What Is Napoleon at St Helena?
Napoleon at St Helena — also called Forty Thieves or Big Forty — is a two-deck solitaire game of legendary difficulty. Legend says the exiled Napoleon Bonaparte played it during his years on St. Helena island. Unlike Klondike, all 104 cards are dealt face-up from the start — nothing is hidden. The difficulty comes from the tight restrictions: you can only move one card at a time, tableau builds must be the same suit, and you get only one pass through the stock pile. Most deals cannot be won.
What You Need
- Two standard 52-card decks shuffled together — 104 cards total
- One player
- A large flat surface
Setting Up the Game
- Deal 40 cards face-up into 10 tableau columns with 4 cards each. Deal left to right, one card per column per row, until all 40 are placed. All cards are face-up and visible.
- The remaining 64 cards form the stock pile face-down.
- Leave eight spaces for Foundation piles — one for each of the eight suits (four suits times two decks).
How to Play — Step by Step
Foundation Piles
When an Ace becomes available, move it to a Foundation pile. Each Foundation starts with an Ace and builds upward in the SAME SUIT: Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King. Since there are two decks, you need to build two complete piles per suit — eight Foundation piles total.
Moving Cards on the Tableau
You may move only ONE card at a time — the bottom card of any column (the one with nothing on top of it). To move a card onto another column, the destination card must be ONE RANK HIGHER and the SAME SUIT.
Example: the 6 of Spades can only go on the 7 of Spades. NOT on the 7 of Clubs or the 7 of Hearts — same suit only.
Empty Columns
When all cards in a column are moved away, that column is empty. Any single card from your hand or the waste pile may be placed into an empty column.
The Stock Pile
When you cannot make any moves in the tableau, flip one card at a time from the stock pile to the waste pile. The top card of the waste pile is always available to play onto the tableau or Foundation. You get only ONE pass through the stock — there is no reshuffling. Once the stock is exhausted, play whatever you can until no more moves exist.
Winning
Move all 104 cards to the eight Foundation piles. This is very rare — Napoleon at St Helena is won in only about 1 in 10 games even with perfect play.
Tips for New Players
- Plan several moves ahead before committing — the same-suit restriction means most cards have very limited destinations, and blocking yourself is easy.
- Empty columns are precious — use them to temporarily hold cards that block important moves.
- Prioritize uncovering Aces buried in the tableau — every Ace stuck in the middle of a column is a Foundation pile that cannot grow.