Eight positions, two kinds

Kings in the Corners Solitaire

Four side positions that will take any card, four corner positions that open only for a king, and a hand of seven. The trick most people miss is that whole piles can be picked up and moved as units.

Four sides, four corners
Corners take kings only
Whole piles can move
A seven-card hand

Stock41

Hand7

Table4/52

Moves0

Play hand cards down by alternating color.

Draw one card into your hand.

HandPlayable cards

Eight positions

Kings in the Corners rules

The two rules worth printing are the corner restriction and the whole-pile move.

Kings in the Corners setup and rules
Setup
Deck	One standard 52-card deck.
The layout	Eight positions — four sides and four corners — with the four sides dealt a card each.
Your hand	Seven cards, all face up.
Stock	The remaining forty-one cards.
Playing to the layout
Building	Down by rank and alternating colour, exactly as in Klondike.
An empty side	Accepts any card from your hand.
An empty corner	Accepts a king and nothing else.
Moving piles	A whole pile may be lifted on to another pile when its bottom card fits that pile's top card.
The hand and stock
Drawing	One card at a time into your hand.
Winning	Play every card from the hand and the stock on to the layout.
Losing	No legal move remains and the stock is empty.

A hand of seven

How to play Kings in the Corners Solitaire

Eight positions surround the stock: one at each side and one at each corner. The four sides are dealt a card each; the corners begin empty. Seven cards go into your hand and the other forty-one stay in the stock.

Cards played to the layout build downward by rank and alternating colour. A cleared side position will take any card you like. A corner position will take a king and nothing else — which is where the game gets its name.

The move that makes it work is the pile move: a whole pile can be lifted and dropped on to another pile whenever its bottom card fits that pile's top card. Win by emptying both your hand and the stock on to the layout.

The board starts half closed. Four sides are dealt and playable immediately; four corners sit empty and stay that way until a king reaches your hand. With four kings in the deck and seven cards in hand at the start, how quickly the corners open is the single biggest factor in how a deal goes.

Corners and sides

What each kind of position accepts

Legal and illegal Kings in the Corners moves
The move	Verdict	Why
A side pile shows the 9♠. You play the 8♥ from your hand.	Legal	Down by rank, alternating colour.
A side pile shows the 9♠. You play the 8♣ from your hand.	Illegal	Both black. The colours have to alternate.
A side position is empty. You play a 6♦ into it.	Legal	Empty sides accept any card at all.
A corner position is empty. You play a 6♦ into it.	Illegal	Corners take kings and nothing else. That is the name of the game.
A corner position is empty. You play a K♦ into it.	Legal	Exactly what the corner is for.
You move a whole pile headed by the 7♥ on to a black 8.	Legal	Piles move as units when the bottom card fits.
You move a whole pile on to an empty corner.	Illegal	A corner opens only for a king.

The move that changes the game

Lifting a pile without playing a card

Most games let you move a run of cards from one column to another. Kings in the Corners goes further: a whole pile — however it was assembled — can be lifted and dropped on to another pile, provided the bottom card of the pile fits the top card of the destination.

That is how a position gets cleared without spending anything from your hand, and it is the difference between a board that opens up and one that silently fills. Before drawing, check every pile's bottom card against every other pile's top card — the move is easy to overlook because nothing about the visible top cards suggests it.

Opening the corners

Kings in the Corners strategy

Play kings the instant a corner is open. A king in hand is dead weight; a king in a corner is a new place to build for the rest of the game.

Look for pile moves before you look at your hand. Clearing a position costs nothing and gives you a free slot; playing from your hand costs a card.

Keep a side position clear if you can. It is the only slot that takes any card, which makes it the right home for a card nothing else will accept.

Watch your hand size. Seven cards is a lot of information, and cards that sit there unplayed for a long time are usually a sign the board has closed rather than that you are unlucky.

Why the corners stay shut

Why the corners stay empty

Filling side positions before the kings appear

The four sides are the only positions that take any card, and they are dealt full. Once you fill a cleared side with an ordinary card you have used the layout's only flexible slot — while four corners sit empty waiting for kings that may not have surfaced yet.

Forgetting that whole piles move

A pile can be lifted entire and dropped on another pile whose top card accepts its bottom card. That is how you free a position without playing anything from your hand, and it is the move players from other games most often miss.

Holding kings in hand

A king in your hand does nothing but occupy space. A king in a corner opens a position that can then be built on for the rest of the game. Play them the moment a corner is free.

Odds on a small board

Is Kings in the Corners winnable?

Often, provided you use the pile move. It is the most forgiving of the small-layout games here — eight building positions and a seven-card hand is a lot of choice compared with a five-pile cross or a four-column reserve game.

What ends deals is kings arriving late while the four sides fill up. We do not publish a win rate, but this is a good game to play when you want one that generally works out.

This version

Eight positions, a seven-card hand, movable piles

One deck: four side positions dealt a card each, four corners left empty.
A hand of seven cards and a stock of forty-one.
Build down by rank and alternating colour.
Empty sides accept any card; empty corners accept kings only.
A whole pile may move on to another pile when its bottom card fits.
Draw one card at a time into the hand. No redeal.

Undo is unlimited and unpenalised, with no timer or score. The traditional card game of this name is played by several people; this is the solitaire adaptation.

Board size matters

Small layouts and what opens them

Four games with compact boards. The interesting column is what an empty position will accept, because on a small layout that rule decides almost everything.

Kings in the Corners compared with Klondike, Four Seasons, and Colorado
Game	Layout	What fills a space	Group moves	Where cards come from
Kings in the Corners	4 sides and 4 corners	Sides take any card, corners take kings	Whole piles move	Seven cards, drawn one at a time
Klondike	7 columns	Kings only	Ordered runs move	None — a stock and waste
Four Seasons	5 cross piles	Any card	None	None — a stock and waste
Colorado	20 piles	Any card	None	None — one card at a time

It is the only game here with two different kinds of empty space, and the only one that deals you a hand rather than a waste pile — Klondike shares its packing rule and almost nothing else.

Explore

More solitaire games

Games that share this one's packing rule, and other compact layouts.