Scorpion Solitaire Rules
Objective:
The objective in Scorpion solitaire is to move all cards to the foundation. Do this by arranging the tableau cards into four same-suited runs from King down to Ace.
Setup:
A standard deck of 52 cards is shuffled then dealt as a 7x7 array onto the tableau. Cards are dealt face-up, except for the top-left 4x3 array of cards which are left face-down. The remaining three cards are kept as stock, ready to be dealt at any time.
Moves:
- Move part of a column onto another column. Within the tableau, a card, and all cards on top of it, can be moved on top of another column. The card on top of the destination column needs to be of the same suit and ranked one higher than the card being moved. Only Kings can be moved to empty columns. Newly exposed cards are faced up.
- Deal the stock. At any time you can deal the remaining three cards from the stock onto the each of the three left-hand columns of the tableau.
- Move a completed run to the foundation. Do this with all four suits to win. A completed run is a sequence of same-suited cards running from King down to Ace.
- Undo moves. Use the unlimited undos liberally to your advantage and find a winning path.
Winning:
You win the game of Scorpion when you have moved all completed runs to the foundation.
Strategy and Hints:
Scorpion is one of the more difficult games at every stage of play, rarely resulting in a win. The moves available to you are usually few in number; it's entirely possible that your only starting move can be to deal stock, and even then, lose the game with no further moves available to you. Nevertheless, Scorpion is winnable. The key insight is to manage the ordering of card movement by recognizing dependencies between the moves.
- Read the tableau, looking for available moves. Look at the top card of each column.
- Think through the sequence of moves for each alternative and their dependencies, searching for ways to get to a win. This will also help you to know when to fill an empty column with a particular King.
- Expose face-down cards in the tableau sooner to get the information you need to plan ahead.
- Reverse / ascending runs of cards will complicate sorting them into the correct order.
- Be mindful that nothing can be placed on top of Aces, effectively reducing the number of working places to which cards can be moved.
- Continually start new games until you find one that looks appealing.
