Aces and Kings Solitaire
How to play Aces and Kings
Aces and Kings is a two-deck solitaire game in which cards from two reserves of thirteen, four single-card piles and the waste are played onto four foundations built up from the Aces and four built down from the Kings, regardless of suit.
Two decks, two reserves of thirteen and four single-card piles, played onto four foundations that build up from the Aces and four that build down from the Kings, regardless of suit.
The goal of Aces and Kings
Move all 104 cards onto the eight foundations, regardless of suit: four built up from the Ace to the King and four built down from the King to the Ace.
How to set up Aces and Kings
Two standard decks are shuffled together, 104 cards in all. Two reserves of thirteen cards and four piles of one card are dealt face up, one card is turned onto the waste, and the other 73 form the stock.
Aces and Kings rules
Four foundations build up from an Ace to a King and four build down from a King to an Ace, one rank at a time and regardless of suit. An empty up foundation takes any Ace, and an empty down foundation any King.
Only the top card of each reserve, the top card of the waste and the card on each pile are in play, and each of them goes to a foundation. Nothing is ever put on a reserve, and nothing is built on a pile.
The top card of a foundation may move to a foundation building the other way that takes it, one card at a time.
Turn the stock onto the waste one card at a time, once through with no redeal. While the stock has cards, a pile that is emptied is filled at once with the stock's next card, face up.
Once the stock is spent, an empty pile takes any one card: the top card of the waste, of a reserve or of a foundation. A pile's card never moves to another empty pile.
Click a card to send it to a foundation that takes it, else, once the stock is spent, into an empty pile. Drag it to choose yourself, and click the stock to turn a card. With Autoplay off in Settings, only a drag moves a card. Hint asks the game's solver what to play next.
How to win at Aces and Kings
You win when all 104 cards are on the foundations, and play goes on after the stock is spent. The game is stuck once the stock is spent and no line of moves sends another card from a reserve, the waste or a pile to a foundation, even if cards can still pass between the foundations and the empty piles.
Aces and Kings strategy tips
Moving a card from an up foundation to a down foundation, or the other way, changes what each one takes next. It is often the only way to make room for a card stuck in a reserve or on the waste.
The two reserves hold 26 cards and only their top cards play. Work them down steadily, because a card deep in a reserve can hold back a foundation for the rest of the game.
A card turned onto the waste with no foundation to take it covers every card beneath it. Make the moves you can before turning the stock, and empty a pile when it helps, since the stock refills it without burying anything on the waste.
Aces and Kings questions and answers
How do you play Aces and Kings solitaire?
Shuffle two decks together, deal two reserves of thirteen cards and four piles of one card, all face up, turn one card onto the waste and keep the other 73 as the stock. Play cards onto four foundations built up from the Aces and four built down from the Kings, regardless of suit, and turn the stock one card at a time, once through. You win when all 104 cards are on the foundations.
Who invented Aces and Kings?
Thomas Warfield invented Aces and Kings for the Pretty Good Solitaire collection.
Can you move cards between foundations in Aces and Kings?
Yes. The top card of any foundation can move to a foundation building the other way that takes it, one card at a time. Moving a card from an up foundation to a down foundation, or back, changes what each one takes next, which is often the only way to free a card stuck in a reserve or on the waste.
Can every Aces and Kings deal be won?
Not necessarily. Searching up to a million positions per deal, the game's solver proved 65% of the Aces and Kings deals it tried winnable, so at least that share can be won. With Winnable on, in the menu beside New deal, each board comes from a list of 500 proved deals. Hint asks the same solver for a winning line before it suggests a move.
Is there a daily Aces and Kings game?
Yes. Aces and Kings has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. Log in to play it.