How to Play Chelicera Solitaire

A Scorpion-style solitaire where you arrange each tableau pile into a same-suit descending run starting from a King. You can't draw from the stock directly, but it automatically refills any tableau pile you empty out.

Setup

1. Deal cards into 7 tableau piles with a custom pattern: four piles get 4 cards each, and three piles get 7 cards each, all dealt face up.
2. The remaining 15 cards sit in a stock pile you can't draw from directly—the app uses it automatically to refill any tableau pile you empty.
3. No foundation piles are shown; you win by putting the tableau itself into order.

How to play

• Move face-up cards within the tableau by stacking them in descending order, same suit only (Q♠ on K♠, J♠ on Q♠, and so on).
• You can move any group of face-up cards together, even if they're not in order—only the bottom card of the group needs to fit where it lands.
• When a tableau pile empties, the top card from the stock automatically refills it.
• Empty a tableau pile completely to open a space; only a King (or a run starting with a King) can be placed there to start a new sequence.
• Your goal is to gather each suit into one complete run, King down to Ace, sitting in a tableau pile—there's no foundation, so finished runs just stay put.

How to win

Objective: Arrange every tableau pile into an ordered run (one rank lower, same suit).

You win when every card is arranged into a complete same-suit run, King down to Ace, within the tableau piles. You're stuck when no legal moves remain and piles are still unfinished.

Tips

• Plan carefully—an emptied pile refills automatically from the stock while cards remain there; once the stock runs out, only a King can start a new pile in an empty space.
• Every card starts face up, so you can see the whole tableau—plan which same-suit cards you can consolidate into a single run first.
• Moving partial groups is useful; build toward same-suit runs even if they're not complete yet.

Play Chelicera free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Chelicera 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 Scorpion family:

• Chinese — A Scorpion variation with a small reserve that adds cards to the tableau.
• Scorpion — Scorpion blends Spider's strict sequences with Yukon's flexible group moves.
• Sevastopol — Sevastopol is an easier variant of Kiev.