What is Congress Solitaire?
Congress Solitaire (also called Congress of Kings) is a two-deck patience game in the Forty Thieves family. Eight tableau columns each receive four face-up cards, the remaining cards form a stock dealt one at a time, and eight foundations build upward by suit from Ace to King. Tableau columns build downward regardless of suit — any card one rank lower can be placed on any tableau top. The stock can only be used once.
How Congress differs from Parliament
Congress and Parliament share the same core structure — two decks, eight columns, any- suit tableau building, single-pass stock. The key difference: in Congress, the Aces remain in the shuffled tableau and stock and must be played to foundations during the game. In Parliament, all eight Aces are pre-placed on the foundations before dealing.
Read the Congress strategy guide →
Single-pass stock discipline
With only one pass through the stock, each draw covers the current waste top. Scan all eight tableau tops for any-suit moves that improve foundation access before each stock draw. Because tableau building is any-suit, there are many more legal moves per turn than in same-suit games like Napoleon at St Helena — use them before drawing.
Congress is part of Grand Plaza · Forty Thieves & two-deck builders.
More Forty Thieves & two-deck builders games
- Parliament — Easier Congress with aces pre-placed.
- Napoleon at St Helena — Ten tableau columns, two decks.
- Canister — A one-deck eight-column builder with four cards in the middle row.
- Colonel — A three-row tableau exposes cards only after the cell beneath is cleared.
- Deauville — Thirty hidden tableau cards give way to alternating-color building.
- Diplomat — Two-deck patience with eight tableau piles.
Also try
- Babette (Blockade games) — Two-deck blockade with ascending and descending suit foundations.
- Big Ben (Layout, cross & clock-face games) — Clock-face foundations building by suit.
- Miss Milligan (Miss Milligan & row dealers) — Double-deck patience with a weave reserve.
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