Scorpion Solitaire

How to play

1. How is a Scorpion Solitaire game dealt?: 49 cards go into seven columns of seven. The first four columns each hide three face-down cards at the bottom; everything else is face up. The three face-down cards at the top left are the stock, each sitting above columns 1, 2 and 3, and the four empty spaces at the top right are completion slots. Buried face-up cards show a strip along their top edge, so every rank and suit stays readable.
2. How do you move cards in Scorpion Solitaire?: Tap any face-up card: it lifts together with every card on top of it and the one column that can take it lights up. Tap that column, or tap the selected card again to send it there. The stack does not have to be in order — only the card you tapped matters: the target's top card must be the same suit and exactly one rank higher. Empty columns take only a stack headed by a king. Use the ▼▲ buttons to take one card more or fewer.
3. When and how do you deal the Scorpion stock?: Tap the stock and its three cards land face up on columns 1, 2 and 3, once per game. While other moves are still possible, the first tap only arms it — the three backs lift and the three column heads glow — and a second tap deals, so a stray touch never spends it. You may deal it at any time, but it buries those three column tops, so most of the time play out your other moves first.
4. How do you win Scorpion Solitaire?: When a column ends in a full same-suit run from king down to ace, those 13 cards move to a completion slot in the same move. Send home all four runs to win. The results card records moves, time, undos and hints, and fewer moves on the same game number is a new record. If you walk into a dead end the page tells you, and shows the last move you can go back to that still wins.

Rules & variants

Scorpion Solitaire basic rules: one 52-card deck without jokers. 49 cards are dealt into seven columns of seven; the first four columns have three face-down cards at the bottom (12 in all) and the other 37 cards are face up. The remaining three cards form the stock. There is no waste pile and no free cell. The goal is to build each suit from king down to ace inside the columns; every complete run goes to a completion slot automatically, and four runs home wins.

Moving stacks in Scorpion: any face-up card can be moved together with all the cards on top of it, and that stack does not need to be in sequence. Only the card you pick up decides where it may land: the target column's top card must be the same suit and exactly one rank higher. For example, the 8 of hearts with three unordered cards on top can only go onto the 9 of hearts. Nothing can be placed on an ace, and aces and kings do not wrap.

Empty columns and face-down cards: an empty column accepts only a king, or a stack headed by a king. Face-down cards can never be picked up, and a stack may not reach into them. When the face-up cards above them are all moved away, the top face-down card turns over at once as part of the same move, and undo turns it back. Moving a whole column into another empty column changes nothing and is not allowed.

The Scorpion stock: the three stock cards can be dealt at any time — you do not have to be out of moves first — but only once per game. The top card lands on column 1, the next on column 2 and the last on column 3, all face up, on top of what is already there. Dealing counts as one move and can be undone.

A worked example: column 2 has three face-down cards and then, bottom to top, 8♥ 3♣ J♠ 5♦. Column 5 ends in 9♥ and column 6 in 9♦. Tap the 8♥ and all four cards lift; only column 5 lights up, because 9♦ is the wrong suit. Tap column 5 and the four cards land on the 9♥ in the same order; column 2 is left with only face-down cards, so its top one turns over, and the move counter goes up by one. Tapping column 6 instead is refused with “8♥ only goes on 9♥”.

Scorpion Solitaire strategy: 1) dig out the first four columns early — the 12 face-down cards and the 3 stock cards are what really blocks you; 2) the stock buries the tops of columns 1–3, so usually deal it only when your other moves are played out; 3) an empty column only takes a king, so it is your most valuable space — moving a king that still has cards under it is the move that pays; 4) avoid burying a low card under a higher card of the same suit, because that column becomes very hard to untangle.

Winnable deals and dead-end warnings: by default this page only deals games a solver has proven winnable, and the game number lets you share the exact deal. Winnable is computed with every hidden and stock card visible, which you cannot see, so you can still walk into a dead end. The page checks your position in the background and, once a line is proven lost, offers to undo, go back to the last winnable move, or resign. Turn off “Winnable deals only” in the menu to play fully random deals.

Scorpion compared with other solitaires: Spider uses two decks, deals ten cards at a time from a stock and only moves ordered same-suit runs; Scorpion uses one deck and a three-card stock but lets you move unordered stacks. Yukon also moves unordered stacks, but it builds home piles from ace up and only needs alternating colours. Other sites offer variants such as Wasp (any card into an empty column) or an all-face-up deal; this page plays standard Scorpion and does not switch between them.

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