Same-suit building and a single stock pass make this one of the hardest two-deck games.

History and naming

The game is named after Napoleon Bonaparte’s exile to the island of St. Helena (1815–1821), where he is said to have passed time playing patience. The alternative name “Forty Thieves” refers to the forty cards dealt face-up to start the game: four cards across ten columns, all visible. “Big Forty” is another name used in British patience literature.

The game is one of the classic hard two-deck patience games and is a common target for automated solvability studies. Published win-rate estimates from computer analysis range from 3 to 12 percent depending on exact rule variants (particularly whether group moves are allowed and whether the stock can be partially recycled).

Full rules

Two 52-card decks (104 cards). The layout at the start:

• Tableau.Ten columns, each receiving four cards face-up (40 cards total). Only the top card of each column is accessible. Columns build downward in the same suit only — a card can only go on a card that is exactly one rank higher in the same suit.
• Foundations. Eight foundations (two per suit), each building upward from Ace to King by suit. Eight Aces must be found and placed to start the eight foundations.
• Stock and waste.The remaining 64 cards form the stock, dealt one at a time to a waste pile. Only the top waste card is accessible. The stock may only be used once — no recycling.
• Empty columns. An emptied tableau column accepts any single card.
• Move restriction. Only one card moves at a time. Group moves (moving a partial sequence as a unit) are not allowed.

Why same-suit building is so limiting

In most solitaire games, a card has multiple legal tableau destinations. In Klondike (alternating color), a 7 can go on any black 8 regardless of suit — potentially four destinations. In Napoleon at St Helena, a 7 of hearts can only go on an 8 of hearts. With two copies of each card, a 7♥ has at most two legal tableau destinations at any time: the 8♥ in pile A or the 8♥ in pile B.

The practical consequences are severe:

• Blockages form rapidly. A card that needs to move often cannot because the one or two legal destinations are occupied by other cards.
• Empty columns become critical. An empty column accepts any card, making it the universal destination that bypasses the same-suit restriction temporarily.
• Waste card utilization is lower. Many waste cards have no legal tableau destination at the moment they surface, so they must sit in the waste until conditions change — and conditions may not change before the single pass ends.

Empty column strategy

Empty columns are the most powerful resource in Napoleon at St Helena precisely because they bypass the same-suit restriction. Any card can go into an empty column, making it a temporary free space that can break a blockage.

The strategic principles for empty columns:

1. Create empty columns intentionally.Routing a column’s single remaining card to a foundation or a legal same-suit destination empties the column. Identifying which columns are closest to empty and prioritizing them is the main tactical focus in the mid-game.
2. Use empty columns for high-priority blockage breaking, not routine storage.An empty column used to park a card that has a valid same-suit destination wastes the column’s generality. Reserve it for cards that cannot go anywhere else.
3. Do not fill empty columns with cards that will not advance foundations.A card parked in an empty column occupies it permanently until the card is played elsewhere. Parking low-priority cards in empty columns leaves no space for future emergency moves.

Single-pass stock timing

The stock passes exactly once. Every card is seen exactly once in the waste; if it is not played when it is the waste top, it is buried under subsequent draws and may never resurface (since the waste top is always the most recently drawn card, and only the top is accessible).

The timing discipline:

• Before each stock draw, exhaust every legal tableau and foundation move available. Only when no tableau or foundation move exists should you draw the next card.
• After drawing a card, check its legal destinations immediately. If it can go to a foundation or a tableau column, play it now. Do not accumulate waste without playing.
• When the waste top cannot be played, draw again (after checking for any remaining tableau moves). The waste builds up during periods of no-legal-move, and the deeper it grows, the more cards are inaccessible.

Napoleon at St Helena vs. Diplomat and Emperor

All three games are two-deck tableau builders in the Forty Thieves family. They differ primarily in the tableau build rule and stock passes:

• Napoleon at St Helena: Same-suit building, one stock pass. The hardest common variant. Win rate estimated under 10 percent.
• Diplomat: Any-suit building, one stock pass. Much more accessible because each card has many more tableau destinations, drastically reducing blockage.
• Emperor: Alternating-color building, unlimited stock passes. Significantly easier than Napoleon at St Helena for two reasons simultaneously.

If Napoleon at St Helena feels consistently unwinnable, Diplomat is the natural next game to try: it preserves the single-pass stock pressure while removing the most punishing aspect of same-suit restriction.

What ends a Napoleon at St Helena game

• Drawing from stock when tableau moves are available. Every tableau move potentially exposes a face-down card or creates a foundation play. In a single-pass game, these are more valuable than additional waste draws.
• Using empty columns for routine tableau reorganization. An empty column used to shuffle a card that already had a valid same-suit destination is a wasted resource. Empty columns cost work to create and should be spent on moves that cannot be made otherwise.
• Not starting foundation progress early.With two Aces per suit in the deck, both need to reach foundations. If neither Ace of a suit surfaces before the stock is exhausted, that suit’s foundations cannot start. Early Ace identification — noting which Aces are visible in the tableau at deal — is the first planning task.
• Expecting to recover from poor early decisions. The same-suit restriction and single pass create a game where early compounding mistakes are very hard to undo. Slow, deliberate play at the start is more valuable than fast, reactive play.