Forty Thieves Solitaire
How to play Forty Thieves
Forty Thieves is a two-deck solitaire game in which ten piles of four cards, dealt face up, are built down in suit one card at a time, with a single pass through the stock.
Two decks dealt face up into ten piles of four, built down in suit one card at a time, with one pass through the stock.
The goal of Forty Thieves
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 Thieves
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 Thieves 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 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 Forty Thieves
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 rest of the stock brings up nothing that can.
Forty Thieves strategy tips
Empty piles matter most. Only one card moves at a time, so an empty pile is often the only place to park a card while you reach the card under it.
The stock goes through only once, and a waste card you cannot place is covered by the next card you turn. Before you turn, look for a move on the table that makes room for it.
Free the Aces and Twos early. Every card above them has to move on its own, so a low card near the bottom of a pile can take many moves to reach.
Every card of the deal is face up, so the whole table can be planned from the first move. Only the order of the 64 stock cards is unknown, and you meet each of them once.
Forty Thieves questions and answers
How do you play Forty Thieves 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 once, one card at a time. You win when all 104 cards are home.
What are the other names for Forty Thieves?
Forty Thieves is also known as Napoleon at St Helena, Big Forty and Roosevelt at San Juan. All of them are the same game: two decks, ten piles of four built down in suit and one pass through the stock.
Why are there eight foundations in Forty Thieves?
The game is played with two decks, so each suit has two cards of every rank. Each suit has two foundations, and both build up from the Ace to the King.
Can you go through the stock more than once in Forty Thieves?
No. The stock is turned one card at a time and goes through once. When it is empty, the top waste card can still be played, but the waste is never turned back into a stock.
How hard is Forty Thieves to win?
Hard. Even the game's solver, searching a million positions on each shuffle, proved only 29% of the deals it tried winnable. Only one card moves at a time and the stock goes through once, so a blocked pile is hard to undo.
Why do so many Forty Thieves games get stuck?
Building down in suit leaves a card just two places on the table, and only one card moves at a time. A Nine of clubs under a Four of hearts is reached only once that Four goes onto a Five of hearts, a foundation or an empty pile. With no redeal, a pile locked like that early often stays locked.
Can every Forty Thieves deal be won?
No. The game's solver has proved some Forty Thieves deals lost, and searching up to a million positions per deal it proved 29% of the deals it tried winnable, so at least that share can be won. Of its relatives, only Forty Pirates, Maria, Lower 48, Roosevelt, Double Rail and Busy Aces proved fewer. 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 Thieves game?
Yes. Forty Thieves has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. Log in to play it.