What is Vegas scoring?
Vegas scoring turns Klondike into a game played for money, play money here. You pay $52 for the deal, so every game starts at -$52. Each card you put on a foundation pays $5, so ten cards still leave you $2 short and the eleventh puts you ahead. Getting all 52 cards up pays $260, a profit of $208.
The money follows the foundations: if you take a card back off a foundation to the tableau, you give its $5 back, and playing it up again earns it again.
Vegas also limits how often you can go through the stock: once when turning one card at a time, and three times with Draw Three. As soon as no card can reach the foundations, be turned face up or come off the stock and waste any more, the deal is over and the money stands. Here each deal is scored on its own, starting again from -$52; the money is not carried from one game to the next.
Rule changes
| Rule | Standard Solitaire | Vegas scoring |
|---|---|---|
| Score | Standard SolitaireNone: you either clear the deal or you don't. | Vegas scoringMoney, shown on the board. |
| At the start | Standard SolitaireNothing to pay. | Vegas scoringYou pay $52 for the deal and start at -$52. |
| Card played to a foundation | Standard SolitaireBrings you closer to clearing the deal. | Vegas scoringPays $5. Eleven cards put you ahead; all 52 pay $260, a profit of $208. |
| Card taken back off a foundation | Standard SolitaireAllowed at no cost. | Vegas scoringAllowed, but you give its $5 back. |
| Passes through the stock | Standard SolitaireUnlimited. | Vegas scoringOne when turning one card, three with Draw Three. The board shows how many are left. |
| End of the game | Standard SolitaireWhen every card is on the foundations, when no card can reach them, be turned face up or come off the stock any more, or when you give up. | Vegas scoringThe same, but once the passes are spent the stock cannot come round again, so a deal often ends sooner. |
| Money between games | Standard SolitaireNo money. | Vegas scoringEach deal is scored on its own, from -$52; nothing is carried over. |
History
Paying for a deck and being paid for each card played up goes back to a gambling story. Richard A. Canfield ran a well-known casino in Saratoga Springs, New York, around 1900, and by the usual account players there bought a pack for $50 and were paid $5 for each card they got onto the foundations. The patience played there is the one card game writers call Canfield, but the name stuck to Klondike in the United States as well.
The figures used today are those of the solitaire program bundled with a widely used computer operating system from 1990. Its Vegas scoring charged $52 for the deal and paid $5 for each card on the foundations, allowed one pass through the stock with Draw One and three with Draw Three, and could keep a running total across games. Here each deal stands on its own.