How to play Beleaguered Castle
The four aces are set out as foundations before you start. The remaining 48 cards are dealt into eight rows of six, every one of them face up. There is no stock, no waste pile and nothing to turn over: the entire game is in front of you from the first second.
- Only the card at the outer end of a row can be moved, and only one at a time.
- On the rows, build down by rank, ignoring suit - any six goes on any seven.
- An empty row will take any card, which makes empty rows the currency of the game.
- On the foundations, build up in suit from the ace to the king.
- Clear all eight rows to win.
Click a card to pick it up and click where you want it, or drag it - both work. Auto sends every card that can go up, Hint points at a legal move, and Undo goes back as far as you like.
Strategy that actually changes your win rate
- Do not rush cards to the foundations. This is the mistake that loses most games. Low cards left on the rows are landing spots - a four on the table gives every three in the deck somewhere to go. Once it is on a foundation it can never help you again. Keep the four foundations roughly level, within about two ranks of one another, and only bank a card when you need the space.
- Empty a row early and guard it. An empty row is the only place a king can go, and the only way to unpick a badly stacked pile. Aim the opening moves at whichever row is closest to clearing, and once it is empty, think twice before filling it. Filling an empty row with a king is usually a permanent decision.
- Dig out buried low cards first. A two stuck under five cards is worth more attention than a convenient-looking king. Work out which cards sit on top of it and whether you have places for all of them before you commit to the excavation.
- Count the move before you make it. Because cards move one at a time, relocating a run of four cards needs four separate destinations. Check they exist first - it is depressingly easy to move three cards, discover there is nowhere for the fourth, and find the position worse than when you started.
- Use Undo as a thinking tool. Nothing here is hidden, so exploring a line and reversing it is not cheating any more than taking back a move in chess practice. The position after your experiment is exactly the position you left.
Why nothing is hidden
Most solitaires keep information from you: Klondike buries cards face down, Spider deals blind rows. Losing those games is often nobody's fault. Beleaguered Castle takes the excuse away. Every card is visible from the deal, so in principle you could sit and work the whole thing out before touching anything - and when you get stuck, it is because of a decision you made, not a card you could not see. Roughly three games in four are winnable with perfect play, which leaves plenty of room to blame yourself.
Frequently asked questions
How do you play Beleaguered Castle?
The four aces start above the table as foundations. The other 48 cards are dealt into eight rows of six, all face up. You may move one card at a time - only the card at the outer end of a row - either onto the end of another row that is exactly one rank higher (suit does not matter), onto a completely empty row, or up to its foundation, which builds A-2-3 up to the King in suit. Clear all eight rows and you have taken the castle.
Does suit matter when building on the rows?
No, and that is what keeps the game playable. A red seven goes on a black eight just as happily as on a red one. Suits only matter on the foundations, which must run up from ace to king within a single suit.
Can I move more than one card at a time?
No. Only the outer card of a row ever moves. If you want to shift a run of cards you have to relocate them one by one, which means you need somewhere to put each of them - the real constraint in the game and the reason empty rows are so valuable.
What percentage of Beleaguered Castle games can be won?
Analyses of the game put it in the region of 70 to 75% winnable with perfect play, though ordinary play lands well below that. Because there is no stock and nothing hidden, a lost game is genuinely a lost game rather than bad luck with the deal - which is either the appeal or the frustration, depending on the day.
Should I send every card up to the foundations as soon as I can?
No, and this is the single biggest mistake. A five sitting on a row is a landing spot for every four you need to move. Send it up too early and you have thrown away a square of ground. Play cards up when you need the space or when the card can no longer be useful - a good rule of thumb is to keep the foundations within about two ranks of each other.
What is the difference between Beleaguered Castle, Streets and Alleys, and Fortress?
They are close cousins. Streets and Alleys deals all 52 cards into the rows and makes you dig the aces out yourself, which is markedly harder. Fortress deals 52 cards too but builds the rows by suit rather than freely. Beleaguered Castle - the version here - starts with the aces already placed, so it is the friendliest of the three.
More solitaire games
If you like open games where nothing is hidden, FreeCell is the classic - same all-visible deal, with four free cells instead of empty rows. Crescent also builds on foundations from both ends, and Klondike Solitaire is the familiar one to fall back on.