How to Play Scorpion Solitaire
Deal seven columns of seven with the first three cards of the leftmost four columns face down, and keep three cards back. Move any face-up card with everything on top of it onto a card one rank higher of the same suit. Only a King fills an empty column. Win by building four King-to-Ace suited runs in the tableau itself.
The rules, step by step
- 1Deal seven columns of sevenForty-nine cards. In the four leftmost columns the first three cards are dealt face down; every other card is face up. Three cards are held back in the stock.
- 2Pick up any face-up card and everything on itNo sequence is required. A face-up card can be lifted with the entire stack resting on top of it, however jumbled that stack is.
- 3Build down in the same suitA card may only be placed on a card one rank higher of its own suit. A red seven does not go on a black eight here — only on the eight of its own suit.
- 4Only a King fills an empty columnAn empty column is worth very little unless a King is loose somewhere. Under Wasp rules any card may go there instead, which changes the game completely.
- 5Deal the three stock cards when you are stuckThey go face up, one each to the first three columns. This happens exactly once in the game; there is no redeal and no second chance.
- 6Finish with four suited runs in the tableauThere are no foundations. The game is won when four columns hold complete King-to-Ace runs, each in a single suit, and the remaining three columns are empty.
Try it — the rules above, running
Scorpion. Twelve face-down cards — the first three rows of the leftmost four columns — and only a King may occupy an empty column. The standard game, and a hard one: an empty column is worthless unless a King is loose.
Your statistics · Scorpion
- Played
- 0
- Won
- 0
- Win rate
- 0%
- Streak
- 0
- Best streak
- 0
- Best time
- —
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 Scorpion Solitaire today gets deal #3919521456. 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
- Space
- Turn the stock
- Esc
- Deselect, or leave full screen
What can you move in scorpion solitaire?
Any face-up card, together with every card resting on it. The stack does not have to be in order — this is the rule scorpion borrows from Yukon, and it is what makes an otherwise impossible game playable. What it can land on is the strict part: a card exactly one rank higher, in the same suit, at the foot of another column.
What happens when you run out of moves?
Click the stock. Its three cards are dealt face up, one to each of the first three columns. That is the entire stock and it is dealt once — after that, if there is no legal move, the deal is over.
How do Wasp rules change scorpion?
| Rule | Scorpion | Wasp |
|---|---|---|
| Face-down cards | 12 | 9 |
| Empty column takes | Kings only | Any card |
| Stock | 3 cards, dealt once | 3 cards, dealt once |
| Building | Down in suit | Down in suit |
Being able to park any card in an empty column is a much bigger change than it looks. It turns an empty column from a King-shaped hole into a general-purpose workspace, which is exactly what a same-suit building game is short of.
How do you win more often?
- Turn over the face-down cards before anything elseTwelve of fifty-two are hidden and every one of them is a card you cannot plan around. A move that exposes a face-down card is almost always better than a move that tidies a sequence you can already see.
- Do not spend the stock earlyThree cards, dealt once, landing on the first three columns whether you want them there or not. Save them for a position where you genuinely have no move, because after that there is nothing left to change the board with.
- Treat a King as the key to an empty column, not as clutterUnder standard rules an empty column can only ever hold a King, so a King buried under six cards is a column you will never be able to use. Digging one out early is often worth several ordinary moves.
- Look for the card that unlocks two things at onceBecause building is same-suit only, most cards have exactly one home. The moves worth hunting for are the ones where placing a card both empties useful space and uncovers something — in a game this tight, a move that does one job is usually not enough.
- Undo is not cheating here, it is the only lookahead you haveWith no foundations and one stock deal, a bad choice can end the deal thirty moves later with no warning. Trying a line and taking it back is how you find out what a move costs before you have to live with it.
Common questions about scorpion solitaire
- Do you build on alternating colours in scorpion solitaire?
- No — same suit only. That is the single rule that separates scorpion from Yukon, and it is why scorpion is so much harder.
- Can you undo in scorpion solitaire?
- On this page, as often as you like, and the deal number lets you replay the identical shuffle. With no foundations and a one-shot stock, undo is the only way to see what a move costs before committing to it.
Ready to stop reading? Play scorpion solitaire on the full board, with statistics, deal numbers and unlimited undo.