Forty Thieves solitaire rules
Forty Thieves is a two-deck solitaire with a reputation: every card on the table is face up, the rules fit on an index card, and it is still one of the hardest common games to win. The reason is a pair of strict rules, one card moved at a time and one trip through the stock. Here is how it plays and how to give yourself a chance.
Forty Thieves in 30 seconds
- Shuffle two decks. Deal ten columns of four cards, all face up: those are the forty thieves. The other 64 cards are the stock.
- Eight foundations, two for each suit, build up from Ace to King.
- On the columns, build down in the same suit. Move only one card at a time.
- Any card may fill an empty column.
- Turn the stock one card at a time onto a waste pile. You get one pass: no redeal.
Playing a hand
Before touching the stock, play everything you can from the forty cards on the table. Aces go straight to the foundations, and each foundation then takes the next card of its suit. With two decks there are two Aces of each suit, so you will run two foundations side by side for every suit.
On the table, put a card on the end of another column if it is one rank lower and the same suit: the 5 of diamonds on the 6 of diamonds, and nothing else. Only the last card of a column moves, and only one at a time. Empty columns are the exception that makes the game playable: any card can go into one, and you can use empty columns as stepping stones to move a run card by card.
When the table is stuck, turn the top stock card face up onto the waste. Play it if you can; the top waste card stays available, so a card you could not use now may fit later. When the stock runs out there is no second pass. You win when all 104 cards are on the eight foundations.
Moving a run with empty columns
Since only one card moves at a time, carrying a run means parking cards in empty columns and bringing them back. Many apps do this for you in one drag. The most you can shift, card by card, onto another column:
| Empty columns | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Longest run you can move | 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
How often can you win?
Not often. The Wikipedia article quotes an estimate of about 1 game in 10. Players on Solitaire Bliss win about 5% of their Forty Thieves games by that site's own records. So a realistic range is roughly 1 in 10 to 1 in 20.
Strategy
- Empty one column before anything else. With one-card moves, an empty column is the only tool you have for rearranging. Pick the column you can clear in the fewest moves and spend your first moves on it.
- Protect empty columns. Filling a space with a random card throws away your only tool. Fill it only to free something you need right now, or with a King that starts a long same-suit run.
- Free low cards under Kings and Queens. A 2 underneath a King stays stuck until that King moves, and a King can only go to an empty column or, at the very end, a foundation. Uncovering low cards early keeps the foundations climbing.
- Think before every stock card. With one pass, each card turned is a card you see once. Make every table move first, so that the waste card has as many places to land as possible.
- Do not bury the waste. Every card you turn without playing covers the one under it. If a waste card can go anywhere sensible, usually play it.
Play Forty Thieves online or at home
Play at home: two standard decks shuffled together, ideally with the same back design, and a big table: you need ten columns plus a row of eight foundations. A kitchen table works; a tray table does not.