How is Thieves of Egypt different from Forty Thieves?

Almost everything but the two decks and the eight foundations. The deal is an open pyramid of ten uneven columns instead of ten columns of four; the build is down in alternating colours instead of by suit; packed runs move as a unit instead of one card at a time; an empty column takes only a King; and the stock allows one redeal where Forty Thieves allows none.

Why are the columns different lengths?

That is the deal. The ten columns hold 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 cards from left to right, which is why PySol also calls the game Upside-Down Pyramid. The short outer columns are easy to clear; the deep middle ones hold most of the buried cards.

What can go on an empty column?

Only a King, either on its own or at the head of a packed run. No other card may fill a space, so clearing a column is worth doing only when you have a King that needs a home.

How does the redeal work?

When the stock is empty, the waste is turned over to become a new stock, keeping the order the cards were wasted in, and you go through it once more. After that second pass there is no further redeal.

Can I move a run of cards together?

Yes. Any sequence of cards in descending order with alternating colours moves as a unit, and a run headed by a King may move into an empty column.

Is Thieves of Egypt winnable?

Usually. Players report winning around three games in four with careful play, and Pretty Good Solitaire rates it a medium-difficulty game. Because nothing is hidden, the game detects a genuine dead end and tells you when no legal move remains.

Thieves of Egypt Solitaire - Play Online & 100% Free

Play Thieves of Egypt Solitaire — Forty Thieves Dealt as a Pyramid

Thieves of Egypt is Thomas Warfield's reshaping of Forty Thieves into an open pyramid. Two decks; ten columns dealt 1-3-5-7-9-10-8-6-4-2 from left to right, every card face up, with a 49-card stock waiting behind them. The building is friendlier than the classic game: columns build down in alternating colours and a packed run moves as a unit. Two things push back. An empty column takes only a King, and the stock allows exactly one redeal. The result is a game most players can win with care, and the pyramid deal makes every game open differently. Free in your browser, no sign-up.

How Do You Play Thieves of Egypt?

Goal: build all eight foundations from Ace to King by suit, using both decks.

Setup

Tableau: ten columns holding 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 cards (55 cards), all face up, forming an upside-down pyramid.
Foundations: eight empty piles, two per suit. Build up by suit, Ace to King.
Stock: the remaining 49 cards, face down. Waste: empty.

Rules

Build tableau columns down in alternating colours: a red 7 goes on a black 8.
A packed run moves as a unit: any red-black descending sequence can travel together.
An empty column accepts only a King, alone or at the head of a run.
Click the stock to turn one card to the waste. The waste's top card may be played to the tableau or a foundation.
When the stock is empty, the waste is turned over to form a new stock once. There is no second redeal.
Foundations build up by suit from the Ace. Cards on a foundation stay there.

Thieves of Egypt Strategy

The pyramid gives you short columns at both edges and deep ones in the middle. Play the edges first.

Empty the one- and two-card columns, then think hard before filling them. The outer columns clear in a move or two, but only a King may take the space. A space you cannot fill is still useful, because a King moved into it frees whatever it was covering; a space filled by the wrong King is wasted.
Work the ten-card column from the top down, not all at once. The deepest column hides a fifth of the deal. Move its top cards onto edge columns as hosts appear rather than trying to dismantle it in one campaign, and keep an eye on what each move reveals.
Treat the redeal as one extra look, not a reset. Cards go back to the stock in the order they were wasted, so what you skipped on the first pass comes round again in the same order. Use the first pass to place everything you can and to note which cards are coming back.
Keep runs long and colours alternating on the columns you are not digging. Because runs move whole, a long alternating run is a mobile block you can shift to open a space or to reach a card beneath it. Build them on columns whose lower cards are already spent.

Thieves of Egypt in the Forty Thieves Family

Thieves of Egypt was invented by Thomas Warfield, the author of Pretty Good Solitaire, as a variant of the classic Forty Thieves; the PySol collection lists it with the alternative name Upside-Down Pyramid. The deal shape is entirely its own, but the rules are borrowed from the two big families it sits between. From Rank and File and Number Ten it takes the alternating-colour build and the moving runs; from Klondike it takes the Kings-only spaces and the idea of a redeal. What it does not take from either is hidden cards: everything is face up from the first move, so the difficulty is in the digging, not in the luck of a turned card.

Rule sources agree closely. PySol's page and the BVS rules both give the 1-3-5-7-9-10-8-6-4-2 deal, alternating-colour building, moving sequences, Kings-only spaces and a single redeal. Players report the game as winnable roughly three times in four with attention, which makes it one of the more forgiving two-deck games.

For the same building rules on a flat board, try Rank and File; for the stricter suit-by-suit original, Forty Thieves.