Scorpion Solitaire

How to play Scorpion Solitaire

Scorpion is a cousin of Yukon and Spider. As in Yukon, you can move any face-up card together with everything on top of it. As in Spider, you don't send cards up to foundations one by one: you build each suit down from King to Ace right in the columns, and a finished run is cleared away. Clear all four suits to win.

The deal

All 52 cards are dealt into seven columns of seven, except three. In the first four columns, the three bottom cards are face down; every other card is face up. The last three cards wait at the top left as a reserve.

Moving cards

A card goes on the next card up of its own suit: the 6 of hearts on the 7 of hearts, for example. Nothing can go on an Ace.
Any face-up card can move, together with every card on top of it, in order or not. Tap the card to pick up the group (it lights up), then tap where it should go. Tap a card twice to send it to the only place it fits.
When you move the last face-up card off a face-down one, the face-down card turns over by itself.
Only a King, with whatever is on top of it, can go into an empty column.
The reserve can be dealt once: tap it, and its three cards go face up onto the first three columns. Traditionally you deal it when you're stuck, and that's also the best time (see the tips).

Winning

When a column ends in a full run of one suit, King down to Ace, the run is cleared away to the top right. Clear all four suits to win.

Easier rules: Wasp

Scorpion is a hard game. For a gentler one, choose Wasp in Settings: everything is the same, except that any card, not just a King, can go into an empty column.

Tips

Turn over the face-down cards first. Twelve cards start hidden in the first four columns, and until they're free you can't finish the runs they belong to.
Keep the reserve for when you're stuck. In our tests on the games we deal, dealing it straight away cut the games won by following the hints from 52 in 100 to 27 (on Wasp, from 60 to 38).
Don't hurry Kings into empty columns. Fill a space when the King is covering a face-down card or a card you need. In our tests, rushing every King into an empty space won 43 games in 100 instead of 52.
Look before you move a big group. The cards on top of the one you move come along, and they can bury a card you'll need soon.

Questions

How is Scorpion different from Yukon and Spider?

Like Yukon, it lets you move any face-up card with the cards on top of it, but you build in the same suit rather than alternating colors, and there are no foundations to build up. Like Spider, you finish runs of a suit from King to Ace in the columns, but Scorpion uses one deck and has just three cards in reserve.

Can every game be won?

Every new and daily game we deal can be. Scorpion is one of the hardest games of solitaire: when our program, which knows where every card is, tried 300 random deals by the classic rules, it found a win in only 36 of them. So we only deal games it has won. Even then the face-down cards make it a challenge: in our tests, following the Hint button alone won about half of these games by the classic rules, and 6 in 10 with the easier Wasp rules. Our guide Can every game of solitaire be won? has the details.

What does the Hint button do?

It suggests a move, with the cards that would go along with it. If no single move helps right away, it looks a few moves ahead for the quickest way to turn over a face-down card or finish a run, and suggests the first step. It only uses cards you can see, never the face-down ones, and it suggests the reserve once nothing else helps.

Can I take back a move?

Yes. Undo takes back your moves one at a time, so you can try a different plan. Your game saves itself after every move.

What is the deal number?

Every deal has a number, and the same number always deals the same cards. Share the link to play the same game as a friend, or try today's deal, which is the same for everyone.