How to Play Forty Thieves
Learn the rules of Forty Thieves
Objective
Move all 104 cards (two decks) onto eight foundations, each built up from Ace to King in a single suit.
The Layout
- Ten tableau piles of four face-up cards each
- Eight foundations across the top — any Ace seeds an empty slot
- Stock at top right; draws one card at a time. No recycle — you only get one pass.
Moving Cards
- Only the top card of a tableau pile can be moved
- Tableau builds descending in the same suit
- Any single card can fill an empty tableau column
- Send Aces and matching ranks to the foundations whenever possible
Tips & Strategy
- Forty Thieves is famously hard — play conservatively
- Hold the stock as long as you can; once it is empty there is no recovery
- Empty columns are powerful temporary storage — guard them
- Use Undo freely to explore branches