Forty Pirates Solitaire
How to play Forty Pirates
Forty Pirates is a two-deck solitaire game of the Forty Thieves family in which ten face-up piles of four are built down in suit, and the stock is turned three cards at a time with two redeals.
Forty Thieves with the stock turned three cards at a time and two redeals.
The goal of Forty Pirates
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 Forty Pirates
Two standard decks are shuffled together, 104 cards in all. Forty are dealt face up into ten piles of four, and the other 64 form the stock.
Forty Pirates rules
Piles build down in suit, one rank at a time. Only one card moves at a time, the top card of a pile or of the waste, and an empty pile takes any card.
Turn the stock onto the waste three cards at a time. Only the top waste card is in play. When the stock runs out, the waste may be turned back over twice, for three passes in all.
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 Forty Pirates
You win when all 104 cards are home. With the stock and waste 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 passes you have left bring up nothing that can.
Forty Pirates strategy tips
Each turn lays three cards on the waste and only the top one is in play. A card in the middle of a turn is reached only by playing the card above it first, so the card you need can stay out of reach pass after pass if nothing changes.
Playing even one waste card changes how the rest of the stock falls into threes on the next pass, because the waste is turned back over as it lies. A card that was stuck in the middle of a turn may then come up on top.
An empty pile takes any card, so it can lift an unwanted card off the waste and bring the card under it into play. When the top waste card fits nowhere else, that is the only way to reach the card under it.
Count your passes. On the first two, a card stuck in the middle of a group of three will come round again; on the third nothing does, so before the last redeal spend your empty piles and waste plays on the cards you still need.
Forty Pirates questions and answers
How do you play Forty Pirates solitaire?
Shuffle two decks together, deal ten piles of four cards face up and keep the other 64 cards as the stock. Build the piles down in suit, one card at a time, and go through the stock three times, three cards at a time. You win when all 104 cards are home.
What is the difference between Forty Pirates and Forty Thieves?
Forty Pirates deals the same ten piles of four and builds them down in suit, one card at a time. Its stock is turned three cards at a time instead of one, and you may turn the waste back over twice, so you go through the stock three times.
How many times can you go through the stock in Forty Pirates?
Three times. The stock is turned three cards at a time, and when it runs out you may turn the waste back over to make a new stock twice.
Which stock cards can you reach in Forty Pirates?
At first, only every third one. Turned three at a time, the 64 cards make 21 turns of three and a last turn of one, so 22 of them land on top of the waste. Each card you play from the waste uncovers the one under it and shifts every later card into a new group of three on the next pass.
Why is Forty Pirates harder than Forty Buccaneers?
By the solver's count it is: 22% of the Forty Pirates deals it tried proved winnable against 39% of the Forty Buccaneers deals. The extra pass does not make up for turning three cards at a time, which keeps two cards of every three out of reach until the one above them is played.
Can every Forty Pirates deal be won?
Not necessarily. Searching up to a million positions per deal, the game's solver proved 22% of the Forty Pirates deals it tried winnable, so at least that share can be won. That is fewer than plain Forty Thieves proved, though it turns one card at a time and never redeals. 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 Forty Pirates game?
Yes. Forty Pirates has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. Log in to play it.