How to Play Imperial Guards Solitaire

A two-deck solitaire where you build tableau piles downward by alternating color and move all cards to foundations. Unlike classic Miss Milligan, an open tableau space welcomes any card rather than a King only.

Setup

1. Deal 8 tableau piles, starting with one card each, all face-up
2. Set aside 8 foundation piles (two for each suit, since two decks are in play) starting with Aces
3. Keep a stock pile of remaining cards

How to play

• Click the stock to deal one card to each tableau pile; the stock can only be used once, with no redeal
• Build tableau piles downward by one rank with cards of opposite color
• Move single cards or valid sequences to other tableau piles; only single cards go to foundations
• Cards automatically move to the foundations once no other card could be built on them (you can change this in Settings if preferred)
• Build foundation piles upward by rank within each suit
• When a tableau pile becomes empty, play any card or valid sequence there
• When the stock is empty, you can set aside one card or run in a pocket (the stock's former space) until ready to play it back

How to win

Objective: Move all 104 cards to the foundations, building each suit from Ace up to King.

You win when all 104 cards are arranged in the 8 foundation piles, with each containing a complete suit from Ace to King. The game is lost when no more moves are possible and the stock is empty.

Tips

• Use empty tableau spaces flexibly to rearrange sequences and expose buried cards
• Build foundation piles regularly to simplify the board
• Plan ahead before filling empty spaces, as they become your primary tool for managing stuck cards

Play Imperial Guards free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Imperial Guards 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 Klondike family:

• Milligan Cell — Build eight foundations using two decks while managing eight tableau piles and four temporary storage cells.
• Seven Devils — Seven Devils is widely considered one of the toughest solitaire games.
• Triple Minerva — A tactical game combining tableau building with a 15-card reserve and 2 total passes through the stock.
• Zerline — This two-deck game flips the usual card order: foundations start on Kings and climb through the ranks with Queens as the top card.
• Agnes Bernauer — Each game chooses a random base rank for all four foundations, which then build upward in suit from that rank, wrapping around.