Miss Milligan rewards patience over panic.

History and background

Miss Milligan is a two-deck patience game of Scottish origin, typically attributed to the late nineteenth century. It is unusual among large patience games for its defining special rule, the Waive, which allows the player to take one card from the waste pile and place it in an empty tableau column during the deal phase.

The game is closely related to the broader family of deal-and-build patience games, sitting between the complexity of Napoleon at St Helena and the simplicity of standard two-deck Klondike. Its win rate with careful play is moderate — enough that deliberate strategy is rewarded but good deals genuinely matter.

How the game is set up

Miss Milligan uses two standard 52-card decks (104 cards). The game does not start with a pre-dealt tableau — instead, the tableau builds during play:

• Stock — The full 104-card deck starts as the stock. Cards are dealt one at a time from the stock to a row of eight tableau columns.
• Tableau building — Deal cards one at a time to the rightmost available column position. Between deals, play any legal foundation or tableau moves. A new card is only dealt when all legal moves on the current tableau have been exhausted or declined.
• Tableau sequences — Build downward in alternating colors. Sequences move as units.
• Foundations — Eight piles (four suits, two copies). All build upward from Ace to King by suit.
• The Waive — Once during the game, when an empty column exists, the player may take the top card of the waste pile and place it in that empty column. This is a one-time use.

The Waive: your most important decision

The Waive is the defining mechanic of Miss Milligan and the decision that most often determines whether a game is won or lost. Understanding when and how to use it correctly is the central skill of the game.

The Waive allows you to take any card from the waste pile and place it in an empty column, as long as an empty column exists at that moment. You can only use it once per game.

The best Waive uses share a common structure: the stock is nearly exhausted, the tableau is tight, and one specific waste card — if placed in an empty column now — would unlock a chain of foundation moves that clears the board. Using the Waive as the final piece of a calculated win is far more valuable than using it as an early convenience.

Creating and maintaining empty columns

The Waive only works when an empty column exists. Beyond the Waive, empty columns in Miss Milligan serve the same purpose as in any tableau-building game: they provide temporary storage for long sequences that need to move out of the way.

With eight columns and 104 cards, empty columns are achievable but not automatic. The early deal phase is the best time to create them — before the full stock has been dealt and each column is deep. To create an empty column early:

• Focus foundation plays on one or two suits to reduce tableau depth in those columns.
• Transfer shorter column sequences onto longer columns when the length cost is acceptable.
• Avoid filling columns with cards that have no immediate use just to keep dealing.

Foundation timing and Ace priority

Miss Milligan has eight foundations — all must be started with an Ace and built up to King. With two copies of each Ace, you have twice as many Ace-finding chances as in a single-deck game, but the larger stock means Aces are spread further apart in the deal sequence.

Prioritize foundation moves as soon as they become available. Every card moved to a foundation permanently removes it from tableau congestion, and in a 104-card game, congestion is the primary enemy. Do not delay moving a card to the foundation in hopes of using it in a tableau sequence — the tableau will always have more sequence candidates than the foundation will.

Stock deal pace

In Miss Milligan, you control the pace of the deal — you play all available moves before dealing the next card. This is different from games with pre-dealt tableaus, and it means the early game can involve many small decisions between individual stock deals.

The temptation is to deal quickly and build the tableau fast. Resist this. Each deal presents a card that either helps immediately (play it to foundation or into a sequence) or goes to the tableau as a new column top. Playing all legal moves between deals ensures you are extracting maximum value from each card before it gets buried by the next deal.

Common mistakes

• Using the Waive early on a minor stuck position. The Waive is a once-per-game tool. Using it in the first third of the game almost always leaves you without it when you need it at the end.
• Filling the only empty column with a non-King card and no plan.Once the empty column is filled, the Waive cannot be used until another column is emptied — which requires significant additional work.
• Dealing too quickly. Each card dealt is an opportunity to play before the tableau gets more complex. Slow down, play all moves, then deal.
• Ignoring suit structure in sequence building.Miss Milligan’s alternating-color sequences can trap same-suit cards in positions where the foundation cannot receive them even when the rank is right. Keeping suit paths clear through the tableau — especially for low cards — is important in the mid-to-late game.