Citadel Solitaire
How to play Citadel
Citadel is a one-deck solitaire game that starts with the Aces on the foundations and sends each dealt card that fits a foundation straight there, leaving the rest face up in eight rows built down regardless of suit.
Beleaguered Castle where a card that fits its foundation as it is dealt goes straight there.
The goal of Citadel
Build the four foundations from the Aces already on them up to the Kings, each in its own suit.
How to set up Citadel
The four Aces start on the foundations. The other 48 cards are dealt face up one round at a time across eight rows, shown here as columns. Whenever a card fits its foundation as it is dealt, it goes there instead, so some rows end up shorter than six cards. There are no free cells and no stock.
Citadel rules
Once the deal is done, play follows Beleaguered Castle. Rows build down one rank at a time whatever the suit, 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 Citadel
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.
Citadel strategy tips
Look at the foundations before your first move: the deal may already have sent some cards up, and the rows that came out short are the quickest to empty.
The deal checks each card against the foundations as it lands. A Two dealt early goes up, and the Three of that suit may join it later in the deal, but a Three dealt before its Two stays in its row.
With no free cells, an empty row is the one place for a card that fits nowhere else, and each one doubles the run you can move.
Suit does not matter when you build on a row, so it is easy to bury the next card a foundation needs. Check what each foundation wants before you build over it.
Citadel questions and answers
How do you play Citadel solitaire?
Citadel starts with the Aces on the foundations and deals the rest into eight rows, sending any card that fits a foundation straight up as it is dealt. Then move the top cards of the rows, building down regardless of suit, until every foundation reaches its King.
What is the difference between Citadel and Beleaguered Castle?
Only the deal. In Beleaguered Castle every row gets six cards. In Citadel a card that fits its foundation as it is dealt goes there instead of onto its row, so the game starts with some cards already home and some rows short. After the deal the rules are the same.
Can every Citadel deal be won?
Most can. Because the deal already sends cards home, the solver proves more Citadel deals than those of any of its relatives: of 100 shuffled deals, 85 winnable within its dealing search and 90 within the Hint button's search, with 6 and 8 proved lost. Beleaguered Castle, the same game without that deal, came out at 53 and 65. With Winnable on in the menu beside New deal, a proved board took at most four shuffles in testing.
Is there a daily Citadel game?
Yes. Citadel 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.