Josephine Solitaire

Comment jouer à Josephine

Stratégie & astuces

• Empty columns are everything. With no group moves and no redeals, an empty column is your only real maneuvering tool. Don't fill it with a King unless that King opens a long playable suite or unblocks a critical buried card.
• Don't bury low ranks. A 3♠ trapped under 8 cards is often a lost game, because the 4♠ can't reach the foundation until the 3♠ is dug out — and digging requires moves you can't afford. Promote Aces and 2s relentlessly when available.
• Watch the stock. The stock is dealt once with no redeal — every card that goes to the waste must either play immediately or be playable when uncovered. Track which Aces and 2s remain so you don't accidentally bury them.
• Don't promote middle ranks too eagerly. A 7♠ on the foundation might lock out a 6♠ that the next-deck 7♠ would have used as a bridge. Forty Thieves has 8 cards per rank per suit — promotion order matters more than in single-deck games.
• Try Josephine or Forty and Eight first. The Forty Thieves family has many named relaxations: Josephine allows group moves of properly sequenced cards, Forty and Eight adds a redeal, Miss Milligan changes tableau geometry. Pick the relaxation that fits how you want to learn, then graduate to classic.

Origine & histoire

Named after Joséphine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's first wife. The variant makes Forty Thieves enjoyable for players who don't have St Helena's worth of free time.