How to Play Diplomat Solitaire

A generous Congress variant where foundations build up by suit while tableau cards sequence down by rank in any suit, with four cards dealt to each tableau pile. The goal: Move all 104 cards to eight foundation piles, each built up by suit from Ace to King.

Setup

1. Shuffle two full decks together.
2. Deal four cards to each of 8 tableau piles (32 cards total).
3. Place 8 Aces aside to start the 8 foundation piles.
4. Place remaining cards (64 cards) in the stock and an empty waste pile.

How to play

• On the foundations, build up by suit from Ace to King.
• On the tableau, build down by rank regardless of suit color: a Queen goes on any King, a Jack on any Queen, and so on. Move individual cards only—no sequences.
• Fill empty tableau piles with any available card.
• Click the stock to deal one card at a time to the waste pile. Only the top waste card is playable.
• You have one pass through the stock, with no redeal.
• The game automatically moves cards to the foundations when they can't be used elsewhere in the tableau (you can adjust this behavior in Settings).

How to win

Objective: Move all 104 cards to eight foundation piles, each built up by suit from Ace to King.

You win when all cards rest on the foundation piles. You lose when the stock runs out and no more legal moves remain.

Tips

• Use tableau spaces strategically to cycle through the waste pile efficiently.
• Build foundation piles steadily when possible, since the tableau's any-suit rule gives flexibility.
• Think ahead about moving cards to foundations versus keeping them in the tableau for maneuvering.

Play Diplomat free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Diplomat 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:

• Double Rail — A two-deck game with a compact five-pile tableau where sequences can mix suits and whole runs can be relocated together.
• Eight by Eight — A two-deck solitaire with eight columns and eight rows of tableau cards, where you work through a stock that redeals with fewer cards each pass.
• Forty-Nine — A two-deck cousin of Forty Thieves named for its seven-by-seven tableau grid.
• Fours Up — A two-deck game that starts with Fours instead of Aces.
• Little Forty — Little Forty relaxes the suit restrictions of Forty Thieves: build the tableau in any suit and move whole sequences together regardless of suit.