Play Josephine Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)
Play Forty Thieves with one mercy Napoleon never got: move same-suit runs as a group, for roughly a 35% shot at winning.
Josephine Solitaire belongs to the Forty Thieves family, the celebrated group of two-deck patiences also known as Napoleon at St. Helena. The name honors Empress Joséphine, Napoleon's first wife, and it carries the family's Napoleonic theme forward in fitting style: the layout and the goal are identical to Forty Thieves, but the empress grants one gracious concession her husband never did.
That concession is the ability to move sequences. In Forty Thieves, every card travels alone; in Josephine, a run of cards in the same suit and perfect descending order can be picked up and moved as one unit. It's a small change on paper and a big one at the table, since the runs you build no longer trap the cards underneath them. The game is medium in difficulty, with roughly a 35% chance of winning, and skill counts for a lot more than luck across its two decks.
Forty Thieves Solitaire and Limited Solitaire are two solitaire games in the same family.
You already know Solitaire; go back to it and notice how much you miss Josephine's one concession.
If you run into anything odd or have an idea that would make the game better, please contact me.
Enjoy playing!
How to play Josephine Solitaire
Layout:
8 foundation piles: Build up in suit from Ace to King.
10 tableau piles: Build down in suit. At the start of the game, each pile is dealt four face-up cards.
Stock: Click to flip over cards one at a time to the waste. There are no redeals.
Waste: The top card is playable.
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 an 8 of spades is a 9 of spades. Each pile begins with an ace and is complete at the king.
Cards that become safe to play are sent to the foundations automatically, but you can still bring a foundation's top card back down to the tableau if you need it there.
Tableau:
Ten tableau piles start with four cards each, all dealt face-up.
A card can be added to a tableau pile only if it's one rank lower and the same suit as the pile's current top card, so the only card that fits on an 8 of spades is a 7 of spades.
Cards on the tableau that are not covered by another card are free to be played onto the foundations or any other tableau pile. A descending same-suit sequence may be picked up and moved as a single unit — this is the one rule that separates Josephine from Forty Thieves.
Empty tableau spots may be filled with any single card, or with a same-suit sequence moved in as a group.
Stock and waste:
The remaining cards form the stock, with one waste pile alongside it.
Click the stock to deal one card to the waste. You only get a single pass through the stock, so plan around what's still buried in it.
The top card of the waste can be played to the tableau or foundations.
