Napoleon at St Helena \u2014 also called Forty Thieves or Big Forty \u2014 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 \u2014 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.<\/p>\n\n\n
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 \u2014 eight Foundation piles total.<\/p>\n\n\n
You may move only ONE card at a time \u2014 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.<\/p>\n\n\n
Example: the 6 of Spades can only go on the 7 of Spades. NOT on the 7 of Clubs or the 7 of Hearts \u2014 same suit only.<\/p>\n\n\n
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.<\/p>\n\n\n
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 \u2014 there is no reshuffling. Once the stock is exhausted, play whatever you can until no more moves exist.<\/p>\n\n\n
Move all 104 cards to the eight Foundation piles. This is very rare \u2014 Napoleon at St Helena is won in only about 1 in 10 games even with perfect play.<\/p>\n\n\n