Step-by-step guide to play and win Scorpion Solitaire.
Scorpion Solitaire is one of the most distinctive and strategically rewarding free solitaire games you can play online. It shares its win condition with Spider Solitaire — building complete King-to-Ace sequences of the same suit within the tableau — but its layout, movement rules, and card dealing mechanics make it a genuinely different experience. Scorpion is played with a single 52-card deck rather than two, uses seven columns rather than ten, and gives you a movement rule so flexible it can feel almost liberating compared to more restrictive solitaire card games.
Scorpion Solitaire is one of the most distinctive and strategically rewarding free solitaire games you can play online. It shares its win condition with Spider Solitaire — building complete King-to-Ace sequences of the same suit within the tableau — but its layout, movement rules, and card dealing mechanics make it a genuinely different experience. Scorpion is played with a single 52-card deck rather than two, uses seven columns rather than ten, and gives you a movement rule so flexible it can feel almost liberating compared to more restrictive solitaire card games.
That flexibility cuts both ways, though. With more freedom comes more opportunity to make moves that look helpful in the moment but quietly undermine your position several turns down the line. Scorpion rewards deliberate, forward-thinking play — and punishes reactive play more visibly than most solitaire variations. This guide covers everything you need: setup, rules, how moves work in practice, and the key strategies and tips that separate consistent winners from players who find Scorpion perpetually elusive.
If you're new to solitaire generally, our guide to Play Solitaire online covers the fundamentals of classic Klondike. If you've played Spider Solitaire before, Scorpion will feel recognisably related — our Spider Solitaire guide is a useful companion read.
Scorpion Solitaire uses a single standard 52-card deck — 52 cards in total, not two decks like Spider. At the start of a new game, 49 cards are dealt to seven tableau columns of seven cards each. The remaining three cards are set aside as a small reserve stock pile, held face-down and used only once during the game.
The deal is not uniform across all seven columns. In columns one, two, and three, the bottom three cards of each column are dealt face-down, with four face-up cards placed on top. Columns four, five, six, and seven receive all seven cards face-up from the start. This means 16 cards begin face-down and 33 cards begin face-up across the seven columns.
There are no foundation piles in the initial layout — unlike Klondike or Spider, foundations are not set up on the board at the beginning. Instead, completed sequences are removed from the tableau as they're formed, and it's the removal of all four complete sequences that signals a win.
The Win Condition
You win Scorpion Solitaire by building four complete same-suit sequences of thirteen cards each — King at the bottom, Ace at the top — within the tableau. Each complete sequence is automatically removed from the board when formed. Build and clear all four (one per suit: spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs) and the game is won.
Tableau Movement Rules
Cards in the Scorpion tableau are arranged in descending rank within the same suit. To place a card on another card, it must be one rank lower and the same suit — a 7 of hearts goes on an 8 of hearts; a Jack of spades goes on a Queen of spades. Unlike Klondike, there is no alternating colour rule. Unlike Spider one-suit, suit matching is mandatory from the very first move.
The movement rule itself is Scorpion's most distinctive feature. Any face-up card can be moved to a valid destination, and all face-up cards resting on top of it in its column are carried along as a group — regardless of whether those overlying cards follow any particular order. This is identical to the Yukon Solitaire movement rule: the destination must be valid (correct rank and same suit), but the cards being dragged along for the ride can be in any state of disorder.
When a face-down card in columns one, two, or three is fully exposed — all face-up cards above it have been moved — it automatically flips face-up.
Empty columns created by clearing all cards in a column can be filled by any card or group of cards, headed by any card — not just Kings. This is more flexible than Klondike and Yukon, where only Kings can fill empty spaces.
The Reserve Stock
The three reserve cards are your one-time lifeline. When you run out of useful moves in the tableau, you can deal the three reserve cards — one lands face-up at the bottom of each of the first three columns (columns one, two, and three). This is the only time you draw cards in Scorpion, and it happens exactly once per game. Use it wisely: dealing the reserve at the right moment can unlock a completely stalled game, while dealing it prematurely — before exhausting all tableau possibilities — wastes one of the game's most valuable resources.
At the start of a Scorpion game, scan all seven columns for cards that can move to valid same-suit destinations. Because suit matching is required, valid moves are less frequent than in Yukon — but the freedom to move any face-up card along with its pile means you often have more options than the bottom card of each column alone would suggest.
The most valuable moves in the early game are those that flip face-down cards. The sixteen face-down cards at the start of a Scorpion game are the hidden obstacles — you don't know what they are, and they can't be played until revealed. Every time you expose and flip a face-down card, you gain new information and new possibilities. Make uncovering face-down cards your overriding priority in the opening phase of every game.
As the game progresses and more cards are face-up, the focus shifts to building same-suit sequences. Look for opportunities to consolidate scattered same-suit cards into single columns — gathering all the spades together, building them into the correct order, and gradually extending them toward a complete King-to-Ace run. The four suits are competing for space and attention simultaneously, so keeping an eye on all four suits' progress at once is essential.
When the tableau genuinely stalls — no valid moves remain and no new face-down cards can be reached — deal the three reserve cards. Then immediately re-scan the entire tableau, because the three new cards may have unlocked chains of moves that weren't previously possible.
Prioritise Same-Suit Consolidation
The most important strategic habit in Scorpion is to actively consolidate cards of the same suit into the same columns. Scorpion deals cards relatively randomly across the seven columns, and the same suit often starts scattered across multiple columns. The sooner you begin gathering scattered suit cards into single consolidated columns, the easier it becomes to build the long King-to-Ace sequences you need to win. Every time you have a choice between a move that consolidates same-suit cards and a move that doesn't, prefer consolidation.
Guard Empty Columns
Empty columns in Scorpion — unlike Klondike — can be filled by any card or group. This makes them more versatile but also more tempting to fill carelessly. An empty column is your most flexible resource: it can serve as a temporary parking space for a pile you need to move to reach a buried card, or as a staging area for assembling a sequence. Don't fill an empty column with a random card just because you can. Hold the space until you have a specific, strategic purpose for it.
Plan Before Using the Reserve
The three reserve cards are dealt exactly once and cannot be undone. Before dealing them, make absolutely certain you have exhausted every possible move in the current tableau. Check not just the bottom cards of each column but every face-up card in every column — Scorpion's movement rule means any of them could be a valid play you've overlooked. Only when the tableau is genuinely stuck should you deal the reserve. And once you do, pause and scan the full tableau carefully before making your next move — the reserve cards often trigger cascading opportunities that aren't immediately obvious.
Think in Suit Sequences, Not Individual Cards
The most common strategic error in Scorpion is treating it like a general-purpose card-moving puzzle — shuffling cards around reactively without a clear suit-building plan. This leads to positions where cards are technically all face-up and playable, but so fragmented across columns that building a complete sequence of any suit becomes nearly impossible. From the very first move, ask yourself: does this move help me build the hearts sequence? The spades sequence? If a move doesn't contribute to suit-building progress, consider whether it's really worth making.
Learn the movement rule before your first game. Scorpion's any-face-up-card-with-pile rule is the most important thing to understand before you play. If you approach Scorpion thinking only the bottom card of each column can move, you'll miss the majority of your available moves and find the game impenetrably difficult.
Always look at the full column, not just the bottom card. Because any face-up card can be moved along with the cards on top of it, valid moves are often hidden in the middle of a column. Develop the habit of scanning every face-up card in every column, not just the tips.
Use undo freely. Every good free solitaire online platform offers unlimited undo. Scorpion's suit-matching constraint means some moves that seem logical lead quickly to dead ends. Undo back to the branching point and try a different approach — this is how you develop pattern recognition for the game.
Accept that not every deal is winnable. Scorpion has a lower win rate than FreeCell and requires a favourable initial deal as well as good play. If a game becomes clearly unwinnable, start a fresh deal rather than grinding through an impossible position. Our Solitaire daily challenge offers a curated fresh game every day — a great way to keep Scorpion practice regular and varied.
Compare with Spider for context. If you find Scorpion's suit-matching rule challenging, spending time with one-suit Spider — which requires no suit matching — can help you develop the sequence-building instincts that transfer directly to Scorpion. Our Spider Solitaire guide is the ideal starting point.
Scorpion Solitaire uses one 52-card deck dealt to seven columns of seven cards each, with three cards set aside as a reserve. In columns one through three, the bottom three cards start face-down; all other cards start face-up. There are no foundation piles — instead, your goal is to build four complete same-suit sequences of thirteen cards (King to Ace) within the tableau itself. Each completed sequence is removed automatically.
The single biggest improvement most Scorpion players can make is to shift from reactive card-moving to active suit-consolidation. From the very first move, look for opportunities to gather same-suit cards into the same columns and begin building ordered sequences. Scattered, fragmented suits are the most common reason Scorpion games end in an unavoidable loss — consolidated suits are the path to completing the King-to-Ace runs needed to win.