Blockade Solitaire
How to play Blockade
Blockade is a two-deck solitaire game of the Forty Thieves family in which twelve single cards are built down in suit, runs in one suit move together, and the stock deals a card onto every pile instead of onto a waste.
Twelve piles of one card built down in suit, where runs in one suit move together and the stock deals a card onto every pile.
The goal of Blockade
Move all 104 cards onto the eight foundations, two for each suit, each built up from the Ace to the King.
How to set up Blockade
Two standard decks are shuffled together, 104 cards in all. Twelve cards are dealt face up, one to each of twelve piles, and the other 92 form the stock.
Blockade rules
Piles build down in suit, one rank at a time. Any card in a pile moves together with every card above it, as long as they run down in one suit.
When a pile is emptied, the next card of the stock fills it straight away. Once the stock is empty, any card or run may fill an empty pile.
There is no waste. Click the stock to deal one card face up onto every pile, the first pile first, until the stock runs out. It is never dealt again.
A card on a foundation never comes back into play.
Click a card to send it to its foundation, else onto the first pile it builds on, else into an empty pile; a card clicked in a pile takes the cards above it along. Drag a card or a run to choose yourself. With Autoplay off in Settings, only a drag moves a card.
How to win at Blockade
You win when all 104 cards are home. With the stock empty and every pile in order, Auto complete, on by default in Settings, plays the rest for you. The game is stuck when no card can move and the stock is empty.
Blockade strategy tips
Each deal lays a card on every pile and can bury the card you meant to move next. Make every move you want before you deal.
An emptied pile takes the next card of the stock at once, so while the stock lasts, emptying a pile brings a new card into play without covering any other.
Once the stock is spent, an empty pile takes any card or run. Save it for the run that frees the most cards beneath it.
Blockade questions and answers
How do you play Blockade solitaire?
Shuffle two decks together, deal twelve cards face up, one to each pile, and keep the other 92 cards as the stock. Build the piles down in suit and move runs in one suit as one. Each click on the stock deals a card onto every pile, and an emptied pile is filled from the stock while it lasts. You win when all 104 cards are home.
What is the difference between Blockade and Forty Thieves?
Blockade deals twelve piles of one card and has no waste: the stock deals a card onto every pile at once, and an emptied pile is filled from the stock straight away. A run in one suit moves as one. Like Forty Thieves, it uses two decks, builds down in suit and never goes through the stock again.
What does the stock do in Blockade?
Each click deals one card face up onto every pile, the first pile first, until the stock runs out. There is no waste and no redeal, and while the stock has cards it also fills any pile that is emptied.
Can every Blockade deal be won?
Not necessarily, though most can. Searching up to a million positions per deal, the game's solver proved 98% of the Blockade deals it tried winnable. 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 Blockade game?
Yes. Blockade has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. Log in to play it.