Emperor Solitaire
How to play Emperor
Emperor 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, and a foundation's top card may come back into play.
Ten piles of four with three cards face down in each, built down in alternating colours, where a foundation's top card may come back into play.
The goal of Emperor
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 Emperor
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.
Emperor 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.
The top card of a foundation may be moved back, one card at a time, onto a pile whose top card is one rank higher and of the other colour, or into an empty pile.
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.
Click the top card of a foundation to move it back onto the first pile it builds on, or into an empty pile if no pile takes it. Drag it to choose the pile yourself.
How to win at Emperor
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. Once the stock and waste are spent, the game is stuck when no line of moves sends another card home.
Emperor strategy tips
Turn face-down cards over whenever you can. Until a card is face up you cannot plan for it, and a low card hidden in a pile can hold up a whole foundation.
Moving a foundation's top card back down can give a lower card of the other colour somewhere to land. Use it when a card you need to move has nowhere else to go, and send both cards home later.
Bringing a card back is a move like any other and does not have to pay off at once. Take a red Five back to hold a black Four that is in your way, then send both home when their foundations are ready.
Thirty cards start face down, three under each pile's one face-up card. A card brought back from a foundation can give a stuck card a place to go and so turn one of them over.
Emperor questions and answers
How do you play Emperor 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. The top card of a foundation may come back down to a pile. You win when all 104 cards are home.
Can you move cards back off the foundations in Emperor?
Yes. The top card of a foundation may be moved back, one card at a time, onto a pile whose top card is one rank higher and of the other colour, or into an empty pile. This is known as worrying back.
What is the difference between Emperor and Deauville?
Only one rule. In Emperor the top card of a foundation may be moved back onto a pile, and in Deauville a card on a foundation never comes back into play. The deal, the building and the single pass through the stock are the same.
Can a foundation card move to the other foundation of its suit in Emperor?
No. A card taken back off a foundation goes only to the table, onto a pile it builds on or into an empty pile, never straight onto the second foundation of its suit.
Can every Emperor deal be won?
Not necessarily. Searching up to a million positions per deal, the game's solver proved 43% of the Emperor deals it tried winnable, so at least that share can be won. Deauville, the same game without cards coming back off the foundations, proved 40%. 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 Emperor game?
Yes. Emperor has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. Log in to play it.