How to Play Forty Thieves Solitaire

Forty Thieves lays every tableau card face up and still makes access difficult. You move only one 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 lying over it have no legal parking place.

The game is won by sending all 104 cards to 8 foundations, and it is hard to win. The card game writers Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith put the chances at about 1 in 10. It is an old game too. In 1870 Annie Henshaw described it as a favorite of Napoleon during his exile on St Helena, and Napoleon at St Helena is still one of its other names (history on Wikipedia). Open Forty Thieves Solitaire in another tab if you want to follow along.

Two 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.

With 2 decks, every card appears twice. The two copies work the same way when you build, but they sit in different places. 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 look over the opening, because the one that is easier to free may decide which foundation gets going first.

Eight foundations, two per suit

Each foundation begins with an Ace and rises by suit to a King. Since there are 2 decks, every suit gets 2 foundation piles. A 5 of clubs can go only on a 4 of clubs, and either copy of the 5 will do.

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 one to send up. Pause over a 9 or higher when another card on the table may still 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.

Tableau cards build down in the same suit

A card may move onto a card of the same suit exactly one rank higher. The 10 of diamonds accepts the 9 of diamonds and nothing else. 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 spot on the table that ignores both rank and suit. It can hold a card that is in the way, start a new suited run or free a card from another short column.

Don't fill the gap just because a card fits. Once a card sits there, the column is just another pile that may need clearing later. The best card to put there either uncovers a card you can use right away or starts a run that can soon go to the foundations.

Keep the 8 foundations moving

You do not have to keep all foundation piles level, but a large gap between them can signal a blocked suit. If one clubs pile has reached the Queen while the other is waiting for a 3, locate the missing low club before burying more cards. Every card has a twin, and both copies have to reach a foundation of their suit.

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 one pile has reached 5, the first 6 can move but its twin may still need a tableau landing. So check both piles before you count on a stock card going straight up.

One card at a time, 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.

Before drawing, check the current waste card against 3 places: a foundation, a card of the same suit one rank higher, or an empty column. If none works, drawing costs you nothing. If one works, ask whether playing it opens something up or just uses space you will need later. Passing a playable card can be correct, but make it a deliberate choice, because you can reach that card again only by clearing every waste card that later covers it.

What happens to covered waste cards

Only the top waste card is playable, but the cards underneath have not been discarded. Removing the top exposes the next card, which may also be played if it has a destination. After the stock empties, you can continue working backward through the waste this way. There is no redeal to make a covered card directly available.

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 the next card needs. Read the board after every draw instead of clicking through a run of stock cards at speed.

Free the cheapest cards first

At the opening, count how many cards lie over each Ace and 2. A card you need at the end of a column is free to take. One that sits 4 places deep may need a string of same-suit landing spots that don't exist yet. Send up the easy cards first when that gives you new places to land cards or brings a column closer to empty.

Short columns deserve attention because each cleared column expands the rest of the board. Long columns can still be useful, since they can hold tidy same-suit runs while the foundations catch up. What counts is whether the exposed card has a job and whether the buried cards can be reached with the space you actually have.

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 one lower rank moves. An extra move on the table can bury a card that was ready to go home.

After the stock runs out, no new cards will be drawn, but older waste cards may still be covered. Find the next rank needed by each foundation and check whether it is exposed on the tableau or waste. If it is covered, plan destinations for the blockers. Keep checking the waste after each removal: a sequence of foundation-ready cards may now be reachable.

Related 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. Canfield uses one deck and alternating-color runs. Its reserve refills empty columns and its stock can be redealt. 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 real games on this site. How these guides are written.