Play Elba Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)

Build like Klondike inside a Forty Thieves frame: alternating colors, two decks across ten columns five deep, only the top card showing. Patient play wins about a third of deals.

Elba Solitaire belongs to the sprawling Forty Thieves family, the two-deck patience games that spread across Europe under a dozen aristocratic names during the nineteenth century. What sets Elba apart from the strict, same-suit Forty Thieves is its friendlier building rule: cards come down in alternating colors, exactly as they do in Klondike, which opens up far more moves and turns a notoriously stubborn family of games into something you can actually finish.

The deal is dealt in the Klondike manner too. Each of the ten columns receives five cards, but only the top card of each is turned face-up, so half the pack begins hidden. Uncovering those buried cards is the whole puzzle. Two full decks mean 104 cards and eight foundations, and because the stock feeds every column at once rather than a single waste pile, planning where your spaces open up matters more than raw luck.

Elba rewards patience over speed. Only around a third of deals fall your way with careful play, so before you empty a column or spend the stock, think about which face-down cards you most need to reveal.

If you enjoy Elba, try Forty Thieves Solitaire and Josephine Solitaire, two more two-deck classics, or the original Solitaire for a lighter single-deck game.

If you run into anything odd or have an idea that would make the game better, please contact me.

Enjoy playing!

How to play Elba Solitaire

Layout:

8 foundation piles: Build up in suit from Ace to King. Two full decks are used, so there are eight foundations to complete. Cards are moved to the foundations automatically when they are available.

10 tableau piles: Each pile is dealt five cards, but only the top card of each is face-up at the start.

Stock: The remaining cards form the stock, dealt one card to every column per click. There are no redeals.

Foundation:

There are eight foundation piles.

A card can be added to a foundation pile only if it's one rank higher and the same suit as the pile's current top card, so the only card that fits on a 7 of clubs is an 8 of clubs. Each foundation is completed from Ace to King.

The top card of each foundation can be moved back into play if another pile will accept it.

Tableau:

Ten tableau piles of five cards each. Only the top card of each pile begins face-up; the four beneath it are face-down and turn over as they are exposed.

A card can be added to a tableau pile only if it's one rank lower and the opposite color of the pile's current top card, so the only card that fits on an 8 of spades is a 7 of hearts or a 7 of diamonds.

A sequence of cards that runs down in alternating colors may be moved from one tableau pile to another as a group, the same as in Klondike.

Empty columns may only be filled with a King, whether it moves alone or at the head of a sequence.

Stock and waste:

There is no waste pile in Elba. When you click the stock, one card is dealt to every tableau pile at once.

You only get one pass through the stock, so spend those deals when they will do the most good.