Play Beleaguered Castle Solitaire — Aces Centred, Eight Columns Radiating Out

Beleaguered Castle is a single-deck patience with a striking layout: the four Aces sit in a column down the centre as the foundation starters, and eight tableau columns of six cards each spread out from them — four to the left, four to the right. All 48 tableau cards are face-up from the start. There are no free cells, no stock, no reserve. You build the tableau down regardless of suit, but only one card at a time. Free in your browser, no sign-up. Works offline once the page has loaded.

How Do You Play Beleaguered Castle?

Goal: build all four foundations from Ace to King by suit.

Setup

• Foundations: the four Aces are placed at start, in a column down the centre — one per suit.
• Tableau: the remaining 48 cards are dealt face-up into eight rows (sometimes called "columns") of six cards each. Four rows extend to the left of the foundations, four to the right.
• No reserves, no stock, no waste. Every card is on the table from the first move.

Rules

• Build tableau columns down regardless of suit. A 7 of any suit goes on an 8 of any suit.
• Move one card at a time. No group moves.
• Foundations build up by suit, Ace to King.
• Any card can fill an empty tableau column.
• You win when all four foundations contain Ace through King.

What's the Best Beleaguered Castle Strategy?

• Empty a column early. Empty columns are the only mobility lever in Beleaguered Castle — there are no free cells. Aim for the first empty column in the opening few moves.
• Keep foundations even. Letting one suit race two or three ranks ahead of the others usually backfires. The other suits need their mid-rank cards in the tableau as placement targets.
• Don't bury low cards. A 2 sitting under three high cards in a tableau column is a 2 you may never reach. Keep low cards near the top whenever possible.
• Use the build-anywhere rule. Build-down regardless of suit is the only thing that gives you placement options — exploit it. A black 7 goes on any 8.
• Plan five moves ahead. Every card is visible. The puzzle is figuring out the order. Trace consequences before committing.
• Save mid-rank cards. 5s, 6s, 7s and 8s are the most useful tableau cards. Sending one to the foundation early can leave another card stranded with no resting place.

Beleaguered Castle vs FreeCell

Both have full open information. The difference is whether you have any reserve space.

The seeded Aces and build-anywhere rule are the easier parts of Beleaguered Castle. The lack of reserves and the strict single-card move are what give it real difficulty. Players coming from FreeCell often miss the four free cells immediately.

A Short History

Beleaguered Castle is a 19th-century single-deck patience, also published under the names Laying Siege and Sham Battle. The military theme reflects the visual layout — Aces in a centre column with tableau "forces" spread out flanking them. The game is a fixture of the standard patience literature — Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith's Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games (1949) and David Parlett's Penguin Book of Patience (1979) both describe it under this name — and it lends its name to the whole "castle" family of open packers, including Streets and Alleys and Fortress. It has remained niche but well-known among patience scholars for the elegant centre-out layout.

About This Version

This Beleaguered Castle runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install as an app on your phone or computer; once installed it works offline. Unlimited undo, statistics, and a daily challenge that gives every player the same deal that day.

Other Solitaire Games to Try

• FreeCell — eight tableau columns with four free cells, almost every deal winnable
• Baker's Dozen — thirteen columns, build-anywhere, single-card moves
• Klondike — the seven-column classic with a stock pile
• Eight Off — eight reserves, same-suit building