How to Play Napoleon's Tomb Solitaire

Napoleon's Tomb Solitaire Rules

| Players: 1 | Type: Solitaire | Supplies: 2 Decks |

Objective

The objective of Napoleon's Tomb is to build the four foundation piles from the king in descending order to the ace, in suit, twice per pile.

Setup

Refer to the right half of the setup picture for a map of how to set up and play. Deal a stack of 10 face-up cards to each of the four reserve piles (marked with “R”), and leave the central reserve pile empty (marked with “C”). Deal one face-up card to each of the four tableau piles (marked with “T”). Place the remaining deck face down to form the stock.

Tableau Key

R: Reserve pile
C: Central reserve pile
T: Tableau pile
F: Foundation pile
W: Waste pile

Game Play

As a king of each suit becomes available, move it to a corner to start a foundation pile (marked with “F”). Foundation piles are built in descending order to the ace, in suit. To add a card to a foundation pile, it must be one rank lower and of the same suit as the top card of the pile it is being moved to. Once a foundation pile is built down to the ace, when the next king of that suit becomes available for play, place it on the ace and build the foundation pile in descending order to the ace, in suit, again.

Only one card may be moved at a time. The top card of each tableau pile, reserve pile, and waste pile (marked with “W”) is available for play onto a foundation pile, tableau pile, or the central reserve pile. The top card of the central reserve pile is available for play onto a foundation pile. Cards may only leave the four reserve piles. Once one of the reserve piles becomes empty, it may not be filled.

Tableau piles may be built in ascending order, and in suit. To add a card to a tableau pile, it must be one rank higher and of the same suit as the top card of the pile it is being played onto. An ace may be played on a king to continue this sequence. An empty tableau pile may be filled by any available card.

The central reserve pile may only be started with an ace and may be built in ascending order and suit. To add a card to the central reserve pile after it has been started, the card must be one rank higher and of the same suit as the top card of the central reserve pile. A king may be played on an ace to continue this sequence. If the bottom card of a tableau pile is one rank higher and of the same suit as the top card of the central reserve pile, the entire tableau pile may be played on the central reserve pile.

When there are no more available moves the player wants to make, flip the top card of the stock over to form or add to a waste pile. You may choose which waste pile to place the card onto. At the start of the game, there are five waste piles. When the stock is depleted, you may redeal by gathering all of the waste piles together and reforming the stock. Each time you redeal, you have one less waste pile than before. When you redeal the first time, you reduce to four waste piles. When you redeal the second time, you reduce to three waste piles. When you redeal the third time, you reduce to two waste piles. When you redeal the fourth and final time, you reduce it to one waste pile. After your fourth redeal, when the stock is depleted and there are no more moves, the game is over.

To Win

Napoleon's Tomb is won if the four foundation piles are built from the king in descending order to the ace, twice, in suit. If there are no more moves after the stock is depleted five times, and the four foundation piles have not each been built in descending order to the ace twice, the game is lost.