Forty Thieves Strategy: What Wins, Counted
Win more Forty Thieves solitaire: use empty columns, look a few moves ahead, play everything before turning the stock, and send cards up when they can go.
Sunroom Games · Updated
Forty Thieves has a reputation as one of the hardest games of solitaire, and it deserves it. Two decks, one trip through the stock and only the top card of each column to work with: one careless move can sink the game. But a few habits make an enormous difference. To find out which, we had the computer play the 1,000 deals our Forty Thieves game hands out, in different ways, and counted the wins.
If you'd like the rules first, see how to play Forty Thieves.
What our test games showed
Every one of these deals can be won: our program found a win for each, knowing the order of the stock. Playing the way our Hint button does, without that knowledge, the computer won 393 of the 1,000. Changing one habit at a time showed what each one is worth:
| One change from the hints' way of playing | Games won (of 1,000) |
|---|---|
| None: the Hint button's own way | 393 |
| Never use an empty column to dig into the waste or uncover a card | 0 |
| Look only one move ahead | 46 |
| Turn the stock as soon as no big move is left | 95 |
| Don't put emptying a column first | 260 |
| Hold back cards that aren't yet safe to send up | 307 |
The tips below take the biggest differences first.
1. Use your empty columns
An empty column is the most valuable space in Forty Thieves, because any card can go there. Use it to get at what you need: park the waste's top card in it to reach the card underneath, or move a column's top card into it to free the card below. Our test games show how much this matters: without it, the computer didn't win a single one of the 1,000 games.
The skill is in the timing. A card in an empty column takes the space until it can go somewhere else, so use a space when it leads somewhere, such as a card going up or another column emptying, and keep it free otherwise. Once the stock is used up, empty columns are your only way into the waste, so use them freely then.
2. Look a few moves ahead
With only top cards to move, progress often takes a chain of moves: this card onto that one, which frees a card that can go up. Looking only one move ahead, our test games won just 46 of 1,000. Looking four moves ahead, as our Hint button does, they won 393. Before you turn the stock, look for a short chain that sends a card up or empties a column.
3. Make every move you can before turning the stock
You go through the stock only once, and each card you turn covers the waste card beneath it. Turning the next card as soon as no big move was left won only 95 games instead of 393. Play everything first, even small moves that just build a run in a column, and turn the stock only when nothing else will move.
4. Empty a column whenever you can
Since empty columns are so useful, getting one is worth a lot. When a column is down to a card or two, look for homes for them. Without that priority, our test games won 260 instead of 393.
5. Send cards up when they can go
In Klondike, it pays to keep some cards back from the foundations. In Forty Thieves, it doesn't: holding back cards that weren't yet safe to send up won only 307 games instead of 393. With two of every card and building only in suit, a card on a foundation is rarely missed. Send cards up whenever they can go.
6. Build runs in suit
Cards build down in the same suit, and a run in suit can move together when you have empty columns: two cards with one empty column, four with two, eight with three.
Long runs keep a column tidy and clear the way to the cards beneath them. Moving a card between the two copies of the same card gains nothing: a 6 of diamonds already on one 7 of diamonds is no better off on the other.
7. Use Undo, and try Easier if it's too hard
Undo takes your moves back one at a time, even a stock card, so you can try a plan and go back. And if Forty Thieves feels too hard, choose Easier in Settings: when the stock runs out, you can turn the waste over and go through it a second time. On the same 1,000 deals, following the hints won 961 games that way.
How often should you win?
Even on deals we know can be won, the Hint button's careful play won about 4 games in 10. If you're winning that often, you're playing very well. In about 98 deals in 100 at least one Ace is in the layout, and about one Ace is free to go up straight away, so start by looking for it. For how Forty Thieves compares with other games, see Can every game of solitaire be won?, and for another game of planning ahead, our FreeCell strategy guide.