What is Gargantua?
Gargantua is a two-deck Klondike variant — essentially Klondike doubled in almost every dimension. Two standard 52-card decks (104 cards) are used, nine tableau columns replace seven, and eight foundations replace four. The stock allows two passes rather than unlimited recycling. The name reflects its scale: Gargantua is the largest common single-tableau patience game in the Klondike tradition.
Despite the larger layout, the core mechanics are identical to Klondike: alternating-color sequences build downward, Kings fill empty columns, and foundations build upward by suit from Ace to King. The strategic habits that work in Klondike apply here, but at greater scale and with harder recovery limits.
Full rules
Two 52-card decks are shuffled together. Nine tableau columns are dealt: column 1 gets one card, column 2 gets two, and so on up to column 9 with nine cards. Only the bottom card of each column is face-up; all others start face-down.
Tableau sequences build downward in alternating colors. Properly ordered sequences move as units. Only Kings (or King-headed sequences) fill empty columns. Eight foundations (two per suit) build upward from Ace to King. The stock is dealt one card at a time; the full stock can be cycled twice before play ends.
The two-pass stock limit
Klondike typically allows unlimited stock recycling; Gargantua allows only two passes. This means every stock card seen during the first pass that is not played is seen once more in the second pass — and then gone. This makes the first-pass reveal priority even more important than in Klondike.
Players who casually cycle the Klondike stock many times looking for opportunities will find Gargantua much less forgiving. Every tableau move that reveals a face-down card during the first stock pass is genuinely valuable; every stock card that passes without being used is a resource being spent down toward the two-pass limit.
See Emperor strategy for two-deck reveal habits →
Nine columns vs. seven
Two extra columns versus Klondike means more hidden cards at the start (44 face-down versus 21) and more total movement room. The additional columns give more destinations for sequences, but the proportional increase in hidden cards means the early reveal phase is longer and more consequential.
With two copies of every card, the same rank-doubling logic as Emperor applies: if one copy of a needed card is buried, the other may be accessible elsewhere. But this also means foundations accept two of each rank per suit — so both copies of each card must eventually reach their respective foundations.
Related two-deck games
- Emperor — two-deck, ten columns, unlimited stock recycling
- Napoleon at St Helena — two-deck, ten columns, same-suit build rule, single stock pass
- Miss Milligan — two-deck deal-as-you-go with the Waive
Related games and reference