Klondike Turn 3: laps, moves and Aces in a three-card game
How long does a winning game of three-card Klondike take, and how many times do you go round the stock to get there? We counted. Over 10,000 numbered deals, a simple program that sees only the face-up cards won 1,063 games. Those wins took 111.2 moves on average, draws included (95% range 110.5–111.8), and 3.81 laps of the stock (3.73–3.90). With one-card draws on the same deals, the program's 4,229 wins took 126.2 moves and only 2.34 laps.
So a Turn 3 win is a slightly shorter game with a lot more cycling. This page is a working guide to that cycling. It is the same game as the home page and /solitaire-draw-3; those pages cover the headline chances and the proven-lost deals, this one covers how a game actually unfolds.
At a glance: how a Turn 3 game runs
| Measure | Turn 3 | 95% range | Deals or wins |
|---|---|---|---|
| Laps of the stock in a won game | 3.81 | 3.73–3.90 | 1,063 wins |
| Moves in a won game, draws included | 111.2 | 110.5–111.8 | 1,063 wins |
| Program won (no look-ahead, no undo) | 10.6% | 10.0–11.2% | 10,000 |
| Program won, no Ace face down at the start | 12.3% | 10.6–14.3% | 1,196 |
| Program won, 2+ Aces face down at the start | 10.1% | 9.4–11.0% | 5,333 |
| Aces face down at the start (of 4) | 1.60 | 1.59–1.62 | 10,000 |
| No face-up card can move at the start | 8.6% | 8.1–9.2% | 10,000 |
The program is a floor, not a forecast: it never plans ahead and never takes a move back. Treat these figures as the shape of a game rather than as your personal odds.
Laps: the rhythm of Turn 3
The stock holds 24 cards. Turned in threes, one lap shows you eight cards, the 3rd, 6th, 9th and so on up to the 24th. Nothing else is playable until you remove one of those. Every card you play off the waste shifts the groups behind it, so the next lap surfaces a different set.
That is why wins average almost four laps. In Turn 1 each lap shows every card, so 2.34 laps is enough; in Turn 3 you need extra laps just to rotate new cards into view. We cannot tell you what a limit on laps would do, because the site's redeals are unlimited and we did not test a cap.
Aces: they matter, but less than the draw
Buried Aces are the first thing most players notice. Across 10,000 deals, 88.0% start with at least one Ace face down (87.4–88.7%). With none buried, the program won 12.3% of Turn 3 deals; with two or more, 10.1%. The ranges almost touch. Compare that with the effect of the draw rule itself: 42.3% in Turn 1 against 10.6% in Turn 3 on identical deals. Your draw setting shapes your chances far more than where the Aces landed.
Where a Turn 3 game is won or lost
Put the figures side by side and a pattern appears. The deal is the same in both modes, and the Aces shift the program's chances by only a couple of points. What changes everything is access to the stock. In Turn 1 every one of the 24 stock cards reaches the top of the waste on every lap. In Turn 3 only eight do, and which eight depends on what you have already played. The program that wins 42.3% with one-card draws drops to 10.6% the moment most of the stock goes out of reach.
For you, that means the key decisions in Turn 3 happen at the waste, not in the columns. A column move is often reversible; a waste play changes the order of everything still in the stock. When in doubt, ask two questions before each waste play: does it turn over a hidden card, and what will surface on the next lap if I make it?
A solver that sees every card still found a win in 66.2% of Turn 3 deals (63.2–69.1%, 1,000 deals), so most deals remain open to good stock management. The Draw 3 page covers the 9.5% it proved closed.
Turn 3 rules here
- One 52-card deck; seven columns of 1 to 7 cards, top card up.
- A 24-card stock turned three at a time; only the top waste card plays.
- Unlimited trips through the stock.
- Build down in alternating colors; move any face-up run.
- Only a King may fill an empty column.
- Foundations Ace to King by suit; one card may come back down.
A practical playbook
First lap: look, don't commit
Go through the stock once and note which eight cards surface. Play the obvious foundation cards, but hold back tableau plays that do nothing for hidden cards.
Choose which waste card to play
Playing a waste card is a double move: it places a card and it shifts every group behind it. If two plays are equal, take the one that brings a needed card to the top next lap.
Work the column with the most hidden cards
The program's second priority is turning over hidden cards, starting with the deepest column. That order is a sound habit for humans too.
Hold a King spot
Only Kings fill empty columns. Empty a column when a King is waiting to use it, not before.
A blank start is normal
In 8.6% of deals no face-up card can move. Start turning the stock; nothing is wrong.
Undo is your edge
The program never undid anything and still won one game in ten. Undo lets you test a lap and take it back.
Playing on solitaire-turn-3.com
Free in any current browser on computer, tablet or phone, no account needed. Hint, unlimited Undo, Restart and Auto Play, drag or tap moves, zoom, fullscreen, sound and table colors. The Draw 1 / Draw 3 toggle on this page switches to Klondike Turn 1.
How the figures were made
- Rules: read from this site's Klondike code.
- Program: fixed priorities (foundation plays, then moves that turn over a hidden card, then King moves, then waste plays, then drawing), giving up after a full lap with no progress.
- Deals: seeds 1–10,000, the same deals for Turn 1 and Turn 3.
- Ranges: Wilson score intervals for percentages, normal intervals for averages.
Claude, an AI assistant by Anthropic, helped write the code and draft this page. It produced no figures, and the team checked every number.
Turn 3 questions
How many moves should a win take?
The program's wins averaged 111.2 moves. People who plan may take more or fewer.
Why do I keep going round the stock?
Because that is how Turn 3 works: winning games averaged 3.81 laps.
More to read?
See the blog and the games page.
By Admin, solitaire-turn-3.com (Forty Media). Research run September 2026.