Deauville Solitaire
How to play Deauville
Deauville is a two-deck solitaire game of the Forty Thieves family in which ten piles of four, three face down under one face up, are built down in alternating colours one card at a time.
Ten piles of four with three cards face down in each, built down in alternating colours, one card at a time.
The goal of Deauville
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 Deauville
Two standard decks are shuffled together, 104 cards in all. Forty are dealt into ten piles of four, three face down under one face up, and the other 64 form the stock.
Deauville rules
Piles build down in alternating colours, one rank at a time. Only one card moves at a time, the top card of a pile or of the waste. A face-down card turns face up once it is on top of its pile, and an empty pile takes any card.
Turn the stock onto the waste one card at a time, once through with no redeal. Only the top waste card is in play.
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. Drag it to choose yourself. With Autoplay off in Settings, only a drag moves a card.
How to win at Deauville
You win when all 104 cards are home. With the stock and waste empty, no card face down 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 rest of the stock brings up nothing that can.
Deauville strategy tips
Only one card of each pile starts face up, so thirty cards lie hidden and the first moves come mostly from the waste. Spend the early turns uncovering cards: a pile whose top card goes elsewhere shows a new card at once.
Deauville is Emperor without the way back. A card sent to a foundation stays there, so before you play a card home, check that no lower card of the other colour is waiting to be laid on it.
Unlike Rank and File, Deauville never moves a run as one. A pile you build in alternating colours has to be taken apart card by card, so build long only on piles with nothing face down under them.
With three cards face down in every pile, a King on top of a pile keeps three hidden cards out of reach until a pile is empty. Empty one early and move such a King into it.
Deauville questions and answers
How do you play Deauville solitaire?
Shuffle two decks together and deal ten piles of four, three cards face down under one face up, keeping the other 64 cards as the stock. Build the piles down in alternating colours, one card at a time, and go through the stock once, one card at a time. You win when all 104 cards are home.
Can you move more than one card at a time in Deauville?
No. A run built down in alternating colours does not move as one, as it does in Rank and File. To shift a Nine, Eight and Seven onto another Ten, the Seven and the Eight each need a place of their own while the Nine moves.
Is Deauville harder than Emperor?
A little, by the solver's count: it proved 40% of the Deauville deals it tried winnable against 43% of the Emperor deals. The only difference is that Emperor lets a foundation's top card come back to a pile, which can give a stuck card somewhere to go.
How many moves does it take to clear a Deauville pile?
At least four. Each pile hides three cards under one face-up card, and only one card moves at a time, so three moves bring its bottom card into view and a fourth empties it. Every card you build on the pile adds one more move to that count.
Which piles should you work on first in Deauville?
The ones whose face-up card can go somewhere at once. Moving it turns the top hidden card of the pile, and if that card can move too, the next one turns. A pile topped by a King, or by a card with nothing one rank higher of the other colour in view, waits until a pile is empty.
Can every Deauville deal be won?
Not necessarily. Searching up to a million positions per deal, the game's solver proved 40% of the Deauville deals it tried winnable, so at least that share can be won. Rank and File, dealt the same way but moving runs whole, proved 38%. 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 Deauville game?
Yes. Deauville has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. Log in to play it.