Two-deck variant
An easier variant of Congress where Aces start on the foundations. Two-deck solitaire using eight tableau columns. 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.
Parliament Solitaire is a two-deck patience game closely related to Congress. Like Congress, eight tableau columns hold five face-up cards each, tableau builds downward regardless of suit, eight foundations build upward by suit from Ace to King, and the stock is single-pass. The key distinction: in Parliament, all eight Aces are removed from the deck and placed on the foundations before dealing begins — making Parliament slightly more forgiving than Congress.
Two 52-card decks (104 cards). All eight Aces are placed on the foundations as starters. The remaining 96 cards are dealt five face-up to each of eight tableau columns (40 cards); the rest go to the stock. Tableau builds downward, any suit. Stock deals one card at a time to the waste; one pass only. Win by moving all 104 cards to the eight foundations.
With Aces already on the foundations, 2s are the immediate targets from the start. Locating 2s in the tableau and stock, and routing them to the eight foundation piles, is the opening priority. There is no “hunt for Aces” phase as in Congress.
The pre-placement also removes eight cards from the tableau-and-stock pool, making the opening layout slightly less congested and leaving more room for early foundation progress.