cardgamerulesGOOD GAMES START HERE. OPEN THE GAPS. BUILD THE CASTLE.Beleaguered Castle starts the four aces on their foundations and lays out the other forty-eight cards in eight open columns. Build down by rank regardless of suit, move one exposed card at a time and use empty columns for any rank. Learn the essential moves, then work through a full shuffled deal.
Only exposed end cards move. Select a card, then a column heading or foundation. In Aces Up, use Discard selected card. Wide boards scroll inside this frame.
Four prepared lessons cover rank-only joins, any-rank gaps, starting foundations and uncovering cards before moving them. Full practice uses all fifty-two cards.
Four lessons · One full packReplace this position and start the selected mode?
Beleaguered Castle starts the four aces on their foundations and lays out the other forty-eight cards in eight open columns. Build down by rank regardless of suit, move one exposed card at a time and use empty columns for any rank. Learn the essential moves, then work through a full shuffled deal.
See the key move ↓Deal the other forty-eight cards face up into eight columns of six.
Move exposed singles without suit or colour restrictions.
Any rank can fill a gap; foundations still follow suit.
Down one rank, regardless of suit. Exposed singles only. Any rank fills an empty column. Foundations build in suit from the four starting aces.
Remove the four aces from a standard pack and place one on each foundation. Shuffle the remaining forty-eight cards and deal eight face-up columns of six. Nothing remains in stock.
Traditional physical layouts put four rows on each side of the foundations, with their outermost cards available. This screen arranges the eight equivalent piles as vertical columns; only each column’s final exposed card can play.
Move one exposed end card onto another column’s exposed card exactly one rank higher. A seven of hearts can join an eight of spades or any other suit. Colours do not need to alternate.
Covered cards and multi-card tails cannot move together here. There is no ace–king wrap. A king can start an empty column but cannot be placed on another occupied column.
Any exposed single card may move into an empty column. You do not need a king. The move uncovers the card that was immediately beneath it, which may create a foundation move or another tableau join.
A gap is not a free cell: it can later develop into an ordinary descending column. Keep track of which temporary card you have parked there and whether moving it back will be possible.
The foundations begin with four aces. Move each exposed two onto the matching ace, then continue upward in suit through king. A tableau join may ignore suit, but foundation building never does.
Foundation cards cannot return to the tableau at this table. Only exposed singles go home. If you want to revisit a foundation choice, Undo restores the prior position.
Win when all fifty-two cards, including the starting aces, are on the foundations. There is no stock to draw, waste to recycle or second deal within the same game.
When no forward action remains the deal is marked blocked. Restart preserves the shuffle; New deal replaces it. The random generator does not guarantee that every layout can be solved.
Some digital versions offer a group shortcut when enough empty columns exist to reproduce the transfer using singles. This table keeps the underlying single-card rule visible: make each intermediate move yourself.
Unlike Baker’s Dozen, empty columns here accept any rank. Unlike FreeCell, there are no storage cells and tableau building does not require alternating colours. These distinctions are the focus of the guided examples.
Reference: BVS Solitaire’s Beleaguered Castle rules. This wording, lesson positions and implementation are original.
Print the Beleaguered Castle Solitaire reference or save it as a PDF from your browser’s print window.
The aim: complete four same-suit foundations from their starting aces through kings.
Random deals are not pre-checked for solvability. The rules above state this table’s conventions.
LEARN IT. DEAL IT. ENJOY IT. ♣No. The four aces start on their foundations.
Six, making forty-eight tableau cards in eight columns.
No. Tableau building follows rank only.
Yes. Any exposed single card can start an empty column.
No. This table requires the underlying single-card transfers.
They represent the same eight piles as the traditional four-row-per-side layout.
No at this table. Undo is available.
No. Everything is dealt at the start.