Forty Thieves Solitaire rules and how to play
Forty Thieves is one of the grand old two-deck solitaire games, and it has a reputation for being a proper challenge. If you enjoy a patient, thoughtful game where every move matters, this one rewards you. You can play Forty Thieves here whenever you would like to follow along, and this guide will walk you through the rules one calm step at a time. Do not worry if it feels like a lot at first. The name simply comes from the forty cards laid out in front of you at the start, and once you have played a hand or two, the pattern becomes second nature.
What you need
Forty Thieves uses two full decks of playing cards shuffled together, which is 104 cards in all. On this site everything is handled for you, so there is nothing to shuffle or count. You just start a new game and the cards are dealt.
Your goal is to build eight foundation piles. Each foundation starts with an Ace and is built upward in the same suit, all the way to the King: Ace, 2, 3, and so on up to King. Because there are two decks, there are two of every suit to complete, which is why you need eight foundations rather than four. When all 104 cards have reached the foundations, you have won.
The layout
When the game is dealt, you will see three areas.
- The tableau is the main playing area: ten columns, each holding four cards, all face up. That is forty cards in total, and it is where most of your thinking happens.
- The foundations are eight empty spaces where you build your Ace-to-King suit piles. They begin empty and fill up as you play.
- The stock is the remaining sixty-four cards, kept face down in a pile. Beside it is the waste, an empty space where cards from the stock are turned over one at a time.
Because every tableau card is face up from the start, you can see your whole position. Nothing is hidden. This is part of what makes Forty Thieves feel fair, even though it is demanding.
How to play
You play by moving cards to build the foundations and by rearranging the tableau to free up the cards you need.
Any Ace can be moved straight to a foundation to start a new pile. After that, you add cards of the same suit in order: the 2 of hearts goes on the Ace of hearts, then the 3 of hearts, and so on. Once a card is on a foundation, it stays there for the rest of the game.
Within the tableau, you build in the opposite direction. You place cards in descending order and in the same suit. So you may put the 9 of spades onto the 10 of spades, then the 8 of spades onto that. Only the same suit works here, which is stricter than many other solitaire games and is the reason Forty Thieves takes care.
When you cannot make a useful move, you turn over the top card of the stock. It goes to the waste, face up, and becomes available to play onto a foundation or a tableau column. If you cannot use it, simply turn over the next stock card and it waits behind the one before it.
Moving cards
There are a few rules about moving cards that are worth learning early, because they shape your whole strategy.
- You may move only one card at a time. Even if you have a tidy run of same-suit cards in a column, you cannot pick the whole run up together. You move them one by one, and only if there is somewhere legal for each to go.
- Only the top card of a tableau column is available to move, along with the top card of the waste.
- An empty column may be filled by any single card you choose. Empty columns are precious, so think before you use one.
- You go through the stock only once. There is no reshuffling and no second pass, so spend your stock cards wisely.
The single-card rule is the heart of the game. It means you should keep tableau columns as orderly as you can, so that the cards you need are near the top rather than buried.
Winning and losing
You win when all 104 cards have been built onto the eight foundations, each running Ace up to King in its suit.
You lose, or reach a dead end, when you have turned over the last stock card and no more helpful moves remain. Forty Thieves is genuinely hard, and skilled players still lose many hands, so please do not take a loss to heart. A finished game here is an achievement worth being proud of.
A worked example
Suppose your ten columns are dealt and one of them shows, from bottom to top, the 10 of clubs, then the 4 of hearts, then the Ace of diamonds, then the 6 of spades on top.
The 6 of spades is the only card you can move from this column right now. Say another column has a 7 of spades on top. You move the 6 of spades onto the 7 of spades, since it is one lower and the same suit. That uncovers the Ace of diamonds, which you send straight up to start a diamond foundation. Now the 4 of hearts is on top, and if a 2 of diamonds appears from the stock later, you already have somewhere for it to go. One small move opened up two more. That is the quiet pleasure of Forty Thieves.
Getting started
For your first few games, keep it simple: grab every Ace and 2 you can, and try not to bury low cards under high ones. You will lose some hands, and that is completely normal for this game. When you are ready to play with a plan, our Forty Thieves strategy guide explains how to think several moves ahead and give yourself the best chance of winning.