Scan in a fixed order

A crowded tableau makes legal moves easy to miss. Check the waste, then each face-up tableau card from left to right, then the foundations. A repeatable scan is more reliable than looking at the whole board at once.

Check complete face-up runs, not only top cards. A movable red 7 may be the first card in a longer alternating sequence that can shift together.

Work backward from a blocked card

Identify the face-down card you most want to expose. What face-up run covers it? What destination would accept the first card of that run? Then find the missing opposite-color rank that would create that destination.

This turns “no moves” into a short dependency chain. The needed card may be in the waste, on another tableau pile, or temporarily sitting on a foundation.

Check empty-column opportunities

Only a king or a run beginning with a king can enter an empty column. If a column is nearly clear, ask whether you have a king ready before spending moves to empty it.

An empty column is valuable when it lets you relocate a long king sequence and expose several hidden cards. It is not automatically progress when no accessible king can use it.

Look at the foundations again

Moving a card to a foundation can reveal or free another card, but building too quickly can remove a card needed in the tableau. Made Simple Games allows a foundation card to move back to a legal tableau destination.

If a tableau sequence needs a red 4 and that card is on a foundation, bringing it back may unlock a hidden card. Do this for a specific purpose; random foundation reversals usually create clutter.

Use stock order deliberately

In draw one, remember which waste cards are coming and prepare their destinations. In draw three, playing a visible waste card can change the three-card alignment on the next pass.

If the same stock cards repeat without any tableau change, the deal needs a different earlier decision. Undo until you reach a fork where two legal moves were available and test the alternative.

Recognize a genuine dead end

  • Every stock card has been checked in its accessible order.
  • No face-up tableau card or valid run has a legal destination.
  • No foundation card can return to create a useful tableau move.
  • No column can be emptied for an accessible king.
  • Undoing to the most recent choice produces no unexplored alternative.