Forty Thieves Solitaire with two decks: build eight foundations by suit, move one card at a time and go through the stock only once.
What is Forty Thieves Solitaire?
Forty Thieves Solitaire is a two-deck solitaire game in which you move all 104 cards onto eight foundations, building each one by suit from Ace to King, with cards moved one at a time and a single pass through the stock. The 40 in the name matches the 40 cards dealt face up into ten columns at the start.
It is a hard game. Every card in the layout is visible, but you may never move more than one card at once and the stock gives you no second chance. Many deals cannot be won. Those that can are won by careful use of empty columns and a clear plan for each card from the stock.
How to play Forty Thieves Solitaire
The deal: two standard decks are shuffled together. Ten columns of four cards each are dealt face up, 40 cards in all. Eight empty foundations sit at the top, and the other 64 cards form the stock.
Building in the columns: a card goes onto a card of the same suit that is one rank higher, so the 9 of diamonds goes on either 10 of diamonds. Only the end card of a column can move, and only one card moves at a time. Any card, of any rank, can go into an empty column.
Foundations: each of the eight foundations starts with an Ace and grows by suit up to the King. With two decks, every suit has two foundations. Cards placed on a foundation stay there.
The stock: tap it to turn one card onto the waste pile. The top waste card can be played to a column or a foundation. The stock goes through only once, so a card buried in the waste is out of play until the cards above it have been played. You win when all 104 cards are on the foundations. When the stock and waste are empty and every column runs from high to low, an Auto-finish button plays the rest.
Forty Thieves strategy
Empty columns are everything. Since you move one card at a time, a run in a column can only be moved by parking cards somewhere. With one empty column you can move a run of 2 cards. With two you can move 4, and with three, 8. Count your empty columns before you start breaking up a run, and do not fill one without a reason.
Fill an empty column with purpose. Good uses are a card from the waste that would otherwise be buried, a high card such as a King that you can build on, or a card whose removal frees an Ace or 2 below it. A low card placed in an empty column just takes the space away.
Go for the Aces early. Eight Aces are spread through 104 cards. Any visible Ace near the end of a column is worth digging for, and every 2 that follows clears more room.
Use both copies. Every card exists twice, so a 6 of spades has two possible places to go: either 7 of spades. When one 7 is deep in a column and the other is free, plan around the free one, and avoid burying both.
Do not bury low cards. Placing a card on top of a lower card of another suit locks that lower card until the upper one moves. When you have a choice, put cards where they cover nothing you will need soon.
Turn the stock with a plan. Before each turn, ask whether the current waste card can still be used. Once it is covered it may be lost for the rest of the game. Sometimes the right move is to put the waste card into an empty column so it stays reachable.
Forty Thieves rules and variants
Our Forty Thieves has one rule set and no menu options: two decks, ten columns of four face-up cards, building down in suit, single-card moves, any card in an empty column, one card per stock turn and one pass.
Other variants exist, for example versions that let you move a whole run in suit at once, or that allow a second pass through the stock. These make the game easier. For a one-deck game with single-card moves and every card in view, try Beleaguered Castle on Hevagames.
Where Forty Thieves comes from
Forty Thieves is one of the classic two-deck patience games and appears in card game books under that name and as Napoleon at St Helena. The second name comes from the story that Napoleon played it in exile on Saint Helena, a story that is often told but not documented.
The game has a reputation as one of the hardest common solitaires, and it is the parent of a large family of two-deck games that change the deal or the moving rules.
Play Forty Thieves Solitaire on Hevagames
Our Forty Thieves runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers, with nothing to download. The ten columns are sized to fit a narrow phone screen. Drag a card, or tap a card and then the place it should go. A double tap sends it to a foundation if it fits, otherwise to a column ending in the next higher card of its suit, or to an empty column. Tap the stock or press D to turn a card. On a keyboard, the arrow keys move between piles and Enter picks up and places; Z or Backspace undoes and N deals a new game.
Undo has no limit and each undo counts as a move, which helps a lot in a game this strict. The deal in progress, with the last 60 undo steps, is saved in your browser and survives a reload. The top bar shows moves, time and score.
Scoring: 5 points for each card on a foundation, up to 520. A win adds a bonus of 1500 minus 2 per move and minus half a point per second, never below zero. The timer starts with your first move, and your best score is kept on your device.
How to play
- 1Two decks: 40 cards are dealt face up into ten columns of four.
- 2Build eight foundations by suit, from Ace up to King.
- 3In the columns, a card goes on a card of the same suit one rank higher. Move one card at a time.
- 4Any card can go into an empty column.
- 5Tap the stock to turn one card onto the waste. The stock goes through only once.
Controls
Tips
- Empty columns are precious; fill them only with a card that unlocks something.
- Play from the waste when you can, since there is no second pass.
- Avoid burying low cards under higher ones of another suit.
