By Neal Taparia - 11/25/2024
Playing Solitaire is more than just winning. You also want to get the best score you can to earn a competitive position on the leaderboard. Although you win the game by sorting all the cards into their foundation piles in ascending order by suit, getting a great score means maximizing those moves in the least amount of time.
The first step to earning a top score is understanding how to play Solitaire. To get cards to their foundation piles, you arrange them in the tableau into descending sequences that alternate in color. You can move single cards or entire sequences onto other cards in the tableau, flipping facedown cards as they’re uncovered. Play any available cards onto sequences or foundation piles, and use the top card from the discard pile when you get stuck.
With all the moves you make to win the game, you’re probably wondering how that translates into scoring. How scoring works largely depends on what Solitaire version you’re
playing as well as the site or app you’re playing on.These common Solitaire scoring guidelines will help you maximize your points and level up your game. Once you understand how Solitaire is scored, you can work your way up the leaderboard when playing Klondike Turn 1, Las Vegas Solitaire, and other Solitaire card games.
Klondike Solitaire and Las Vegas Solitaire use different scoring models, so understanding how each one works helps inform your strategy and maximize your score in each version. When playing Klondike, use fewer moves in less time for your best score, but for Las Vegas Solitaire, time isn’t a factor. So focus on getting as many cards to the foundation as possible.
When it comes to scoring, you often aim for a high score, but in Klondike on Solitaired, the goal is to achieve the lowest score possible. To get the best score, no matter if you’re playing Solitaire Turn 1 or Solitaire Turn 3, focus on your moves and time to score the lowest number of points.
How Klondike Solitaire is scored on Solitaired involves a simple formula based on the number of moves you make and the time it takes to do it:
Score = Moves + Time (in seconds)
Each move counts as one point, whether you move a card to its foundation pile or move it from the waste pile, and your time is calculated in seconds. So if you win a game in 100 moves and 2 minutes, you score 220 points.
100 + 120 seconds = 220
Remember, fewer moves in less time gives you the best score, so rely on a strategy that focuses on playing efficiently. Since the goal is getting all the cards to the foundation piles, evaluate which actions will get them there in the fewest moves, but think fast because the clock is ticking.
The Las Vegas Solitaire scoring model assigns coins instead of points, and your goal is to get the highest number of coins possible, regardless of whether you win the game. Even though they are played slightly differently—Las Vegas Solitaire allows just one pass through stockpile, and Las Vegas Solitaire Turn 3 gives you three passes—both versions use the same scoring model, which differs from how Klondike Solitaire is scored.
On Solitaired, you get a daily deposit of 200 virtual coins, which is not factored into your score. You must use 52 coins to play a game—that means that at the start of the game, you’re already in the negative (negative 52 coins). Then you get 5 coins for each card you move to the foundation pile, which means you need to move 11 cards to foundation piles just to get out of the hole.
The more cards you move to foundation piles, the more coins you will score. Once a game ends, whether you win or not, your coins—negative or positive—become your score for that game. So a game in which you moved 15 cards to foundation piles would be scored like this:
–52 coins + (15 x 5 coins) = 23 coins
Las Vegas Solitaire scoring has you focusing solely on getting cards to the foundation piles. Unlike Klondike Solitaire, the amount of time you take doesn’t penalize you in any way, and you can arrange and rearrange cards as often as you need to. So when strategizing, you can take your time to calculate what moves help you get the most cards to foundation piles.
How Solitaire is scored depends on what version you’re playing or the site or app you’re playing on. Many games calculate the Solitaire score based on a combination of points for card movements and time, and the goal is to get the highest score. You can lose or gain points when you play Klondike Solitaire, depending on what move you make.
These Solitaire scoring rules are commonly used for Microsoft Klondike Solitaire on Windows:
Some apps and sites use time as a penalty that subtracts points, such as docking you 1 point for every 10 seconds you take, or they may use a timed game, adding bonus points to your score if you win within a certain timeframe. So your strategy is efficiency, relying on quick thinking to make the most high-value moves.
Las Vegas Solitaire typically scores just like it does on Solitaired. The only difference might be how many coins you get on a daily basis.
What qualifies as a good Solitaire score depends entirely on where you play. Since sites and apps all have different scoring models and rules, you won’t find just one best score worldwide. The best score can be found on the leaderboard on the game site where you play.
Of course, you can simply play against yourself and try beating your previous score, but if you’re competitive, you may want to inch your way up the leaderboard. So use these tips and techniques to achieve the best score you can get:
Playing Solitaire can be good practice, but playing different types of Solitaire can give you a way to hone in on techniques that need more polish. If you know what areas of the game make you hit a wall with your progress, fine-tune your trouble spots and build skills for a better score by targeting the areas that need more practice.
Use these specific variations if you need to practice:
Solitaired offers a stress-free way to play with a straightforward scoring system. So if you want to practice classic Solitaire or Solitaire Turn 3 or try different Solitaire games like FreeCell or Golf Solitaire to target specific skills, check out all of our free games and work toward getting your name to the top of the leaderboard.
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