How to Play Forty Thieves Solitaire

Forty Thieves lays every tableau card face up and still makes access difficult. You move only 1 exposed card at a time, tableau cards descend in suit and the stock gets a single pass. A useful card may be visible from the opening yet remain unreachable because the 3 cards below it have no legal parking place.

The game is won by sending 104 cards to 8 foundations. That takes patience with the stock and discipline with empty columns. Open Forty Thieves Solitaire in another tab if you want to follow the certified deal shown here. Each screenshot records a real point in its solution rather than a staged arrangement.

Forty Thieves Setup: 2 Decks Across 10 Columns

Forty Thieves uses 2 standard 52-card decks. Deal 4 face-up cards into each of 10 tableau columns, for 40 cards on the table. The remaining 64 form the stock. A waste space sits beside it and 8 foundation spaces occupy the top row. There are no free cells and no cards hidden inside the tableau.

The duplicate pack means every rank and suit appears twice. Those copies are interchangeable for building, but their positions are not. A visible 6 of spades may be trapped in a long column while its twin waits deep in the stock. Note both copies when you scan the opening; the easier one to release may determine which foundation advances first.

Send Both Copies of Every Suit to the Foundations

Each foundation begins with an Ace and rises by suit to a King. Since there are 2 decks, hearts need 2 foundation piles, clubs need 2 and the same is true for diamonds and spades. A 5 of clubs can go only on a 4 of clubs. Either physical copy works if the destination has reached the required rank.

Cards placed on a foundation stay there in this version. That usually helps because every card eventually belongs above the tableau, but sending a high rank too soon can remove a landing card you still need below. A low card that blocks a column is an easy promotion. Pause over a 9 or higher when another tableau card may need to rest on it.

Only the Exposed Card Can Move

The movable card in a tableau column is the one at its open end. It travels by itself. Even a perfect suited sequence cannot be lifted as a packet. If the 9, 8 and 7 of hearts appear together, moving the 9 requires the 7 and 8 to be taken away individually first.

That rule makes each temporary destination count. To free a card 3 places deep, you may need 3 different landings or an empty column that can be used more than once. Before moving the first blocker, make sure the later blockers also have somewhere to go. A legal first step is not automatically a workable plan.

Tableau Cards Build Down in the Same Suit

A card may move onto a matching-suit card exactly 1 rank higher. The 10 of diamonds accepts the 9 of diamonds, not the 9 of hearts. A King cannot sit on an Ace and ranks do not wrap. The rule applies equally to cards from the tableau and the waste.

Same-suit building preserves order but offers fewer destinations than alternating colors. Players coming from FreeCell often see several rank matches that are useless here. Check the suit before planning a chain of moves. A black-on-red staircase has no special value in Forty Thieves.

An Empty Column Accepts Any Exposed Card

Clear all cards from a column and the resulting space can hold any exposed tableau or waste card. This is the only tableau destination that ignores both rank and suit. It can park a blocker, begin a new suited descent or release a card from another short column.

Resist filling the gap merely because a card fits. An empty column is a reusable option; an occupied one is another pile that may need clearing later. The best occupant either exposes an immediately useful card at its source or starts a sequence that can soon move to the foundations.

Advance the 8 Foundations Together

You do not have to keep all foundation piles level, but a large gap between them can signal a blocked suit. If 1 clubs pile has reached the Queen while the other is waiting for a 3, locate the missing low club before burying more cards. Both copies of each rank must eventually pass through their own suit lanes.

Low foundations also tell you which stock cards will be playable when they appear. Suppose both diamond piles show a 5. Either 6 of diamonds can leave the waste immediately. If only 1 pile has reached 5, the first 6 can move but its twin may still need a tableau landing. Reading both copies prevents an automatic promotion from becoming an assumption.

Draw 1 Card at a Time with No Redeal

Clicking the stock turns over its top card onto the waste. That card remains available until you play it or cover it with the next draw. After all 64 stock cards have been used, the waste is not turned over for a second pass. Every draw therefore reveals 1 opportunity and may close another.

Before drawing, inspect the current waste card for 3 destinations: a foundation, a same-suit tableau parent or an empty column. If none works, drawing is harmless. If 1 works, ask whether playing it improves access or merely occupies scarce space. Passing a playable card can be correct, but it must be a deliberate choice because that copy will not come around again.

What Happens to Covered Waste Cards

Only the top waste card is playable. Earlier cards remain underneath, but the game never lets you recycle the pile, so they are effectively gone once covered. The final waste card stays available after the stock empties. If it has no legal destination, the remaining tableau moves must create one.

A stock order can contain several useful cards close together. Moving the first to a foundation before drawing the second costs nothing; parking it in an empty column may cost the space needed for the next card. Read the board after every draw instead of clicking through a run of stock cards at speed.

Work from Cheap Access to Expensive Access

At the opening, compare how many blockers sit above each Ace, 2 or other foundation starter. A needed card at the end of a column costs no tableau moves to reach. A needed card 4 places deep may require a chain of suited landings that does not yet exist. Promote the cheap cards first when doing so creates new landing ranks or shortens a column toward an empty space.

Short columns deserve attention because each cleared column expands the rest of the board. Long columns are not automatically bad; they can hold orderly same-suit descents while the foundations catch up. The useful distinction is whether the exposed card has a job and whether the buried cards can be reached with the space you actually possess.

Closing the Deal After the Stock Runs Low

A healthy endgame has several empty columns, foundations that have advanced in every suit and few cards left in the stock. At this stage, avoid making a tableau move simply to reduce visual clutter. Check whether the card can go straight up now or after 1 lower rank moves. Extra staging can put a foundation-ready card behind a new blocker.

When the stock reaches 0, every remaining card is visible. Work backward from the lowest top foundation and find its next rank. If that card is exposed, play it. If it is buried, count the blockers and assign a legal place to each before moving the first one. The final sequence is often long, but it is no longer uncertain.

A Sound Move Order for Forty Thieves

Begin with safe Aces and low cards that expose something useful. Next, look for a short column you can clear without consuming the space immediately. Use same-suit tableau moves to release specific cards, not just to make longer piles. Check the waste before every draw and revisit the tableau whenever a stock card changes the available ranks.

The certified deals here include a complete winning replay, so the next proven move can resolve a position that has become difficult to read. Using it marks the result Assisted, while completing a certified deal without help records a Clean finish. The guide to winnable Solitaire deals explains the difference between a tested solution and a guess based on the opening.

Common Forty Thieves Mistakes

Moving high cards to the foundations automatically

A high suited card may be the only tableau parent for its next lower rank. Promote it after checking both copies of the child card and the space available below.

Using the first empty column too quickly

Any card can fill a gap, but few cards make the gap worthwhile. Prefer an occupant that releases another column or can leave for a foundation soon.

Planning a packet move that the rules do not allow

Suited sequences stay put as groups. Count 1 destination for every card that must be removed from the end of a column.

Drawing before checking the waste

A covered waste card will not return. Make the quick destination check before every stock click, especially when empty columns are available.

How Forty Thieves Differs from Similar Games

Baker's Game also builds tableau cards down in suit, but it provides 4 free cells and allows legal sequences to move when enough space is available. Spider uses 2 decks and 10 columns, yet its stock deals rows and its goal is to remove descending packets. Forty Thieves combines the wide 2-deck table with the tighter demand that every tableau move carry a single card.

The Solitaire types overview compares these families by what happens to completed cards and how temporary space works. That is a useful next stop if Forty Thieves feels too severe and you want a related game with more room to reorganize.

Play Forty Thieves Solitaire

By Sam R., Solitaire.cx editor. Screenshots are from a real certified game on this site. How these guides are written.