Maria Solitaire
How to play Maria
Maria is a two-deck solitaire game of the Forty Thieves family in which nine face-up piles of four are built down in alternating colours, one card at a time, with a single pass through a stock of 68 cards.
Nine piles of four built down in alternating colours, one card at a time, with one pass through the stock.
The goal of Maria
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 Maria
Two standard decks are shuffled together, 104 cards in all. Thirty-six are dealt face up into nine piles of four, and the other 68 form the stock.
Maria 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, 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 Maria
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.
Maria strategy tips
Maria is Streets with one pile fewer: nine piles of four, and 68 cards in the stock instead of 64. With one top card fewer to build on, more waste cards find no place, so make room on the table before you turn rather than after.
A red Six may go on any of four black Sevens. In Maria, prefer the Seven on the pile with the fewest cards, so that the pile stays short enough to clear.
Look for a pile you can clear in the first few moves. Nine piles of four leave few places to park a card, and an empty pile is the only spot that takes any card, a King included.
The 68-card stock goes through once. A waste card covered by the next turn comes back into play only when every card turned after it has been played, so expect to reach few of them again.
A Six of hearts and a Six of diamonds fit the same four black Sevens, so for building it does not matter which red Six you hold. It matters for the foundations, which take only their own suit: keep on the table the red Six whose suit is further from wanting it.
Maria questions and answers
How do you play Maria solitaire?
Shuffle two decks together, deal nine piles of four cards face up and keep the other 68 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.
What is the difference between Maria and Forty Thieves?
Maria deals nine piles of four instead of ten, so 68 cards go to the stock rather than 64, and its piles build down in alternating colours rather than in suit. Both move one card at a time and go through the stock once.
What are the other names for Maria?
Maria is also known as Thirty-Six Card Tableau. Both names are for the same game: nine piles of four built down in alternating colours and one pass through the stock.
Is Maria harder than Streets?
By the solver's count, yes: it proved 25% of the Maria deals it tried winnable and 42% of the Streets deals. The rules are the same, but Maria deals nine piles of four instead of ten, so it has one pile fewer to build on and four more cards in the stock.
What should you do with a King in Maria?
A King moves only to an empty pile or to its foundation, so a King dealt on top of one of the nine piles seals the three cards under it. Spend the first pile you empty on such a King when the cards beneath it are ones you need soon, and leave a King that covers nothing useful where it is.
Can every Maria deal be won?
Not necessarily. Searching up to a million positions per deal, the game's solver proved 25% of the Maria deals it tried winnable, so at least that share can be won. 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 Maria game?
Yes. Maria has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. Log in to play it.