How to Play Little Forty Solitaire

Little Forty relaxes the suit restrictions of Forty Thieves: build the tableau in any suit and move whole sequences together regardless of suit. With three complete passes through the deck, you have more chances to win.

Setup

1. Deal 4 cards face-up to each of 10 tableau piles
2. Eight foundation piles start empty and build up in suit as Aces become available (two decks are in play)
3. The stock holds remaining cards and allows three complete passes through the deck
4. One waste pile receives cards drawn from the stock

How to play

• Build on tableau piles downward by rank in any suit (not restricted to single suits)
• Move a whole descending sequence together regardless of suit, as long as each card is one rank lower than the one it covers (5♣ on 6♥ on 7♠, for example)
• Only the top card or top sequence can be moved
• When an Ace becomes available, play it to the foundation
• Build foundation piles upward by rank in the same suit (Ace to King)
• Cards that can't be built on the tableau automatically move to the foundations when possible (you can change this in Settings to always or never)
• Click the stock to deal three cards to the waste pile; you get three total passes through the stock (redeal twice when it runs out)
• Empty tableau piles accept any card or sequence

How to win

Objective: Move every card to the foundations, building from Ace to King by suit

You win when all cards move to the foundations. With three total passes through the stock and flexible building rules, this game is more forgiving than traditional Forty Thieves.

Tips

• Since sequences move as a group regardless of suit, build long descending runs whenever you can
• Use any-suit tableau building to expose buried cards quickly
• Plan around your two redeals—save them for when the tableau becomes congested

Play Little Forty free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Little Forty 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:

• Maria — Work through nine overlapping tableau piles to build eight foundations up in suit.
• Midshipman — Build eight foundations using two decks while managing nine tableau piles that begin with a couple of cards face down in each.
• Napoleon's Shoulder — A relaxed variant of Napoleon's Square using two decks.
• Rows of Four — Move all cards to eight foundations by building suits upward while arranging tableau piles in any order.
• Thieves of Egypt — This two-deck game deals its tableau in a pyramid, and you build alternating-color runs there while filling eight foundation piles.