40 Thieves can be considered one of Solitaire's hard game modes. Like many versions of the game, your goal is to move cards from the tableau to the eight foundation piles. This has to be done in sequence from Aces to Kings, and you have to stick to the same suit for each foundation. 40 Thieves Solitaire - play this challenging card game for free Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to win this difficult card game using no redeals from the stock (though you can configure unlimited redeals in the game preferences).
Summary
Forty Thieves (a.k.a '40 Thieves') is a challenging game of skill that has become quite popular in recent years. The game is most likely of French origin. In times past it has been known by a variety of names: Big Forty, Napoleon at Saint Helena, Roosevelt at San Juan, and Le Cadran.
Legend has it, Napoleon was an avid card and game player and supposedly played this game while exiled on the barren wind-swept island of Saint Helena after losing the battle of Waterloo to the British in 1815. While many of those facts are true, there is some controversy as to whether Napoleon was playing this particular game, or for that matter any kind of solitaire game at all. In David Parlett's History of Patience, the argument is made that the facts may have been misinterpreted. He certainly knows a thing or two about solitaire.
Forty Thieves will require your concentration and a considerable amount of attention to play it well. Although only 5% of Solitaire Network plays result in a win, we think that with careful forethought and close attention to what cards have already been seen, and yet to be seen, that the win rate would be somewhere between 15 and 20%.
Forty Thieves gets its name from the fact that there are 40 cards dealt to the layout at the start of the game - each card being a thief that wants to prevent you from winning - hence there are 40 thieves that are out to stop you. Although there are many variations of Forty Thieves, Solitaire Network is happy to provide this most common version of the game. But we are looking into providing other variations since it is so popular.
Forty Thieves Rules
Goal
Move all cards to the eight Foundation piles, starting from the Aces and continuing up to the Kings in EACH suit.
The Deal
Using two decks, 40 cards are dealt face up to the ten Columns with each column receiving 4 cards. The remaining cards form the Stock.
Foundations
Starting with an Ace and continuing up to the Kings, each Foundation is built UP and in the SAME SUIT.
Columns
Columns are built DOWN and in the SAME SUIT. For example, within the columns, the only card that can be played onto a 7 of Diamonds would be a 6 of Diamonds.
The exposed card in any Column is available for play to another Column or to a Foundation pile.
Empty Columns may be filled with any card.
Stock and Discard Pile
Cards from the Stock are flipped one at a time to the Discard Pile. The top card of the Discard Pile may be played to a Column or to a Foundation. There are no redeals.
Introduction to 40 Thieves
Forty Thieves Solitaire, also spelled 40 Thieves Solitaire, is a popular card game played around the world with two 52-card decks of standard playing cards. It's also known as Big Forty, Napoleon St Helena, Roosevelt at San Juan, and Le Cadran.
The Forty in the name comes from the number of cards dealt into the Tableau at the beginning of every game.
Forty Thieves Solitaire is a difficult game to win, requiring good problem-solving skills to master.
It's also the basis for several variants, most of which make the game easier to win, including Josephine Solitaire.
Layout
The game screen is made up of 4 different areas.
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The Tableau is located in the center of the screen. It consists of 10 unmarked columns. Each column either contains a vertically overlapped pile of one or more face-up cards or is empty, depending on the current state of the game. This is where most of the action takes place during gameplay.
The Foundations are located above the Tableau. Horizontally, it consists of 8 rectangles. Each rectangle is a foundation where a suit can be built from the Ace to the King.
In the upper-left corner is the Stock. This is where the reserve cards are held that will be put into play as the game progresses. At the start of the game, it contains a squared pile of face-down cards. Directly to the right of the Stock is the Waste. When a new game begins, this area is empty.
The Stock and Waste work together in order to put reserve cards into play. Whenever the player clicks on the non-empty Stock, one card from it is automatically moved face-up into the Waste. It's not unusual to have many cards piling up in the Waste. The Waste pile is always squared, and only the top card is visible and playable. When a card is played from the Waste, the card underneath it, if there is one, becomes the new playable card.
Goal
The goal of Forty Thieves Solitaire is to build all 8 ordered suits from the Ace to the King in the Foundations.
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How to Play Forty Thieves
Forty Thieves Solitaire is played with two decks of standard playing cards, for a total of 104 cards.
When the game starts, a pile of 4 face-up cards is dealt into each of the 10 columns in the Tableau. The remaining 64 cards are sent to the Stock.
40 Thieves Solitaire Aarp
An important rule of the game is that the player is only allowed to ever move one card at a time. However, in the variant called Josephine Solitaire, the player is allowed to move descending suited runs of any length within the Tableau. Other than that, the two games are identical.
No card can ever be moved to the Waste other than from the Stock. At the player's discretion, this can be done at any point during the game.
A card may be moved to the bottom of a Tableau pile, either from the Waste, a foundation, or the bottom of another Tableau pile. The target card must always be both next in rank to the card being moved and of the same suit. When a column is vacant, any card from the same sources may be moved into it.
The player is allowed to move a card to a foundation, either from the bottom of a Tableau pile or from the Waste. However, the card must fit. If the card is an Ace, it begins a new suit build, and if it's next in rank for its suit, it extends a build.