Use open columns before the stock runs out.
Westcliff deals three cards into each of ten columns, with the top card face-up. The remaining 22 cards form a draw-one stock. Compared with Klondike, any card can enter an empty column—but there is no stock redeal. Space and waste access need to be planned together.
Last updated: September 2026
An empty column can hold any card
Tableau piles build downward by alternating color. A movable face-up sequence can enter an empty column even when it is not King-led. Clearing a short three-card pile can therefore let you park a blocker, uncover a hidden card, and later move the parked card onward. Before using the space, check whether the move leaves another destination available for the card you uncover.
One column has a hidden card under a face-up 8 of diamonds. A second column ends with 9 of clubs; a third column is empty. The 8 can move onto the 9 or into the empty column, and either move reveals the hidden card. Moving onto the 9 preserves a free column. Moving into the empty column leaves the 9 as a destination for another red 8. Choose based on the other visible cards and the remaining stock, not a blanket rule to fill or preserve space.
The waste cannot be recycled
Each stock draw places one face-up card on the waste. There is no redeal after the stock empties. Before covering a waste card, check its foundation and tableau destinations. A covered card can become available again if the cards above it are played, but drawing past it reduces immediate access.
A useful tableau move before a stock draw can expose a card or make space for the current waste top. A stock draw may also reveal a needed card; compare the two instead of always exhausting one category of moves first.
What transfers from Klondike?
Klondike’s family guideexplains hidden-card reveals and foundation timing. Westcliff uses the same alternating-color build and suit foundations, but its ten short columns, any-card empty spaces, and one-pass stock change how those decisions are made.