Play Phantom Blockade Solitaire Online — Thirteen Columns, Kings Into Spaces

Phantom Blockade takes Blockade's width and Gypsy's rule. Two decks are dealt into thirteen columns of three, two cards hidden under one face up. Columns build down in alternating colours and a packed run moves as a unit; only a king, or a run headed by one, fills a space. The stock holds sixty-five cards and deals one to every column per click. Eight foundations build up in suit from the ace. Bank all 104 to win.

Setup

Shuffle two decks. Deal three cards to each of thirteen columns, the top one face up. The remaining sixty-five cards form the stock: exactly five rows of thirteen.

Rules

• Foundations build up in suit from the ace; each suit has two piles, and a banked card never returns.
• Columns build down in alternating colours: the seven of hearts on the eight of clubs or spades.
• Runs travel packed. A group of cards moves as a unit only when every card in it sits one rank lower and the other colour from the card beneath; a loose tail cannot be lifted.
• Hidden cards turn face up the moment the card on them leaves.
• Only a king fills a space, alone or heading a packed run.
• The stock deals a row: one card face up to every column per click, an empty column included, as far as the cards go. There is no waste and no redeal.
• Win when all eight foundations are complete.

Strategy

Thirteen columns give the widest board in the line and the most hosts for any card, but only kings may take a space and every deal drops thirteen cards at once. The game rewards turning the twenty-six hidden cards early and keeping several columns topped by low cards before each deal.

• Deal only when stuck. A row covers every column at once, an empty one included, and cannot be taken back except by undo. Play everything that will go before you click the stock.
• Keep runs packed. Only a packed run travels, so a card dropped out of sequence freezes everything above it until the run is rebuilt.
• Bank as you go. Foundations are one-way; a card on a foundation never blocks a column again.
• Turn cards over anything else. Two hidden cards sit under every column; exposing them is the whole first phase.
• Seat kings early. A cleared column takes a king only; with thirteen columns there is room for several.
• Five deals of thirteen. Sixty-five cards are exactly five rows; prepare the tops before each one.

Every game in this line runs on one clock: the stock. It never reshuffles and never comes back, so the number of rows left is the number of times the board can change on its own. Deal a row to reach a card you need only when no move can reach it, and before each deal read the tops of the columns, because those are the cards the row will bury. The hint button names a legal move; when it names the stock, nothing else is left.

Where It Sits in the Gypsy Line

Phantom Blockade is the Gypsy line's widest kings-only member on the Yukon engine, Blockade's thirteen-column shape without the forced fill. Elba and Hypotenuse play the same rule on ten columns.

Other Games to Try

• Blockade — twelve single cards, spaces filled from the stock
• Elba — ten columns of five
• Hypotenuse — a hidden staircase of ten
• Eclipse — thirteen columns built down in suit

About This Online Version

Phantom Blockade runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install it as an app on your phone or computer and it works offline. You get unlimited undo, a hint button that names a legal move, statistics that track your wins and times, and seeded deals: every game has a seed you can replay, so a board you enjoyed (or lost) can be played again exactly.