How to Play Scorpion Solitaire
Scorpion gives you a crowded table and an unusual amount of freedom. You can pick up any face-up card, and every card lying over it comes along, however untidy that tail is. The landing rule is strict, though: the card you pick up must go on the next higher card of the same suit. Learning the game means using that generous pickup rule to satisfy a very narrow landing rule.
There are no foundations in Scorpion. Your work stays in the 7 columns until a complete suited run from King through Ace forms on the table. Finish all 4 suits and the deal is won. You can play Scorpion Solitaire online while following the examples below.
Seven columns and a 3-card reserve
A single 52-card deck is used. The main deal places 7 cards in each of 7 columns, accounting for 49 cards. In columns 1 through 4, the first 3 cards are face down and the next 4 are face up. Every card in columns 5 through 7 is exposed. The remaining 3 cards sit in a reserve above the tableau.
That leaves 12 face-down cards in the tableau, and the 3 reserve cards stay hidden until you deal them. Everything else is visible from the start, so scan before you move: find the Kings, notice any long same-suit stretches and see which face-down cards have the fewest cards covering them.
Build 4 complete suits to win
To remove a suit, place its King first and follow every rank through the Ace in one continuous column. When the full 13-card run comes together at the exposed end of a column, it leaves the tableau automatically and fills one of the 4 spaces above the table. You do not move cards to those spaces individually. A partial run remains in play until every rank is present in the correct order.
A nearly finished suit can still be awkward if the missing rank is trapped. Before extending a long run, look for the card that must follow its exposed end. If that card is buried under the group you are about to build, the neat-looking move may block its own completion.
Move a face-up card with everything over it
Any face-up card may lead a tableau move. Click or tap that card and every card lying over it comes along. Those cards do not need to descend by rank, match suit or alternate color. If a face-up 7 has a Queen, a 3 and an Ace lying over it, all 4 cards travel together when the 7 has a legal destination.
Only the card you pick up is tested. A 7 of hearts can land on the 8 of hearts, carrying its mixed passengers along. It cannot land on the 8 of diamonds or the 9 of hearts. Once the move is made, the loose cards stay in their new column until one of them is picked up and finds somewhere legal to go.
Before committing, trace the card you pick up, every card lying over it and the card it will leave exposed in the source column. Moving a useful card can also carry off the only available King or bury the next card you planned to use. If you are unsure, Undo lets you test the line.
Same suit, one rank lower
Tableau building always descends within a suit. A Jack of clubs accepts the 10 of clubs, and that 10 accepts the 9 of clubs. Color alone is not enough. This is stricter than Yukon Solitaire, which also carries loose groups but lands them in alternating colors.
When several cards of the same rank are exposed, identify them by suit before choosing a move. The wrong red 8 cannot hold a red 7 just because the ranks line up. The board highlights where a card can go, but it pays to check the suits yourself, because later choices depend on knowing which column can keep growing.
Turn over hidden cards early
The 12 face-down cards are the least predictable part of the deal. Whenever the top concealed card in a column becomes uncovered, it turns face up automatically. A move that reveals one usually tells you more than a move that merely joins 2 visible cards, even if the second move creates a longer run.
Start with the columns where the fewest moves will uncover a card. If 2 possible moves both reveal hidden cards, prefer the one that leaves you somewhere else to land a card. Emptying the face-up part of a column with nowhere to put its last card can swap one obstruction for another.
When to deal the reserve
The reserve is dealt only once. All 3 cards arrive together, one on each of columns 1, 2 and 3. They become the new exposed ends of those columns, so any card previously available there is covered until the newcomer moves. You cannot take the reserve back or cycle through it again.
There is no fixed point when the reserve must be dealt. Deal it when the table has nothing useful left to give, or when you have places ready for the 3 incoming cards. Dealing straight away can bury cards you were about to use, and once every sensible line is played out, waiting longer only delays the new cards you need.
Before you deal, look over the table once more. Is there a move that turns over a face-down card, a run you can extend in suit or a short column you can empty for a King you can already see? Check the exposed cards in columns 1 to 3 as well. If they are doing useful work, move them on first or make sure each one will still have an exit once a reserve card lands on it.
Keep empty columns ready for Kings
A cleared column accepts only a King or a group led by a King. No Queen, numbered card or Ace can begin there. This restriction makes a blank column valuable only when a suitable King is available or can soon be exposed. Opening space without a King may still reveal an important card, but the gap itself cannot help until a King reaches it.
The best King to move is one that starts a suit you can build, so the Queen and lower ranks of that suit have somewhere to go while other columns open up. Check what lies over the King before moving it. A large mixed group can clog the new column for several turns before you can separate the useful suited part.
Finish runs without trapping the last suit
A completed suit can leave safely: all 13 cards of that suit are present, so none is still needed as a same-suit landing elsewhere. Removing the run shortens its column and may uncover a card or create an empty column. Check that newly available space before continuing with another suit.
Late in the deal, count the missing ranks in each suit from the exposed ends. With 3 runs removed, all 13 remaining cards belong to the last suit, although they may still be split across columns or tied to loose tails. At that point, work from the Ace end upward when freeing cards and from the King end downward when choosing the column for the final run.
Scorpion, Yukon and Spider
Scorpion shares the loose group move with Yukon but swaps alternating-color landings for same-suit building. It also shares King-to-Ace removal with Spider, although Spider Solitaire moves only orderly suited runs and deals whole rows from its stock.
For a broader view of where the game belongs, see the types of Solitaire guide. It places Scorpion among the packing games, where cards are completed and removed from the tableau instead of being sent to ordinary foundations.
Common questions
Can any face-up group move in Scorpion?
Yes. Choose any face-up card and every card lying over it moves with it as a single tail. The card you pick up must land on the next higher card of the same suit. The cards riding along do not need to be in order.
What can go into an empty Scorpion column?
Only a King or a group led by a King. No other rank may enter an empty column.
Do you have to deal the reserve right away?
No. You may work the tableau first. When you deal it, all 3 reserve cards are placed on columns 1 through 3 and there is no second deal.
Where are the foundations in Scorpion?
There are none. Build a complete same-suit sequence from King to Ace on the tableau. The finished run is then removed automatically.