Beleaguered Castle hands you a head start and then makes you earn the rest. The four Aces are already on the foundations before the first move, every other card is face up, and there is no stock. After that you have eight rows of cards, single-card moves and nothing else. No free cells, no reserve. It is one of the purest planning games in solitaire, and winning a hard deal feels like solving a good crossword.
Play it here free in your browser, on a computer or a phone, with no download and no sign-up. You get unlimited undo, hints, a timer, a move counter and saved statistics.
How to Play Beleaguered Castle
Setup. The four Aces are taken out and placed as the foundations. The other 48 cards are dealt face up into eight rows of six. Traditionally the rows lie sideways, four on each side of the Aces, like the walls of a castle. Here the Aces sit on top and the eight rows stand upright below them, so the game fits a phone screen. The card at the bottom end of each row is the free one.
Goal. Build each foundation up in its suit from the Ace to the King. All 52 cards on the foundations wins the game.
Moves.
- Only the outer card of a row can move, and only one card at a time.
- On the rows, build down by one rank regardless of suit or color. A 5 of any suit goes on any 6.
- Any card can be moved into an empty row.
- Foundations build up in suit. Cards on the foundations stay there.
- Cards go up on their own when it is safe: 2s right away, and higher cards once every card one rank lower is on the foundations. You can always send a card up yourself.
Controls. Drag a card, or tap it to send it to the best legal spot. If you turn tap-to-move off in Settings, a double-tap sends a card to a foundation. Undo and Redo are unlimited, Restart replays the same deal, and Hint looks several moves ahead for a line that gets cards home or frees one that is needed (or tells you it found none). Shortcuts: Ctrl or Cmd+Z to undo, Ctrl+Y to redo, H for a hint, N for a new game.
The toolbar shows the timer, move counter and deal number. Add ?deal=NUMBER to the page address to
replay a deal. Your statistics and any unfinished game are saved in this browser.
Beleaguered Castle Strategy
- Look for the 2s first. With the Aces already home, the four 2s decide how the game opens. Note how deep each one is buried and start with the shallowest. Each 2 that goes up often lets a 3 follow within a move or two.
- Treat an empty row like gold. It is the only free space you will ever get. Do not drop a card into it just because you can. Use it when it frees a card that is going straight to a foundation, or when it lets you dig out a low card from a short row.
- Empty the short rows. A row with two or three cards left is close to becoming an empty row. Moving those last cards onto other rows is usually worth more than building neat runs elsewhere.
- Think in single steps. A run of five cards can only be moved one card at a time, so moving it needs four empty places along the way. In practice, a long run is stuck. Build long runs only where you are happy to leave them, ideally on top of a King.
- Kings are a blessing at the start of a row. A King at the inner end of a row never needs to move, which makes that row a safe place to build. A King at the outer end blocks the row until you have an empty row to put it in.
- Keep the foundations level. Cards wait on the table until every card one rank lower is up. If one suit races ahead, its next cards cannot go up safely and they clog the rows. Bringing the slow suits along keeps the board moving.
- Use Undo to test ideas. Every card is visible, so nothing is hidden from you. Try a line, and if it ends in a dead position, back up and try another. Some deals have no first move at all; for those, New game is the right answer.
Beleaguered Castle and Its Relatives
Beleaguered Castle first shows up in William Brisbane Dick’s 1883 book of patience games and has appeared in card-game collections ever since, sometimes under the names Laying Siege or Sham Battle. Its close relatives change the deal: in Streets and Alleys the Aces are shuffled in with the rest of the deck instead of starting on the foundations, and in Citadel cards can go to the foundations while the deal is still being laid out. If you like this style of game, try FreeCell for the same open play with four free cells, or Baker’s Dozen, where empty columns can never be refilled.
Beleaguered Castle FAQ
Is Beleaguered Castle like FreeCell?
Very much. It is often called FreeCell without the free cells. Every card is face up, you move one card at a time, and an empty row works like a free space. The differences are that the Aces start on the foundations and the rows build down regardless of suit.
Can I move a run of cards together?
No. Only the outer card of each row can move, one at a time. If you want to shift a run you have to move it card by card, which needs empty rows to hold the cards on the way.
What can go into an empty row?
Any card. An empty row is the most valuable thing in the game, because it is the only place to park a card that does not fit anywhere else.
Why are the rows shown as columns?
The traditional layout puts four rows on each side of the Aces, fanned sideways. That is too wide for a phone, so here the eight rows stand upright like columns. The rules are exactly the same: the card at the bottom end of each column is the one you can move.
Can every deal be won?
No. Some deals are blocked from the start, with no legal move at all. Many more can be won with careful play, but this is a demanding game, and losing a few in a row is normal.
Do cards go to the foundations by themselves?
When it is safe. 2s go up as soon as they are free. Higher cards go up once every card one rank lower is already on the foundations, so nothing you might still build on disappears. You can always move a card up yourself.
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- FreeCell Every card face up. Four free cells. Nearly every deal can be won.
- Pyramid Solitaire Pair cards that add up to 13 and clear the pyramid. Kings go alone. 1, 3 or unlimited passes.
- TriPeaks Solitaire Clear three peaks with cards one higher or lower. Long runs build a streak score.
- Golf Solitaire Seven columns, one waste pile. Play one rank up or down and finish with no cards left.
- Yukon Solitaire No stock to draw from. Move any face-up card with everything on top of it.
- Scorpion Solitaire Build same-suit runs from King to Ace. Move any face-up stack, one small deal.
- Forty Thieves Two decks, ten columns, one card at a time, one pass through the stock.
- Canfield Solitaire Empty the 13-card reserve. Foundations start at a random rank and wrap King to Ace.
- Baker’s Dozen Thirteen open columns, Kings tucked underneath. Build down in any suit, one card at a time.
- Eight Off FreeCell’s roomier cousin: eight free cells, same-suit building, Kings only in empty columns.
- La Belle Lucie Eighteen fans of cards, same-suit building and two reshuffles. Play it classic or with the merci.
- Accordion Solitaire Squeeze a row of 52 cards into one pile by matching suit or rank, one or three spaces to the left.
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