Beleaguered Castle Solitaire
Beleaguered Castle lays the four Aces out first as the foundations and deals the other 48 cards face up into eight rows of six. Only a row's top card moves, one card at a time: onto a card one rank higher of any suit, into an empty row, or up its foundation, which builds in suit to the King. There is no stock and nothing hidden, so every deal is a planning puzzle.
New game deals a fresh shuffle, Hint highlights a legal move, and the three-dot menu at the end of the bar holds redo, auto-finish, today’s deal, the keyboard shortcuts and the rule set.
Your statistics
- Played
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- Won
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- Win rate
- 0%
- Streak
- 0
- Best streak
- 0
- Best time
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Kept in this browser, on this device only. Abandoning a deal in progress counts as a loss, so the win rate means something.
Today’s deal
Everyone playing Beleaguered Castle today gets the same deal. It changes at midnight UTC.
Track the month on the daily challenge page.
Replay a deal
Every deal is a pure function of its number, so deal #20260726 is the same shuffle on any device, any time.
Keyboard
- U / Z
- Undo
- R
- Redo
- H
- Hint
- N
- New deal (asks first)
- F
- Full screen
- A
- Auto-finish
- Esc
- Deselect, or leave full screen
- Deck
- One deck, 52 cards
- Foundations
- The four Aces, from the start
- Rows
- 8 of 6, all face up
- Build
- Down, any suit, one card
How do you play Beleaguered Castle?
Take the four Aces out and lay them down as the foundations. Deal the other 48 cards face up into eight rows of six. In the book layout the rows run out to either side of the column of Aces — the castle and its walls; here they hang down as eight columns, which lets a phone show every card at full size.
Only the card at the end of a row moves, and only one card at a time. It can go up to its foundation, onto the end card of another row that is exactly one rank higher — any suit — or into an empty row, which takes any card at all. Build all four foundations up to the King to win.
How often can you win Beleaguered Castle?
About three deals in five. A complete computer search of the first hundred deals on this page wins 63 of them and proves 32 impossible, however they are played; the other five were too big to settle. Some of the lost ones are over within a handful of moves — a defeat that quick is the deal, not you. A shuffle with no legal first move at all is never dealt here — it is shuffled again.
How is Beleaguered Castle different from FreeCell?
| Beleaguered Castle | FreeCell | |
|---|---|---|
| Free cells | None | 4 |
| Tableau | 8 rows of 6 | 8 columns of 6 or 7 |
| Aces | On the foundations before the deal | Dealt into the tableau |
| Build | Down, any suit | Down, alternating colours |
| Cards moved at once | One | A run, as many as the free space allows |
| Empty row or column | Any card | Any card |
Suit does not matter when you build, which makes it look easy — but with no cells and one card at a time, a card placed carelessly buries the one you need. FreeCell forgives far more.
Why are empty rows so valuable?
An empty row is the only spare space in the game. It can hold any card, which lets you lift a card off the one beneath it when no row end is one rank higher — and once a high card sits alone in a row, a whole descending run can be built on it and moved out of the way. Empty a row early, and think twice before filling it with a card that could have waited.
How do you get better at beleaguered castle?
- Empty a row as early as you canIt is the only free space you will get. With one empty row you can lift a card off the one beneath it, park a King or start a new run somewhere harmless.
- Do not bank a card another card still needsA Seven in the rows is a landing spot for all four Sixes. Bank it only once every Six is up — the rule auto-finish follows.
- Dig for the next card of each suitAt any moment only four cards can go up: the next card of each suit. Count how many cards lie on top of each one and work on the shallowest.
- Build runs you can take apartA long descending run has to come off one card at a time, each needing a row end one rank higher. Build on a card whose own suit is far from its foundation, not one you will want soon.
Beleaguered Castle questions people ask
- Can you move more than one card at a time in Beleaguered Castle?
- No. Only the top card of a row moves, one at a time. A run built on a row has to come apart card by card.
- What can go into an empty row in Beleaguered Castle?
- Any card. That is what makes an empty row so useful: it is the one place a card can go without a card one rank higher to land on.
- Is every Beleaguered Castle deal winnable?
- No. A complete search of the first hundred deals here proves 32 of them lost however they are played, and wins 63.
- What is Streets and Alleys?
- The same game with the Aces shuffled in rather than laid out first: all 52 cards are dealt, four rows of seven and four of six, and the Aces have to be dug out like any other card.
The rules in six lines
- 1Lay the Aces out as foundationsTake the four Aces from the pack before dealing. They start the four foundations.
- 2Deal eight rows of sixThe other 48 cards, all face up. Every card is on view for the whole game.
- 3Move one end card at a timeOnly the top card of a row moves, and only one card ever travels at once.
- 4Build down, regardless of suitA card may go onto the end card of another row that is exactly one rank higher, of any suit.
- 5Fill an empty row with any cardAn empty row accepts any single card — the only spare space the game offers.
- 6Build the foundations up in suitTwo to King on each Ace. All 52 cards on the foundations wins.
The long version, with worked examples and the questions beginners actually ask, is on how to play beleaguered castle.
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