How many cards are hidden?

Twenty-four: three in each of the eight columns. Only the top card of each column is face up at the start, and each hidden card turns up the moment the card covering it is moved away.

How is McClellan different from Diplomat?

Three ways: it builds by suit rather than by rank, a packed suit run moves as a unit rather than one card at a time, and three of its four rows are dealt face down rather than face up. The board, the stock and the single pass are the same.

Can any card go into an empty column?

Yes. There is no king rule and no forced fill, and with three hidden rows a space is usually the key to reaching a specific buried card.

No. The 72 stock cards are turned once, one at a time.

How does it compare with Emperor?

Both hide three rows and allow one pass. Emperor spreads forty cards across ten columns and builds in alternating colours one card at a time; McClellan uses eight columns, builds by suit and moves runs. McClellan's board is smaller and its build stricter, but its run move gives it more mobility.

McClellan Solitaire - Play Online & 100% Free

Play McClellan Solitaire — Diplomat's Board, Three Rows Down

McClellan deals the same eight columns of four as Diplomat, then hides three of the four. Twenty-four of the thirty-two dealt cards are face down and turn up only as the cards above them move. The build is by suit and a packed suit run travels as a unit, so the game is about choosing which columns to open and building the runs that open them. Two decks, seventy-two cards in a stock turned once. Free in your browser, no sign-up.

How Do You Play McClellan?

Goal: build all eight foundations from Ace to King by suit.

Setup

Decks: two standard decks, 104 cards.
Tableau: eight columns of four. The lower three cards of each column are face down; the top card is face up.
Foundations: eight, empty.
Stock: the remaining 72 cards, turned one at a time to a waste. No redeal.

Rules

Build tableau columns down by suit: the 7 of hearts onto the 8 of hearts.
A packed suit run moves as a unit.
Any card may enter an empty column.
A hidden card turns face up the moment the card on it is moved away.
Foundations build up by suit from the Ace and are one-way.
One card off the stock at a time, and no redeal.

McClellan Strategy

Three hidden cards under every column and a strict suit build: the early game is about uncovering, and the suit rule makes every uncovering expensive.

Open the columns whose top card can move now. Each exposed card is information; the first few moves should turn as many hidden cards as possible rather than build anything.
A suit run is the only lever you have. A run of hearts lifted whole onto the right heart exposes several hidden cards at once. Build runs so that they can be moved, not just so that they are legal.
Spaces matter more than in Diplomat. With three hidden rows, an empty column is often the only way to reach a specific buried card. Any card may enter one; clear one as early as you can.
The waste is one pass. Seventy-two cards, once. Play a waste card before a board move that can wait.
Count the suits. Two decks means two of every card. When the second 8 of clubs has appeared, no hidden card can be one, and that tells you where a run can end.

McClellan in the Diplomat Line

PySolFC registers McClellan as a Diplomat variant with a suit row stack and a deal of three face-down rows plus one face-up, and rates it balanced. It is the third way the Diplomat board is played in this catalogue: Diplomat builds by rank one card at a time, Lady Palk lets rank runs move, and McClellan hides three rows and builds by suit. Its hidden-row shape resembles Emperor, which hides three rows across ten columns with an alternate-colour build.

Like every game in this family here, the first stock card is left for you to turn rather than dealt to the waste at the start.