Two-deck variant
A two-deck solitaire using eight tableau columns. Find Aces and build foundations up by suit to Kings. Build tableau columns down regardless of suit. The stock deals one card at a time with a single pass. Complete all four foundations to win.
Congress Solitaire (also called Congress of Kings) is a two-deck patience game in the Forty Thieves family. Eight tableau columns each receive five face-up cards, the remaining cards form a stock dealt one at a time, and eight foundations build upward by suit from Ace to King. Tableau columns build downward regardless of suit — any card one rank lower can be placed on any tableau top. The stock can only be used once.
Congress and Parliament share the same core structure — two decks, eight columns, any- suit tableau building, single-pass stock. The key difference: in Congress, Aces start in the stock and must be found and played to the foundations during the game. In Parliament, all eight Aces are pre-placed on the foundations before dealing, making Parliament slightly easier from the start.
With only one pass through the stock, every waste card that goes unused is permanently lost. Scan all eight tableau tops for any-suit moves that improve foundation access before each stock draw. Because tableau building is any-suit, there are many more legal moves per turn than in same-suit games like Napoleon at St Helena — use them before drawing.