Napoleon's Square is a

patience (or forbearance) is the ability to endure difficult circumstances. Patience may involve perseverance in the face of delay; tolerance of provocation without responding in disrespect/anger; or forbearance when under strain, especially when face ...

solitaire Solitaire is any tabletop game which one can play by oneself, usually with cards, but also with dominoes. The term "solitaire" is also used for single-player games of concentration and skill using a set layout tiles, pegs or stones. These game ...

card game A card game is any game using playing cards as the primary device with which the game is played, be they traditional or game-specific. Countless card games exist, including families of related games (such as poker). A small number of card ga ...

which uses two decks of

playing card A playing card is a piece of specially prepared card stock, heavy paper, thin cardboard, plastic-coated paper, cotton-paper blend, or thin plastic that is marked with distinguishing motifs. Often the front (face) and back of each card has a fi ...

s. First described in a revised edition of ''Lady Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Patience or Solitaire'' in the early 1900s (as Le Carré Napoleon), it is an easy variation of

Napoleon at St Helena Napoleon at St Helena is a 2-deck patience or solitaire card game for one player. It is quite difficult to win, and luck-of-the-draw is a significant factor. The Emperor Napoleon often played patience during his final exile to the island of St H ...

(aka Forty Thieves). It is not determined if

Napoleon Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

actually played this game, or any solitaire game named after him.

Rules

First, forty-eight cards are dealt into twelve piles of four cards each, forming three sides of a

square In Euclidean geometry, a square is a regular quadrilateral, which means that it has four equal sides and four equal angles (90- degree angles, π/2 radian angles, or right angles). It can also be defined as a rectangle with two equal-lengt ...

. The rest of the deck consist the stock. Fourth "side" of the square is left to be occupied by the foundations. The object of this game is to place the Aces as they become available and build each of them up to kings. The top card of each pile is available for play, to be built on the foundations or on another pile. Cards on the tableau are built down in suit and sequences can be moved as a unit. Spaces, whenever they occur, can be filled with any available card or sequence. When there are no more plays on the tableau that can be made, the stock is dealt one at a time, and any card that cannot be built on the foundations or on the tableau can be placed on a waste pile, the top card of which is available for play. The stock can only be dealt once. The game ends soon after the stock has run out. The game is won (which is very likely) when all cards are built onto the foundations.

Variant

Napoleon's Shoulder is a variant described in Magna's ''The Complete Book of Card Games'' (1993). The key differences are that cards may be packed down regardless of suit and that the piles may be examined. In another version only one card is dealt to each depot in the square at the beginning, similar to the variation described by Cadogan in the very first rule set of 1874.

References

* Arnold, Peter. ''Card Games For One'' * Barry, Sheila Anne, ''World's Best Card Games for One'' * Bonaventure, George A. ''Games of Solitaire'' * Cadogan, Lady Adelaide. ''Lady Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Solitaire or Patience'' * Coops, Helen L. ''100 Games of Solitaire'' * Dick, William Brisbane. ''Dick's Games of Patience'' * Morehead, Albert H. & Mott-Smith, Geoffrey. ''The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games'' * Moyse Jr, Alphonse. ''150 Ways to play Solitaire'' {{Patience Simple packers Double-deck patience card games

Rules

Variant

See also

References