Forty Thieves Solitaire, also written 40 Thieves, uses two standard decks and ten columns of four face-up cards. Move all 104 cards to eight suit foundations, each running from Ace to King. On the tableau, build downward in the same suit and move only one card at a time. There is one pass through the stock and no redeal.
Those restrictions make an empty column a valuable resource. You can see all forty starting tableau cards, but seeing a card does not mean you can reach it. Open Forty Thieves Solitaire to follow how the layout, duplicate cards, and stock order affect that access.
Forty Thieves rules at a glance
| Feature | Rule on Cards4.net |
|---|---|
| Decks | Two standard decks, 104 cards, no jokers |
| Tableau | Ten columns of four face-up cards |
| Stock | Remaining 64 cards; draw one at a time |
| Tableau building | Descending by one rank in the same suit |
| Movable cards | Exposed end card of a column or top waste card |
| Group moves | Not allowed, even for an ordered sequence |
| Empty column | Any single available card |
| Foundations | Eight A-to-K piles, two per suit |
| Redeal | None |
The tableau is the ten-column playing area. The stock holds undrawn cards, and the waste holds cards drawn from it. A foundation is one of the eight ascending suit piles where cards finish the game.
Set up and build the foundations
Deal four face-up cards into each of ten columns. The remaining 64 form the stock, and the waste starts empty. Only the exposed end card of each column is available, even though you can see the ranks behind it.
Each foundation starts with an Ace, followed by 2 through King of the same suit. Because you are using two decks, there are two copies of every card and two foundations for each suit. Either copy can continue a matching foundation; it does not have to stay with cards from its original physical deck.
Foundations receive single cards from the tableau or waste. On Cards4.net, cards cannot make ordinary moves back out of a foundation. Completing all eight foundations wins the game, which requires every one of the 104 cards.
Legal moves and the one-pass stock
A tableau card must land on a card exactly one rank higher in the same suit. For example, 6♣ may go onto 7♣, but not 7♠ or 7♥. Alternating colors, as in Klondike, are not enough. Any available single card can go into an empty column.
- Check the exposed column cards for foundation moves and useful tableau moves.
- Move one card at a time, checking what each move uncovers.
- When you choose to draw, turn one stock card onto the waste.
- Play the top waste card to a legal tableau position or foundation, or draw again.
- Continue after the stock is empty while legal moves remain; the waste cannot be recycled.
Drawing covers the previous waste card. Removing cards above it can make it available again, so the waste is not a set of permanently discarded cards. However, you cannot reach directly into it or start a second pass through the deck.
A worked example: moving a sequence with spare space
Suppose a column ends with 7♣, 6♣, with 6♣ exposed. Another column ends in 8♣. You cannot move the two-card sequence directly onto 8♣, even though the suits and ranks fit.
With an empty column, you can achieve the move in three legal steps: move 6♣ into the empty column, move the newly exposed 7♣ onto 8♣, then move 6♣ back onto 7♣. The empty column is free again afterward.
Without temporary space or another legal destination for 6♣, that rearrangement is unavailable. Longer sequences need more planning because you must place every intervening card somewhere legally. Cards4.net requires the individual moves; it does not let you drag an entire sequence as a shortcut.
Forty Thieves Solitaire strategy
Look for a column you can realistically empty, rather than scattering moves across all ten. A short column with compatible destinations may provide working room sooner than one blocked by a King. Once you create a space, decide what it will let you uncover before filling it with a stock card.
Give low cards a route to the foundations. A visible Ace buried under three cards does nothing until those cards move. Work backward from that Ace: identify the exposed blocker, its legal destination, and any space needed to reach the next blocker. The same method helps release a 2 that is holding up an entire suit foundation.
Use duplicate cards thoughtfully. If both copies of 6♣ are available, one in the waste and one covering an Ace in the tableau, moving the tableau copy onto 7♣ opens the Ace. Moving the waste copy instead uses that same destination without freeing the buried card. Check both the immediate stock opportunity and the obstruction on the table.
Before building a long same-suit run, ask how you will access the cards behind it. A tidy sequence is not a movable unit here. If its leading card covers an important low card, you may need several spare positions to dismantle it later.
Review the exposed board before every draw. Stock cards provide new options, but each draw can also cover a useful waste card, and there is no redeal. Undo is useful for comparing a specific choice, especially when you filled your last empty column too early.
Sequence shortcuts in other versions
BVS Forty Thieves rules describe a sequence-moving shortcut using enough empty columns. Cards4.net uses individual card moves. Check move shortcuts and redeals before transferring advice from another app.
FAQ
Why is the game called Forty Thieves?
The name corresponds to the forty cards dealt to the tableau: ten columns of four. The full game uses 104 cards, not forty.
Can you move a complete sequence?
Not in one move on Cards4.net. Move its cards individually using empty columns or other legal destinations as temporary space.
What can fill an empty column?
Any single exposed tableau card or the top waste card. It does not have to be a King, but an entire group cannot move there together.
Can you redeal when the stock is empty?
No. You can continue playing available tableau and waste cards, but you cannot turn the waste back into the stock.
Make your first empty column count
In your next Forty Thieves game, identify a route to one empty column before drawing heavily from the stock. That space lets you rearrange cards the one-card rule would otherwise trap. To explore the opposite approach, read the Yukon guide, where unordered groups can travel together.