Scorpion Solitaire Strategy: 9 Tips to Win More Games

Scorpion is a game of looking before you leap. Almost every card is face up, so luck plays a smaller part than in most solitaires once the cards are dealt. What beats people is moving too quickly. A move that looks harmless can quietly lock two cards apart, and you may not notice until twenty moves later. These tips are about seeing that trouble coming. If you're new to the game, read how to play Scorpion Solitaire first.

1. Remember That Every Card Has Only One Home

In Scorpion a card can go on just one other card: the next-higher card of its own suit. The 9 of clubs goes on the 10 of clubs and nowhere else. So there are never two places to choose between for a card. The real choices are which moves to make and in what order.

The good news is that a join is never wasted. Once the 9 of clubs is on the 10 of clubs, they stay together for good. The whole game is making 48 of these joins without tying the columns in a knot.

2. Read the Layout Before You Touch a Card

Take a minute at the start. For each face-up card, find the card it belongs on, and ask two questions. Is that card face up? Is it at the end of its column, or can it get there? Pay special attention to:

3. Learn to Spot a Blocked Pair

This is the single most useful skill in the game. Two cards are blocked when a card lies underneath its own next-higher card in the same column. Say the 4 of diamonds is in a column and the 5 of diamonds lies somewhere on top of it. To join them, the 4 would have to move onto the 5. But moving the 4 carries the 5 along with it. They can't be joined while they share a column like that.

A blocked pair isn't always fatal. It comes undone if the upper card can be carried away first. In our example, suppose the 5 of diamonds has the Jack of clubs lying between it and the 4. If the Jack of clubs can move onto the Queen of clubs, it takes the 5 with it, and the 4 is free. If no card between them can ever move, though, the game is lost.

Some deals have a blocked pair from the first moment. More often, you create one without meaning to. That brings us to the next tip.

4. Look Down the Column You Are Moving To

When you move a group, every card in it lands on top of the cards already in the new column. Before you let go, run your eye down that column. Is there a card in it that needs to go onto one of the cards you are bringing over?

Example: you want to move the 6 of hearts onto the 7 of hearts. Riding on the 6 is the 9 of spades. Further down the 7's column lies the 8 of spades. Make the move and the 8 of spades is now underneath the 9 of spades in one column: a blocked pair that wasn't there before. It may be better to move the 8 of spades group onto the 9 of spades first, if you can, and bring the 6 of hearts over afterwards.

When two moves both look fine, make the one that leaves the fewest cards trapped this way.

5. Dig for the Face-Down Cards

Twelve cards are hidden under the first four columns, and you can't win until every one is turned over. A move that turns over a hidden card is nearly always worth making. It gives you a new card to work with and tells you something you didn't know.

Work on the column whose base card can move soonest. And watch for the worst case: the card sitting directly on the face-down cards needs a card that is hidden right beneath it. Under the Kings-only rule, that column can never be opened. If you can see it coming, for example when a newly turned card reveals it, it is time for Undo or a new deal.

6. Don't Rush the Stock, but Don't Forget It

The three stock cards land on the end of the first three columns. Whatever was at the end of those columns gets covered. So before you deal, look at those three end cards. If a card is ready to go onto one of them, make that move first.

On the other hand, the stock may hold a card you badly need. If you have checked every face-up card and three cards are still unaccounted for, they are in the stock. Dealing earlier can be right when the first three columns are short, or when their end cards are ones nobody is waiting for, such as Aces. Nothing ever goes onto an Ace, so covering one costs little.

7. Use Empty Columns for the Right King

An empty column is valuable, because only a King can use it and you won't get many. When you have a choice of Kings, prefer:

Remember that the cards riding on the King come too. Check where they will end up, as in tip 4.

8. Don't Make a Move Just Because It's There

Since joins are permanent, it's tempting to make every one the moment it appears. Usually that's fine. But the order matters when two moves get in each other's way. If move A would bury a card that move B needs, do B first. When you're unsure, picture the columns after each move and compare.

9. Let Hint and Undo Teach You

Scorpion rewards trying things. In our game, Undo is unlimited, and it even takes back the stock deal. The Hint button doesn't only suggest a move. When it can work the position out, it tells you whether the deal can still be won from where you are. If it says the deal can no longer be won, step back with Undo a few moves at a time and ask for a hint again. Finding the exact move where things went wrong is the fastest way to get better.

New Game normally gives you a shuffle that can be won, so if you get stuck, the answer is in there somewhere.

If You Want an Easier Game

Scorpion under the standard rules is tough, and there is no shame in softening it. Turn on Any card can fill an empty column in Settings. With that rule an empty column can untangle almost any blocked pair, and most deals become winnable. It's a pleasant way to learn the game before going back to Kings only.

You might also enjoy Spider Solitaire with one suit, which has the same goal and a much gentler pace, or Yukon Solitaire, which moves groups the same way but builds in alternating colors.

Ready to try it? Play a free game of Scorpion Solitaire with big cards, unlimited undo and deals that can be won. No sign-up needed.

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