Roosevelt Solitaire
How to play Roosevelt
Roosevelt is a two-deck solitaire game of the Forty Thieves family in which only seven face-up piles of four are built down in alternating colours, leaving 76 cards in the stock for a single pass.
Seven piles of four built down in alternating colours, one card at a time, with one pass through the stock.
The goal of Roosevelt
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 Roosevelt
Two standard decks are shuffled together, 104 cards in all. Twenty-eight are dealt face up into seven piles of four, and the other 76 form the stock.
Roosevelt 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 Roosevelt
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.
Roosevelt strategy tips
Seven piles give only seven top cards to build on while 76 cards come off the stock. Most waste cards will find no place. Play the ones that do at once, and clear a pile whenever you can, since an empty pile is the only spot for a card that fits nowhere else.
A King has nowhere to go but an empty pile or its foundation. A King turned from the stock with no empty pile ready stays on the waste under every card turned after it, so try to have a pile open before the Kings come.
Send every Ace and Two from the stock straight home. With so few piles, the foundations are the one place that always has room for the next card of a suit.
Roosevelt questions and answers
How do you play Roosevelt solitaire?
Shuffle two decks together, deal seven piles of four cards face up and keep the other 76 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.
Is Roosevelt the same as Roosevelt at San Juan?
No. Roosevelt at San Juan is another name for Forty Thieves, which deals ten piles built down in suit. Roosevelt deals seven piles of four and builds them down in alternating colours.
What is the difference between Roosevelt and Forty Thieves?
Roosevelt deals seven piles of four instead of ten, so 76 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.
Why has no Roosevelt deal been proved winnable?
The search runs out of positions before it finds a win. With seven piles and 76 cards in the stock, most waste cards have nowhere to go, and the solver proved no deal at any budget it was given, up to three million positions. That does not mean every deal is lost, only that none has been shown to be won.
Can every Roosevelt deal be won?
The solver cannot tell. Searching up to a million positions per deal, it proved none of the 82 Roosevelt deals it tried winnable, and none at any budget it was given, so there is no list of winnable deals and no Winnable switch. Every deal is an ordinary shuffle. The Hint button still searches for a winning line, and suggests the move it ranks best when it finds none.
Is there a daily Roosevelt game?
Yes. Roosevelt has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day. Log in to play it.