Forty Thieves

Written by Ed Sirett

3.31.1. Setup

Type of Deck Double Deck
Stock Top left pile. The rest of the deck is placed here after dealing the Tableau. Cards are dealt singly to the waste, The top card of the waste is available for play.
Foundation Eight piles top right. To be built in suit from Ace to King.
Tableau Ten piles. Deal four rows face up to start. Tableau can be built down in suit. Cards are moved singly. Empty piles can be filled with any card.

3.31.2. Goal

Move all cards to the Foundation piles.

3.31.3. Rules

Cards in Tableau are built down in the same suit. Cards can only be moved singly. An empty pile in the Tableau can be filled with any card. As a short cut you can move more than one if there are enough empty spaces. Cards can also be moved in groups to the Foundation piles.

Cards are played singly from the Stock to the waste pile, whose top card is available for play. There are no redeals.

Foundations are built up in suit from Ace to King. Double clicking on a foundation will autoplay cards. Double clicking on a card in the Tableau or waste will move it to the appropriate Foundation pile if such a move is possible, or to the tableau if possible.

3.31.4. Scoring

Each card in the Foundation scores 5 points. When a Foundation pile is complete (from Ace to King), 60 more points are scored.

Maximum possible score: 1000

3.31.5. Strategy

Refrain from bringing cards to the tableau in order to obtain an empty space as soon as possible. Then balance the requirements to maintain empty spaces against the need to save low cards from being buried in the waste.