Captive Queens rules
This version uses the setup in which the four Queens and eight foundation bases are placed before play. The Queens remain in the middle and never move. Each suit has a Five foundation building downward and a Six foundation building upward. The Ace goes between 2 and King in the Five line.
The other 40 cards make the stock. Draw them one at a time to the waste and play its exposed top to the required suit foundation. The linked Quadrille rules allow three redeals of the waste. The game is complete when each foundation has six cards, with Kings and Jacks showing.
Rules source: Quadrille (patience).
Choosing a move
There is no tableau and each card has only one possible destination. Play a legal waste card before covering it with a new draw, then keep track of the next rank needed on every line. A card buried in the waste can return on a later pass, but the number of passes is limited.
The earlier game with the same Quadrille name uses Aces and Deuces as bases. Play Royal Quadrille or read the Captive Queens strategy guide.
Captive Queens is part of Clocktower · Layout, cross & clock-face games.
More Layout, cross & clock-face games games
- Windmill — Center and corner foundations, windmill layout.
- Big Ben — Clock-face foundations building by suit.
- Braid — Herringbone layout feeding eight foundations.
- Long Braid — Twenty-four braid cards and six cells open to the braid tip.
- British Blockade — Build eight Ace and King foundations from a ten-column blockade that grows row by row.
- British Square — Two-deck 4×4 with reversible foundations.
Also try
- Gaps (Grid & sequence puzzles) — Fill four rows of gaps to build 2–K suit runs. No aces, three passes.
- Klondike (Klondike family) — The patience everyone knows. Draw 1 or 3.
- Seahaven Towers (FreeCell & open packers) — FreeCell cousin: ten columns, same-suit builds, two cells.
Learn