Scorpion

Full rules

1. Overview
2. Terms
3. Setup
4. Playing
5. Winning
6. Tips for beginners
7. Variants

Overview

Scorpion is a patience (a card game for one player, also called solitaire) related to Spider. There are no piles to sort the cards onto: instead you rearrange seven columns until you have four columns, one per suit, each running from King down to Ace. As in Yukon you may move any face-up card, together with everything lying on top of it. It looks simple, but the game is hard to win.

• Players: 1
• You need: one standard 52-card deck, no jokers.

Terms

• Rank: the value of a card. From low to high: A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K. The Ace is low.
• Column: a pile of cards spread downwards, each card slightly overlapping the one before it, so that you can see every face-up card.
• Tableau: all seven columns together.
• Last card: the card at the end of a column – the one nearest to you, not covered by any other card.
• Build down in suit: put a card onto a card of the same suit that is exactly one rank higher, e.g. 7♥ onto 8♥.
• Stock: three cards kept face down at the start and dealt out later.

Setup

1. Shuffle and deal a row of seven cards from left to right: the first four face down, the last three face up.
2. Deal two more rows in the same way, each slightly overlapping the row before.
3. Deal four more rows, all face up.
4. Put the last 3 cards face down aside as the stock.

Playing

There are no turns – you make one move after another in any order you like.

1. Building: you may put a card onto the last card of a column if it is of the same suit and one rank lower – 7♠ onto 8♠. Nothing may be put on an Ace.
2. Any face-up card may move: you can pick up any face-up card, however deep in its column, as long as it fits on the last card of another column. All the cards lying on top of it move with it as one unit, in whatever order they are.
3. Turning up cards: when a face-down card is no longer covered, turn it face up. It is now in play.
4. Empty columns: an empty column may only be filled with a King – any face-up King, together with all the cards on top of it.
5. The stock: when no more moves are possible, deal the three stock cards face up, one each onto the last cards of columns 1, 2 and 3. You don't have to fill empty columns first. Then carry on.

Example: In the layout above, column 2 shows 9♦ 2♣ 4♠ 6♥ on three face-down cards, and column 5 ends in the 10♦. You pick up the 9♦ and move it onto the 10♦ – the 2♣, 4♠ and 6♥ go along with it. Now the last face-down card of column 2 is uncovered: turn it face up.

Winning

You win when the tableau consists of four columns, each holding all 13 cards of one suit in order, King at the top (the end farthest from you) and Ace at the end. If you get stuck after dealing the stock, the game is lost. According to Morehead and Mott-Smith, only about one game in ten comes out.

Tips for beginners

• Start by looking at every face-up card that covers a face-down card. Trace back: which card would it go on, and what covers that card? Plan a chain of moves that frees the hidden cards.
• Watch for traps. If cards of one suit lie in the wrong order in one column (e.g. a K♠ with the J♠ directly on it and the Q♠ directly on the J♠), or two columns block each other (e.g. 10♣ directly on 4♥ in one column, 3♥ directly on J♣ in another), the game can no longer be won – avoid creating such blocks yourself.
• Every card except a King has exactly one place to go: the next higher card of its own suit. Before you dig for a card, check where that partner lies and how many cards cover it – a card whose partner is buried deep will not move for a long time.
• Before dealing the stock, try to keep an empty column among columns 4–7 rather than 1–3.
• A finished suit column is best left alone.

Variants

All optional – agree before you start.

• Scorpion II: only the first three columns get face-down cards (3 each); columns 4–7 are all face up. Easier.
• Wasp: an empty column may be filled with any card (with the cards on top of it), not only a King. Easier.