in 30 games can be won comes from.
Prefer a gentler game? Klondike gives you unlimited passes, and Klondike Turn 3 plays the traditional way with standard scoring.
Questions people ask
- What is Vegas Solitaire?
- It is Klondike with Vegas scoring. Each game costs a pretend $52 and every card you move to a foundation earns $5. You also get a limited number of passes through the stock.
- How many cards do I need to break even?
- Eleven. Eleven cards earn $55, which covers the $52 ante with $3 to spare. Ten cards leave you $2 down.
- How many times can I go through the stock?
- Once in Turn 1 and three times in Turn 3. Rules differ between versions of the game, and this is how it works here.
- Is this real gambling?
- No. The dollars are only a way of keeping score. Nothing is bet, paid or won.
- What is the most I can win?
- Getting all 52 cards home earns $260. Take away the $52 ante and you finish $208 up.
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