Rules
Scorpion Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use one standard 52-card deck.
- Deal seven tableau columns of seven cards each.
- The first four columns start with three face-down cards and four face-up cards.
- The last three columns start with all seven cards face up.
- Three leftover cards form the tail, which can be dealt once to columns one, two, and three.
- Tableau cards build downward by suit: 6 of hearts onto 7 of hearts, not onto 7 of diamonds.
- Any face-up card may move with every card above it, even if that carried packet is unordered.
- Only the leading card of a packet has to fit the destination.
- Empty tableau columns accept kings or packets led by kings.
- Complete same-suit king-to-ace runs clear automatically on this page.
How to play
How to play Scorpion Solitaire
Scorpion Solitaire is a one-deck tableau game about turning a disorderly set of columns into four perfect suit runs. Your target is not an ace-up foundation. Your target is a complete sequence in the tableau: king, queen, jack, 10, and so on down to ace, all in the same suit.
Choose any face-up card, then move that card and every card above it as one packet. The selected card is the only card that must fit the destination. A 6 of hearts can land on the 7 of hearts, even if the cards riding above that 6 are mixed, awkward, and nowhere close to ordered. That freedom is what makes Scorpion feel explosive.
The catch is the suit rule. Alternating colors do not help. Red-on-black does not help. Scorpion wants the exact same suit, one rank lower. Because each suit has only one card of each rank, the wrong move can bury the one connector a whole run needs.
Background
What is Scorpion Solitaire?
Scorpion sits between Yukon and Spider. Like Yukon, it lets you move a face-up card with whatever cards happen to be above it. Like Spider, it cares about complete descending suit sequences. The result is a compact but demanding game where a single packet move can open a hidden card, create a king space, or tangle two suits together for half the deal.
The game gets its name from the three-card tail left after the opening deal. You can ignore that tail for a while, but eventually it stings: three new cards land on the first three columns, often covering cards you wanted to use. Good Scorpion play is partly about timing that moment.
Setup
The Scorpion layout on this page
- Columns one through four each contain three hidden cards under four face-up cards.
- Columns five through seven each contain seven face-up cards.
- The tail contains the remaining three cards.
- The tail deal places one face-up card on each of the first three columns.
- There is no waste pile, redeal, reserve, or separate foundation-building phase.
Deal
Scorpion Solitaire setup by area
The opening deal puts 49 cards straight into the tableau. That gives Scorpion more visible information than Klondike, but less certainty than FreeCell. Twelve cards are hidden under the first four columns, and those hidden cards are often the difference between a smooth suit run and a position that looks open but cannot finish.
Columns 1-47 cards each3 down, 4 up
Columns 5-77 cards eachall face up
Tail3 cardsdealt once
Runs
The king-to-ace suit run
A finished Scorpion run is one suit in exact descending order. A spade run starts with the king of spades and ends with the ace of spades. When this page detects a complete run at the top of a column, it clears that run into the completed-suits area so the remaining tableau is easier to read.
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Clearing completed runs is a display choice, not a shortcut. You still have to assemble the full same-suit sequence in the tableau first. The automatic clear simply marks progress and prevents a finished suit from occupying space after it no longer needs decisions.
Packet moves
The move rule that defines Scorpion
Scorpion packet movement is generous, but the landing rule is strict. If the front card of a packet is the 9 of clubs, it can move only onto the 10 of clubs. The cards above that 9 do not need to be clubs, descending, or useful. They simply ride along.
This creates a useful tension. Packet freedom helps you uncover hidden cards quickly. Same suit building makes each landing place rare. A legal move that exposes a hidden card is often worth considering; a legal move that only drags clutter onto the one card your suit run needs may quietly make the deal harder.
Examples
Legal and illegal Scorpion moves
Suit is the whole test. The 6 of hearts moves onto the 7 of hearts. The 6 of hearts does not move onto the 7 of diamonds, even though both cards are red, and it does not move onto the 7 of clubs, even though classic Klondike would like the alternating color.
Legal6 of hearts onto 7 of hearts
LegalA messy packet led by a queen onto the king of the same suit
LegalKing-led packet into an empty column
Illegal6 of hearts onto 7 of diamonds
Illegal8 onto 7
BlockedFace-down cards cannot move
Empty columns are king spaces in this version. A bare king can move to an empty column, and so can a packet led by a king. A queen-led packet cannot fill a space just because there is a king somewhere above it in the carried cards.
Tail
How the three-card tail works
The tail is a one-time deal. It places one face-up card onto each of the first three tableau columns. There is no waste pile and no cycling through those cards later. Once the tail is dealt, every card is on the table.
Do not treat the tail as a harmless draw button. It can give you a missing connector, but it can also cover the top of a column that was about to reveal a hidden card. If the tableau still has productive moves, use those moves first unless the tail clearly solves a problem.
No foundations
Why Scorpion does not play like Klondike
Klondike asks you to build foundations upward from ace to king. Scorpion asks you to arrange suits downward in the tableau. Low cards are not early exits. An ace is the end of a run, not the start of a foundation.
That changes card value. In Scorpion, kings create space and begin finished suits. Queens and jacks are essential connectors. Aces can be awkward because nothing can land on them, but every ace still has to finish a suit run eventually.
Strategy
Scorpion Solitaire strategy that matters
First, look for moves that reveal hidden cards in the first four columns. Hidden cards are the largest unknown in Scorpion, and uncovering one usually changes the real shape of the deal. A move that exposes a card and keeps the leading card useful is usually stronger than a move that merely joins two visible fragments.
Second, protect empty columns. A space is powerful because a king-led packet can relocate there, freeing an entire column or giving a suit run room to grow. Spending a space on the first available king can be correct, but only when that king brings useful order or opens something important.
Third, respect suit connectors. In alternating-color games, many cards can fill the same role. In Scorpion, the 8 of spades needs the 9 of spades. There is no substitute. Before you bury a connector under a long packet, ask whether its matching lower card will still be able to reach it.
Finally, time the tail. If you have no useful tableau move, deal it. If you have a move that reveals a hidden card, usually reveal first. The tail is most helpful after you have cleaned the first three columns enough that three extra cards do not bury your best work.
Mistakes
Common Scorpion Solitaire mistakes
- Forgetting that tableau cards build by suit, not by alternating color.
- Moving a large packet only because it is legal, even though it reveals nothing.
- Dealing the tail before the first three columns are ready for extra cards.
- Filling an empty column without a useful king-led packet.
- Burying a rare same-suit connector under unrelated cards.
- Leaving hidden cards covered while polishing visible runs that cannot finish yet.
Winnability
Is Scorpion Solitaire winnable?
Scorpion Solitaire is not always winnable from a random shuffle. The game offers dramatic packet movement, but the same-suit rule is unforgiving, and twelve hidden cards can trap the exact connectors a suit needs.
This page does not claim a fixed win rate because a useful number should come from this exact implementation over many measured deals. Undo, automatic run clearing, king-only spaces, and tail timing all affect practical difficulty.
Difficulty
How difficult is Scorpion Solitaire?
Scorpion is easy to understand after a few moves and hard to play carelessly. The board gives you many visible cards, so it rarely feels as blind as Klondike. But every move is constrained by suit, and the wrong packet can turn a promising column into a knot.
Compared with Yukon, Scorpion is stricter because suits must match. Compared with Spider, it is shorter and more concentrated because there is only one deck and one small tail. It suits players who like tableau engineering more than stock-pile rhythm.
Variants
Scorpion variants and house rules
Scorpion has several close relatives. Wasp is a common easier variant because it allows any card or packet to fill an empty column, not just kings. Three Blind Mice changes the hidden card pattern and creates a different opening texture. Some rulesets leave completed king-to-ace runs in the tableau instead of clearing them away.
This page keeps a clear standard version: one deck, seven columns, twelve hidden cards, a three-card tail dealt once, same-suit descending tableau building, king-only spaces, and automatic clearing once a full suit run is assembled.
Nearby games
How Scorpion compares with Yukon, Spider, and Forty Thieves
Yukon is the closest movement cousin: both games let unordered face-up packets travel by their leading card. Yukon is more forgiving in the tableau because it builds by alternating color and sends cards to foundations. Scorpion is narrower and sharper because each suit must assemble downward in place.
Spider shares the complete-run goal, but it is a larger two-deck game with ten columns and stock rows. Forty Thieves also builds by suit, yet it usually allows only one-card moves, making it more methodical. Scorpion lives in the middle: fast to start, full of big moves, and capable of becoming brutally tight.