Napoleon Solitaire

Napoleon Solitaire

This solitaire is said to have been invented by Napoleon when he was in exile on St. Helena.

It is played with a deck of 40 Italian cards. The four aces are placed face up in a vertical row in the center of the table. The remaining 36 cards are arranged on the two sides, forming two horizontal rows of 5 and two of 4, both on the right and on the left, so that each card partially covers the previous one, leaving it visible but blocked. Therefore only the last card in each row is free and can be moved.

The possible moves are:

• Move one card at a time from the side rows to the central row, stacking them in ascending order, and respecting the suit of the pack: on the ace of cups you can only put the 2 of cups, on the two the three, and so on up to the king .

• Move one card at a time from one lateral row to the other, but in decreasing order and pairing cards of different suits: on the 5 of coins you can put a 4, but it is not of coins.

The aim of the game is to progressively move all the cards onto the four central piles, from the ace to the king.