Iam almost ninety - three and taught myself the general way to play so;itaire.Forty-thieves is diffn

doriana

cult to learn without somhelp. perhapsyouhavesomeone who willgive mesome tips to help !!

sleeptech

There is a button you can click on just above the game you are about to play that shows the rules - see if that is helpful

Fnarf

Forty Thieves is an extremely difficult game to win. You'll notice that most games even the expert players don't go out. But that's exactly what makes it most fun for me.

The basic principle is getting open columns in the tableau, because that's how you can move cards out of the way of other cards you can play off onto the foundations or other columns in the tableau. Always be on the lookout for ways to free up columns.

Another really important thing about Forty Thieves is that often the best move is not to move. Since there are two of each suit, but it's very unlikely that you'll be able to play off both at first, it often makes sense to NOT play possible cards if you already have a string of that suit going. Especially if they're high cards. For instance, if you've already got a string of J-10-9-8 of diamonds, but another J of diamonds is showing too, and you turn up a ten of diamonds, you probably shouldn't play it unless you're very close to playing all your diamonds off. Generally, worry most about your low cards (four and under), because they're the ones you're going to be able to get rid of the soonest.

It is important to make liberal use of the UNDO button! If you play a card, and then find that it's in a tableau column as well, go back and unplay that card so you can get it from the tableau instead.

One thing that really helps as a beginner is to play the same game over and over, just to see how different moves work out. Do this for a couple of games without worrying how your score looks, and see if you can spot openings to do better. This will help train you to see better moves in the future. 

Good luck! It's really a good game, even if it is incredibly frustrating at times. 

nelbent

Masterful explication!

apecnm@aol.com

I love this game, I think I only won once, boy was I excited.it really is not that difficult,hang in there,and keep playn, you will begin to love it ,

LHBear

You can use the right mouse button to UNDO, also. As you open up columns, sometimes it works well to pull cards off the discard pile. Good luck. I hope you enjoy the game as much as I do.

Fireweed

Doriana,  Before I move any cards I always check for what aces are visable and then which 2's are also on the board and not in the deck.  Sometimes that really helps.