Parliament skips Ace-hunting and opens straight into sequence building.

History and background

Parliament is a direct variant of Congress, and both belong to the Forty Thieves family of two-deck patience games. The Forty Thieves group emerged in the nineteenth century and features games that use two decks, multiple foundations, and a single-pass stock. Congress (also called Congress of Kings) established the pattern: eight tableau columns, any-suit downward building, and eight foundations building by suit from Ace to King.

Parliament’s one modification is its most consequential: all eight Aces are removed from the deal and placed on the foundations as starters before any other card is touched. This removes the Ace-hunting phase that dominates Congress strategy and makes Parliament measurably easier — while keeping all the stock management and tableau sequencing challenges of its parent game. If you find Congress frustrating, Parliament is the recommended starting point for the family.

How the game is set up

Two 52-card decks (104 cards) are used. Before dealing, all eight Aces are placed on the eight foundation piles as starters. The remaining 96 cards are dealt five face-up to each of eight tableau columns (40 cards in tableau); the rest go to the stock.

• Tableau sequences. Build downward, any suit. A 6 of any suit may go on a 7 of any suit. Cards move one at a time.
• Empty columns. May be filled with any card from the waste pile or from another tableau column.
• Stock and waste. Deals one card at a time to the waste; single pass only, no redeal.
• Foundations. Eight piles (two per suit) building upward by suit from Ace to King. 2s are the immediate targets from move one.

The first move is already decided: find the 2s

Because Aces are on the foundations from the start, every 2 that surfaces can immediately begin a foundation chain. Parliament opens differently from Congress: instead of asking “where are the Aces?” you immediately ask “where are the 2s?”

Scan the initial layout for all eight 2s before moving anything. A 2 on top of a tableau column goes directly to its foundation. A 2 one card down is the first excavation priority. A 2 in the middle of a column tells you to plan that whole column’s dismantlement sequence. The 3s are next in line after the 2s, and so on up.

Any-suit building: maximum flexibility

Parliament’s any-suit tableau rule means you never have to wait for the right colour or suit to extend a sequence. A 5 goes on any 6; an 8 goes on any 9. This makes tableau chains easier to build and longer sequences more achievable than in same-suit games.

The downside of maximum flexibility is that it is easy to build dense tableau sequences that look productive but actually lock in cards you need elsewhere. A long descending run on one column is only useful if you can also unpack it when you need the cards inside. Because only the top card of any column moves at a time, a run of ten cards is ten individual moves to dismantle.

Strategic priorities in order

1. Locate all eight 2s before touching anything. Any that are immediately available go to foundations. Any that are one card down become your first priority excavations.
2. Build tableau sequences downward to expose buried 2s and 3s. The any-suit rule means almost any card you move opens the path further. Build long, and the card beneath is always the next step.
3. Exhaust all tableau moves before every stock draw. The single-pass constraint applies identically in Parliament and Congress. A waste card that cannot be played is permanently gone.
4. Use empty columns to save unplayable waste cards. If a draw produces a card that has no tableau destination, put it in an empty column rather than leaving it to block the waste. An empty column as temporary storage saves options.
5. Advance foundations steadily once the low cards flow. A foundation at 5 opens the 6 as the next legal send. Each foundation advance reduces the tableau population and simplifies the remaining problem.

Decision walkthroughs

A 2 visible but one card down

Stock card has no legal tableau destination

Two foundations at different ranks, same suit available

Common mistakes

• Forgetting that 2s are the opening targets. Players who approach Parliament like Klondike start building tableau sequences without checking whether any 2s are already available. Foundation progress in the first five moves is always achievable in Parliament.
• Drawing before exhausting tableau options. The same rule that makes Congress punishing applies here: every premature draw may waste a card that cannot be recovered.
• Building tableau sequences that lock in foundation-ready cards. A 5 stacked under a 9-8-7-6 is inaccessible until the whole run is dismantled. Any-suit building makes it easy to bury low cards accidentally.
• Treating both foundations of the same suit identically. Two hearts foundations may be at different ranks. The lower one needs the smaller card; feeding the wrong foundation wastes the card for the other.

Recognizing a losing position early

Parliament is more winnable than Congress because Aces are never the bottleneck, but it still fails when the stock runs out before the tableau can circulate enough cards to the foundations. Signs of a deteriorating position:

• Multiple low cards (2s or 3s) are buried under long any-suit runs with no immediate path to dismantle those runs from the top.
• Consecutive draws are producing cards with no tableau or foundation destination, filling the waste and no empty columns remain to absorb them.
• All eight tableau columns are at maximum length and the foundations have only advanced to 3 or 4. The remaining cards in the stock cannot fit anywhere useful.

When you see these signals, the best response is to rearrange as many tableau tops as possible before the next draw, and to re-examine whether any sequence can be partially dismantled to free a low card. Parliament is forgiving enough early that the right sequence reorganization often opens an entirely new path.