How to Play Ali Baba Solitaire

Ali Baba uses a single deck with 10 tableau piles of 4 cards each. Build four foundation piles while maneuvering card sequences through the tableau, with the challenge of having limited stock access and no redeal.

Setup

1. A single deck (52 cards) is shuffled
2. Deal 4 cards face-up to each of 10 tableau piles
3. 4 empty foundation piles wait to receive Aces
4. The remaining 12 cards form the stock, dealt one at a time to a waste pile

How to play

• Click the stock to deal one card at a time to the waste pile; only the top card of the waste can be played to the foundations or tableau
• Cards automatically move to the foundations when no other moves are available for them; you can change this behavior in Settings
• In the tableau, build down in the same suit (cards must match the suit and descend in rank)
• Move one card or an entire sequence of same-suit cards together when the sequence follows descending rank order
• Empty tableau spaces can be filled with any card or valid sequence
• You cannot redeal when the stock runs out, so plan carefully

How to win

Objective: Move all 52 cards to the 4 foundation piles, built up by suit from Aces to Kings.

You win when all 52 cards are moved to the foundations in proper suit sequence. You're stuck when the stock is exhausted and no valid moves remain.

Tips

• With only 12 cards in the stock, expose tableau cards strategically before drawing from the stock
• Creating empty tableau spaces early gives you room to maneuver long sequences
• Keep same-suit cards together in descending order to maximize your movement options

Play Ali Baba free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Ali Baba alongside 300+ other games. It saves every move as you play, so you can close the window and pick the game up later, replay any deal, and take on a new Daily Challenge deal every day. Browse every game in the Game Gallery.

Related games

More games from the Forty Thieves family:

• Big Forty — Build foundations up in suit from Ace to King using a standard deck laid out across 10 tableau piles and a stock.
• Blockade — A two-deck game where the stock automatically deals to each tableau pile in turn, building on the table by suit before sending cards to the foundations.
• Lucas Leaps — A forgiving two-deck member of the Forty Thieves family: unlike most of its relatives, you can pick up whole same-suit runs and move them as a group instead of one card at a time.
• Malmaison — A large three-deck relative of Forty Thieves where you clear all 156 cards to twelve foundations, with same-suit runs that can be moved as a group.