BELEAGUERED CASTLE



OBJECTIVE OF BELEAGUERED CASTLE: Move all of the cards from the tableau to the foundations

NUMBER OF PLAYERS: 1 player

NUMBER OF CARDS: Standard 52 card deck

RANK OF CARDS: Ace (low) – King (high)

TYPE OF GAME: Solitaire

AUDIENCE: Adults


INTRODUCTION OF BELEAGUERED CASTLE

Beleaguered Castle is a solitaire game in the Open Solitaire family.  This is the same family of games in which Free Cell belongs, and Beleaguered Castle plays similarly.  The major difference is that there are no cells for cards to be held temporarily which makes the game more challenging.  Beleaguered Castle sits right in between Citadel (less challenging) and Streets & Alleys (more challenging). 

THE CARDS & THE DEAL

Begin the game by separating the four Aces from the deck. Place these in a vertical column to form the foundations. 

Deal out the rest of the cards by placing them one at a time to create rows on either side of the Aces.  Each row should contain six cards.  Layer the cards in such a way that the top card is completely exposed.  This forms the tableau for gameplay.

THE PLAY

The object of the game is to build the foundations from Ace to King.  Do this by moving cards from the tableau to the foundations according to suit and in ascending order.  For example, the 2 of hearts should be placed on top of the Ace of hearts.  The 2 of clubs should be placed on top of the Ace of clubs and so on.

Cards may be moved from row to row one at a time.  Only the cards from the ends of the rows are eligible for movement.  Rows must be built in descending order.  For example, a 9 must be placed on top of a 10 if moving the 9 from one row to another.  When moving cards from row to row, suit does not matter.  Once a row has been emptied, a card may be moved into it in order to form a new row. 

If you are following the rules strictly, once a card has been placed on its appropriate foundation, it cannot be removed.  This game is extremely difficult to win.  In order to make the game a little less difficult,  feel free to remove cards from the foundation if it helps.      

WINNING

You win once all of the cards are moved to their appropriate foundations.

Mark Ball
Latest posts by Mark Ball (see all)