What is Napoleon at St Helena?
Napoleon at St Helena — also known as Forty Thieves — is one of the most demanding two-deck solitaire games. It uses ten tableau columns, same-suit-only tableau building, eight foundations, and a stock that can only be used once. The game is named after Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile, supposedly reflecting the game he played on St. Helena. “Forty Thieves” refers to the forty cards dealt to the initial tableau (four cards per column, ten columns).
Win rates even with optimal play are estimated below 10 percent, making this one of the hardest common solitaire games.
Full rules
Two 52-card decks (104 cards). Ten tableau columns each receive four face-up cards (40 total). The remaining 64 cards form the stock, dealt one at a time to a waste pile; the stock cannot be recycled. Eight foundations build upward by suit from Ace to King.
Tableau columns build downward by same suit only — a 7 of hearts can only go on an 8 of hearts. Only one card moves at a time (no group moves). Only the top card of each column is available. Empty columns accept any single card.
Same-suit building: the hardest constraint
Alternating-color games like Klondike and Emperor allow many more legal tableau destinations per card — any card of the right rank can go on any card of the opposite color. Napoleon at St Helena restricts destinations to same-suit only, so a card has at most two legal tableau destinations (both copies of its one-rank-higher same-suit card) at any time.
This restriction means blocking is dramatically more common. A 6 of spades covered by a 9 of clubs cannot be reached by moving the 9 of clubs anywhere else unless a 10 of clubs exists in the tableau — which is a relatively narrow availability. Planning three to four moves ahead before each card placement is essential.
Read the Napoleon at St Helena strategy guide →
The single-pass stock
Unlike Klondike (unlimited cycling) or Emperor (multiple passes), Napoleon at St Helena allows the stock to be used only once. Every card that passes without being played is gone. This makes stock timing critical: play a waste card only when the move genuinely improves a foundation path or unblocks a critical same-suit sequence.
The single-pass limit also means that “waiting” for a better opportunity by leaving a tableau move unmade is often wrong — the stock will not cycle back to provide a second chance.
Related two-deck games
- Emperor — two-deck, alternating-color build rule; stock allows multiple passes
- Gargantua — two-deck Klondike variant; two stock passes; nine columns
- Miss Milligan — two-deck, deal-as-you-go; Waive mechanic
Related games and reference