Beleaguered Castle Solitaire
How to play Beleaguered Castle
Beleaguered Castle is a one-deck solitaire game that starts with the four Aces on the foundations and the other 48 cards face up in eight rows, built down regardless of suit, with no free cells.
The Aces start on the foundations, and eight rows build down in any suit.
The goal of Beleaguered Castle
Build the four foundations from the Aces already on them up to the Kings, each in its own suit.
How to set up Beleaguered Castle
The four Aces start on the foundations. The other 48 cards are dealt face up into eight rows of six, shown here as columns. There are no free cells and no stock.
Beleaguered Castle rules
Rows build down one rank at a time regardless of suit, so any Seven can go on any Eight. The top card of a row can move onto its foundation, onto a row where it builds, or into an empty row, and any card can fill an empty row.
A run already built in order moves as one move if it is no longer than one card doubled for each empty row. When it moves into an empty row, that row does not count. A card on a foundation never comes back into play.
Click a card to play it: to its foundation if it fits, otherwise onto a row, and only then into an empty row. Drag a card or a run to choose where it goes yourself. With Autoplay off in Settings, only a drag moves a card.
How to win at Beleaguered Castle
You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. Once every row is in descending order, Auto complete, on by default in Settings, moves the remaining cards up for you. The game is stuck when no card has a legal move left.
Beleaguered Castle strategy tips
An empty row is the only spare space in the game, so emptying one is often worth more than a build. Aim for the row with the fewest cards that have nowhere else to go.
Suit does not matter when you build on a row, but it does on the foundations. Try not to bury the next card a foundation needs under a long build.
The Aces are already home, so the Twos are the first cards you need. Find them before your first move.
With two empty rows, a run of four moves as one onto another row, but only a run of two into one of the empty rows, since that row does not count.
Beleaguered Castle questions and answers
How do you play Beleaguered Castle solitaire?
The Aces start on the foundations and the rest of the deck is dealt into eight rows. Move the top cards of the rows, building down regardless of suit, and play each card up to its foundation by suit until every King is home. With no free cells, empty rows are the only spare space.
What is the difference between Beleaguered Castle, Streets and Alleys and Citadel?
They are played by the same rules and differ only in the deal. Beleaguered Castle starts with the Aces on the foundations and six cards in each row. Streets and Alleys shuffles the Aces into the deal, so the rows hold seven or six cards. Citadel starts like Beleaguered Castle, but any card that fits its foundation as it is dealt goes straight there.
Can every Beleaguered Castle deal be won?
No. Starting the Aces at home does not save every deal. Of 100 shuffled Beleaguered Castle deals, the solver proved 53 winnable and 15 lost within the search it runs while dealing, and 65 winnable and 21 lost given the Hint button's ten times larger search. At least one deal in five cannot be won however it is played. Switch on Winnable in the menu beside New deal and the lost and unsettled ones are skipped: each board is reshuffled until a win is proved, which took two shuffles on a median deal in testing and sixteen at most.
Is there a daily Beleaguered Castle game?
Yes. Beleaguered Castle has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. You need to be logged in to play it.