Play Scorpion Solitaire Online for Free (No Signup Required)

Build down in suit across seven piles, drag buried runs wherever they fit, and cash in only a full ace-to-king sequence. One deck, medium difficulty, 35% win rate.

Scorpion Solitaire deals a seven-by-seven tableau, three cards face down in each of the first four piles and the rest dealt face up. Play unfolds like a cross between Yukon Solitaire and Spider Solitaire: you can move any face-up card, along with everything stacked on it, onto another pile the way you would in Yukon, but a run only moves to the foundation once it's a complete ace-to-king sequence in one suit, Spider-style. Once per game you also get to deal the three reserve cards, one onto each of the first three tableau piles, whenever the timing suits you. Albert H. Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith's 1949 book The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience was the first to describe the game. It's medium difficulty, played with a single deck, and carries a 35% win rate, so skill counts for more than luck here.

If you like Scorpion, its scaled-up cousin Double Scorpion Solitaire runs the same rules across two decks.

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

Enjoy the game!

How to play Scorpion Solitaire

Layout:

7 tableau piles: Build down in suit from the top 7 tableau piles. Cards in groups can be moved. Fill in the blanks with Kings or groupings of cards led by a King. At the start of the game, each pile is given 7 cards. In the first four piles, three cards are face-down and four are face-up; in the next three piles, all cards are face-up.

Reserve: By clicking, 1 card is dealt to each of the first three tableau piles. This can only be done once per game.

Foundation:

There are four foundation piles.

Single cards are never allowed to be moved to the foundation. Only once you've built a complete sequence on the tableau, thirteen cards in order from ace to king, can you transfer it to the foundation.

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

Reserve:

The reserve is made up of leftover cards.

When you press the reserve button, the three remaining cards are dealt face-up onto the first three tableau piles. You only get to do this once each game, so use it when it will actually help.

Tableau:

Seven tableau piles of seven cards each are dealt: in the first four piles the bottom three cards are face-down and the top four face-up, while the last three piles are entirely 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 a 5 of clubs is a 4 of clubs.

Cards on the tableau that are not covered by another card can be played onto any other tableau pile.

Only kings may fill empty spots in the tableau.

Furthermore, any face-up card in the tableau may be transferred to another tableau column where it fits, bringing all cards on top of it with it.