Westcliff’s open empty columns make it far more forgiving than Klondike.
Westcliff looks like Klondike but plays fundamentally differently. The ten-column layout gives more space, the waste-pile stock is generous, and — most importantly — any card can fill an empty column, not just Kings. Understanding that single rule change is the entire strategic difference between winning and stalling.
Last updated: May 2026
History and background
Westcliff is a Klondike variant that widens the tableau from seven to ten columns while reducing each column’s initial depth to three cards. The starting layout is shallower than Klondike (fewer face-down cards per column) but broader. The version most commonly played also replaces Klondike’s Kings-only empty-column restriction with a fully open rule: any card, regardless of rank, can be moved to an empty column.
This open empty-column rule, combined with the shallower starting stacks, accounts for Westcliff’s notably high win rate. The game is not trivially easy — it requires careful face-down excavation and waste-pile discipline — but it offers significantly more tactical flexibility than Klondike. Players who understand the open column rule win far more frequently than those who play it like Klondike with extra columns.
How the game is set up
One 52-card deck is used.
- Tableau. Thirty cards are dealt into ten columns of three. The bottom two cards in each column are face-down; the top card is face-up. Only the top card of each column is in play.
- Waste-pile stock. The remaining 22 cards form the stock. Cards are dealt one at a time to a waste pile. The top card of the waste pile is always available to play. The stock may be recycled one additional time when exhausted.
- Foundations. Four piles building from Ace to King by suit. Cards are sent to foundations as they become available.
- Tableau sequences. Build downward in alternating colours. Face-down cards flip when they become the top card of their column.
- Empty columns.Any card — regardless of rank — may be moved to an empty column. This is the key rule that distinguishes Westcliff from Klondike.
The any-card empty column: the rule that changes everything
In Klondike, an empty column is a Kings-only slot, which means it is useless until a King happens to be available. In Westcliff, an empty column is a universal staging area: any card can park there temporarily to unblock the card beneath it. This transforms empty columns from passive opportunities into active tools that can be used in nearly every game situation.
The practical consequence is that Westcliff has a significantly higher win rate than Klondike. Every face-down excavation that stalls in Klondike because the blocking card has nowhere to go can proceed in Westcliff by routing the blocker to an empty column temporarily. This does not make Westcliff trivial — empty columns are finite and their use must be planned — but it removes the class of unwinnable positions that arise in Klondike purely from the Kings-only restriction.
An empty column in Westcliff is a temporary holding space for any card that is blocking access to something more important below it. Use empty columns to unblock, not to store. A card that parks in an empty column should have a planned exit within two or three moves.
Strategic priorities in order
- Flip face-down cards as early as possible. Westcliff starts with twenty face-down cards across ten columns. The sooner each is exposed, the sooner you have complete information for that column and can plan its route to foundations. Every face-down card is an unknown constraint; flip them efficiently.
- Create and use empty columns for targeted unblocking, not long-term storage.When a card blocks access to a face-down card or a buried Ace, move it to an empty column, expose and route the blocked card, then relocate the stored card. Plan the three-step sequence (park, excavate, recover) before committing to any empty column use.
- Keep a clean waste pile by playing waste cards before they stack.The waste pile in Westcliff gives access only to the top card. Cards below the top are buried until the ones above are played. Route waste cards to foundations or useful tableau positions as soon as they appear rather than cycling repeatedly.
- Prioritize sequences that expose Aces and Twos. Foundations cannot start without Aces. If an Ace is two cards beneath a column top, the two cards above it must each have legal destinations. Identify those destinations before starting the Ace excavation, not during it.
- Save at least one empty column for the mid-to-late game. Early in the game it is tempting to use every empty column immediately. Keeping one open through the mid-game provides an escape valve for the awkward card arrangements that arise as sequences grow long and waste pile options narrow.
Decision walkthroughs
Using an empty column to excavate a buried Ace
Column seven has a 5♥ face-up, a face-down card beneath it, and at the bottom an Ace. The 5♥ cannot go on any current tableau top, but an empty column is available.
Move the 5♥ to the empty column. The face-down card beneath it flips; assume it is an 8♣ which can go on a 9♦ in another column. Move the 8♣, which exposes the Ace. Move the Ace to its foundation. Now the 5♥ can be relocated to a 6 of the opposite colour if one is available, freeing the column again. This three-step sequence — park, excavate, recover — is the core empty-column maneuver in Westcliff.
Waste pile cycling vs. tableau moves
The top of the waste pile is a Q♥ that can go on a K♠ in the tableau. However, a tableau move is also available that would flip a face-down card. Both moves are legal. Which do you take?
If the tableau move flips a face-down card that might be an Ace or Two, it takes priority. Flipping a face-down card gives new information immediately; the Q♥ play is available every turn as long as the K♠ remains on top. The exception: if taking the waste card enables a chain of foundation moves, take the chain first.
Deciding which empty column to use when two are available
Two columns are empty. You need to park a 7♠ temporarily to excavate a 3♣ beneath it. You also see an opportunity to stage a K♥ in the other empty column to free a useful sequence beneath it.
Use one column for the 7♠ excavation first (immediate, low-rank target). Keep the second column in reserve until the 7♠ can be recovered to a tableau sequence position, freeing that column again before using the second one for the K♥ staging. Using both empties simultaneously reduces your buffer to zero and risks a deadlock if the K♥ reveals a card with no destination.
Common mistakes
- Playing Westcliff like Klondike and ignoring the open empty-column rule.Players coming from Klondike instinctively wait for a King to fill empty columns. In Westcliff this wastes the game’s best tool. Empty columns are available for any card at any time.
- Parking cards in empty columns without a planned exit. A card that sits in an empty column indefinitely blocks that column from further use. Every empty-column usage should have a planned three-step sequence: park, excavate, recover.
- Cycling the waste pile repeatedly without playing cards. The recycle is available, but each cycle through the waste pile without reducing it by several cards indicates waste buried under cards with no current home. Address the blockages causing the waste pile stall rather than cycling repeatedly in hopes of a better card.
- Neglecting Aces in the waste pile while building long tableau sequences.An Ace in the waste pile is always available to start a foundation. Cycling past an available Ace to reach other waste cards delays foundation progress for no reason.
Recognizing a losing position early
Westcliff’s high win rate means losing positions often result from misused empty columns rather than bad luck. These signals indicate an unwinnable or nearly unwinnable state:
- All empty columns are filled with cards that have no current legal tableau destination, effectively converting them to dead-end stacks with no planned exit.
- Multiple Aces are buried beneath long tableau sequences, and the waste pile has been exhausted once already without exposing them, leaving no remaining source of new cards.
- The waste pile second pass is nearly exhausted and the top card of each column is a high-rank card that cannot reach a foundation and cannot move to another column. The board is frozen.
Because Westcliff is generally winnable, reaching one of these states usually points to a specific empty-column misuse early in the game. Undo to the last point where an empty column was used for permanent storage rather than a planned excavation. In most Westcliff games, the path out of a stall begins with recovering control of at least one empty column.