Solitaire
Help on Forty Thieves and Kings Corners

Forty Thieves and Kings Corners are very different games, but they're both fun.  Kings Corners has the simplest strategy, but is harder to win.  Forty Thieves has the advantage of scoring, so you can compete with others for the best score or the best average.  To learn more about either game, click on one of the keywords below:

Forty Thieves

Rules

Scoring

Strategy

Kings Corners

Rules

Strategy


Forty Thieves

Click on one of the following keywords:

Rules

Scoring

Two Players

Strategy


Kings Corners

Click on one of the following keywords:

Rules

Strategy


Rules of Forty Thieves

When you start Forty Thieves, you are dealt seven columns of five cards each, face up.  The next card is dealt face up in the center of the bottom of the screen (the stack) and the remainder of the deck is fanned on the bottom left of the screen.

The object is to "take" all 35 cards off the table.  The card on your stack can take any card on the bottom row of the table which is one card greater or less than the card on the stack.  For example:

·	7's can take 6's or 8's.

·	Jacks can take 10's or Queens.

·	Jokers can take or be taken by anything.

·	Kings cannot take Aces or vice-versa.

To take a card with the card on the stack, simply point to the card you want to take with the mouse and click the left mouse button.  The card you took will be placed on the stack, which you can then use to take another card on the table.  Points are awarded to you whenever you take a card off the table, unless it is a joker.

If you can't take any cards with the card on the stack, click on the stack and a new card will be dealt.  When you run out of cards without clearing the table, the game is over.

If you clear the table, a joker is removed from the deck, the deck is shuffled and dealt, and you are allowed to add to your current score.


Two Players in Forty Thieves

Two players can play Forty Thieves in turns.  If you select the "Thieves Options" menu item, a dialog box will appear which allows you to select one or two players, change the names of the players and select the number of games to play before declaring a winner.

Each player is given an opportunity to play until he is stuck, then the play is given over to the other player.  The score for each player is accumulated for as many games as set in the "Thieves Options" box.

The names and the number of games to play can be changed in the middle of a match without affecting the scores.  For example, if after playing two games of a five game match, you might decide to extend the match to seven games.

When you selected the "Thieves Options" menu item, the "Games to play" box would show "3", since you had already played two games.  Changing the number "3" to "5" in the "Games to play" box and clicking on "Ok" would extend the match by two games.

The "Games left" display on the playing table shows the games left to play after the current one, so if the display shows "Games left: 1", each player has at least one more opportunity to play.


Scoring in Forty Thieves

The point value of each card is as follows:

A	-	8

2	-	6

3	-	6

4	-	4

5	-	4

6	-	2

7	-	2

8	-	2

9	-	4

10	-	4

J	-	6

Q	-	6

K	-	8

The joker isn't worth any points.  An extra fifteen points is awarded each time a player takes all the cards from the board.

The top ten scores are recorded, even if you are playing in two-player mode.  They can be viewed by selecting the "Thieves Best" menu item and can be reset by pressing the "Reset  Scores" button after selecting the "Thieves Options" menu item.

The average score is not a real average in the strict sense of the word, but does give you a sense of how you've done in the past 20 or so games.


Strategy in Forty Thieves

The strategy of Forty Thieves changes with the cards, the player's mood and the alignment of the stars.  Over-all strategy is probably best learned by playing the game for several hours at a time while you really should be doing something else, but here are some ideas:

Generally, the smallest and largest cards are the hardest to take, since aces can only be taken by twos and kings can only be taken by queens.  It is usually best to take those whenever possible.

It is usually better to take cards from the columns with the most cards in them.  I.e., it is better to take a card from a pile of five cards than from a pile of two cards, in order to uncover four cards rather than one.

It's sometimes better to not take cards which will help take other cards later.  For example, you might want to leave a queen behind to use to take a king later.

Use the joker on the table as soon as it is uncovered.  It is almost always better to uncover cards using the joker than to save it.

Of course, there are exceptions to all of the above recommendations, so if at first you don't succeed, keep playing.


Rules in Kings Corners

The object of Kings Corners is to deal all the cards from the deck onto the board.  There are only four limitations to how you can do this:

·	You cannot put a card on another card.

·	You must put kings in the corner spaces.

·	You must put queens in the left and right non-corner spaces.

·	You must put jacks in the top and bottom non-corner spaces.

Each time a card is dealt, click on the space where you want to put the card.  When you put a facecard on the board, the card will be replaced with a piece of a picture.

When you have filled all the spaces, you must then remove any tens or pairs of cards which add up to ten.  You do this by clicking on the cards; if the card is a ten, it will be removed, otherwise it will be inverted and you will need to click on another card which makes a total of ten.

When you have removed all the cards possible, click on the deck and the cards will be dealt for you to refill the spaces.

You can get stuck in two ways:

·	You can't place a dealt facecard in any of  its appropriate spaces.

·	You can't remove any cards after filling the spaces.

If you are able to deal all the cards, the picture will be completed.


Strategy in Kings Corners

Dealing

When filling the spaces with non-facecards, try to:

·	fill the middle spaces first in order to save the outer spaces for the facecards.

·	avoid filling up all the spaces for a facecard before necessary.  For example, don't fill all the king spaces while all the queen or jack spaces are still open.

·	when you must fill the last space of a facecard, pick the facecard which is mostly filled with facecards.  For example, if three kings have been played, but no other facecards, it makes more sense to fill the king space before filling the last queen or jack space.

Removing Cards

When removing cards, try to:

·	remove cards from the outer edges before removing them from the center.

·	remove cards from all three facecard spaces.  For example, don't remove cards from just the king spaces, or you will get stuck if you are then dealt a jack or queen.