Forty Thieves is a two-deck patience game with a reputation: every card is visible from the first second and you will still lose most of the time. Forty cards are dealt into ten columns of four, the remaining sixty-four sit in the stock, and eight foundations wait to be built up in suit from Ace to King. The tableau builds down in suit too, you may move only one card at a time, and you get a single pass through the stock with no redeal. That combination is what makes it hard — not hidden cards, but a shortage of legal moves. Twelve levels ease you in by letting sequences travel together and granting extra passes, then hand you the standard game. No download, no account.
How to play Forty Thieves Solitaire
- Ten columns of four cards are dealt face-up from two shuffled decks. The other sixty-four cards form the stock, and eight foundation piles start empty.
- Build the foundations up in suit from Ace to King. There are eight of them because there are two decks, so each suit gets two piles.
- Build the tableau down in suit — the 9♦ goes onto the 10♦. Colour does not matter here; the suits must match exactly.
- Tap the stock to turn one card at a time onto the waste pile. Only the top waste card is in play, and under standard rules you get a single pass with no redeal.
- Any card may be moved into an empty column, which makes an empty column the most valuable thing on the board.
- Under standard rules you move one card at a time. The first five levels let you carry a descending suit run as a unit instead — the documented Josephine variant — while you learn the shape of the game.
- Get all 104 cards onto the foundations to win the level. The Auto button sends up everything that can safely go.
Tips
- Empty a column early if you possibly can. With no free cells and one-card movement, a gap is the only real workspace you get, and players who win usually clear one in the first thirty moves.
- Do not fill a gap with a card you cannot move again. Parking a King there is often worse than leaving the space open — a King can only ever leave to a foundation, which is thirteen cards away.
- Resist sending everything to the foundations. A 5♠ up early is a 5♠ you cannot use to receive the 4♠, and Forty Thieves punishes that more than most patience games.
- Watch for the second deck. Two Aces of the same suit means two piles of that suit, and a card that looks unplayable is often waiting on the other one.
- Plan before you touch the stock. Once a card goes to the waste and gets buried, standard rules give you no way back to it.
- If the board is genuinely dead the game says so — a "No moves left" banner appears rather than leaving you hunting.
FAQ
Is Forty Thieves Solitaire free to play?
Yes. Forty Thieves is completely free to play online with no download, no account, and no in-game purchases.
Does Forty Thieves work on mobile?
Yes. Cards respond to tap as well as mouse click — tap a card, then tap where it goes — so it plays the same on phones, tablets and desktop. The ten-column layout scales down to fit a phone screen in portrait.
Why is Forty Thieves so hard?
Because the tableau builds down in suit rather than by alternating colour, which cuts your legal destinations to roughly a quarter, and because you may move only one card at a time with no free cells to stage through. Add a single pass through the stock and you get a game that is fully visible and still unwinnable more often than not — published estimates put the odds around one in ten.
What is Forty Thieves also called?
Napoleon at St Helena, and sometimes Big Forty or Roosevelt at San Juan. The name refers to the forty cards dealt to the tableau at the start. It is the parent game of a large family of two-deck patiences, including Streets, which is the same deal built by alternating colour.
Can you move more than one card at a time in Forty Thieves?
Not in the standard game — only the top card of a column may move. This version relaxes that on the first five levels, letting a descending suit run travel as a unit, which is the documented Josephine variant of the same deal. From level 6 onward it is strictly one card at a time.
How many levels does Forty Thieves have?
Twelve. The deal never changes — ten columns of four, all face-up — because that layout is the game. What eases on the early levels is how many cards can travel together and how many extra passes you get through the stock. Level 6 onward is the standard game: one card at a time, one pass, no redeal.