Play Scorpion Solitaire Online
Scorpion is a 1-deck patience game played across 7 long tableau columns. The deal places 49 cards on the table and leaves 3 in reserve. Most of the tableau starts face up, so the important suit fragments can be seen from the opening. There are no foundations. A suit leaves the table only after its full King-to-Ace run has been assembled.
Scorpion borrows its group movement from Yukon and its completed runs from Spider. Picking up a face-up card also picks up the entire tail beneath it, regardless of order. Every landing must continue a descending run in the same suit.
Scorpion Solitaire Starts with 7 Long Columns
Each tableau column receives 7 cards. In columns 1-4, 3 cards are face down and the next 4 are face up. All 7 cards in columns 5-7 are face up. The 3 cards left over form the reserve, which can be dealt once onto columns 1-3. At the start, 37 cards are visible and 15 are still unknown.
With 37 cards exposed, the opening contains far more information than a stock-heavy game. Kings, Queens and long suit gaps are usually visible before play begins. The hidden cards still matter, especially in the 4 left columns, but the board already shows where much of each suit has landed. A single column can contain part of a useful run alongside several cards that will eventually need to move away.
Building Down in Suit on the Tableau
The tableau builds downward in suit. For example, the 8 of clubs can land only on the 9 of clubs. The 8 may bring every card below it along for the move. Those lower cards do not have to be ordered or share a suit. Only the lead card and its destination decide whether the landing is legal.
Completing a King-to-Ace Suit Run
A same-suit sequence from King down to Ace is removed from the tableau as soon as it is complete. The game is won when all 4 suit runs have been removed. An empty column accepts a King or a group led by a King, and no other rank can start there.
Why Scorpion Columns Often Look Untidy
The loose group move is the rule that gives Scorpion its characteristic board. If the 7 of hearts has 5 unrelated cards below it, all 6 cards can land on the 8 of hearts. The cards under the 7 remain attached until another legal move separates them. Long, mixed tails are routine in Scorpion.
Spider 4 Suits handles groups differently. Spider allows a properly ordered packet to travel, while Scorpion allows any exposed tail to travel and then applies a stricter same-suit rule at the landing point. In the screenshot below, the lead card controls the move and the mixed cards beneath it come along as passengers.
When the 3-Card Reserve Enters Play
Scorpion has a reserve rather than a reusable stock. Its 3 cards are dealt together, with one card added to each of columns 1-3. The reserve cannot be cycled or dealt again. Once those cards arrive, the full deck is on the tableau and no hidden stock remains above the board.
The reserve row is smaller than the 10-card stock rows in Spider 1 Suit, but each card still changes the exposed end of a column. In the screenshot, the reserve has already been dealt and a completed run has left the table. Every remaining card can now be accounted for directly on the board.
Only Kings Can Fill Empty Columns
Clearing a column creates space for a King-led group. A Queen, Ace or numbered card cannot be placed in that gap. Since the final objective is a King-to-Ace run in each suit, an empty column often becomes the working area for one of those runs. It remains occupied until the group moves again or the suit is completed.
Yukon also moves loose tails, although its tableau builds down in alternating colors and its cards finish on 4 foundations. Scorpion builds down in suit and removes a completed run from the tableau. Color does not help here. The exact suit of the King decides which Queen can follow it.
Where to Start in Scorpion
All 12 face-down cards sit in the first 4 columns, so that is where most of the unknowns are. Moves that turn one of them over are usually worth more than moves that only rearrange the face-up columns on the right. Look for Kings near the top of a column too. A King with nothing above it is already in place, while a buried King has to reach an empty column before its suit can be built.
Hold the reserve until the left side of the table has given you what it can. Those 3 cards land on the first 3 columns and may cover a card you were about to use. Every Scorpion deal offered here has a known solution. Hints and undo are there while you learn, and a signed-in win without them goes on the Scorpion leaderboard. The types of Solitaire overview places Scorpion alongside the other tableau families on the site.
Reading a Crowded Scorpion Midgame
Midgame Scorpion rarely looks tidy. Mixed tails may sit beside nearly complete suit runs, and a newly exposed card can change which group has somewhere to land. Some things are always worth checking: how many of the 12 face-down cards remain, whether the reserve has been dealt, which Kings have space and which suit runs have already left the table.
When a column gets long, start at the exposed card and read upward until the suit order breaks. The cards you passed form a run worth keeping together. The cards above the break still need sorting. The complete Scorpion rules and strategy guide works through those decisions in 6 stages, from the opening deal to the final suit.