What is Three Blind Mice?
Three Blind Mice is a ten-column variant in the Scorpion family. Like Scorpion and Wasp, it uses same-suit placement for the selected card and a completion goal of assembling four King-to-Ace same-suit runs in the tableau. The key difference is scale: Three Blind Mice uses ten columns instead of seven, giving more room to maneuver but also requiring the same four suit runs across a wider tableau. This implementation has a two-card reserve, dealt onto the first two columns.
Full rules
The 52-card deck is dealt into ten columns of five cards. The bottom three cards of columns eight through ten start face-down; the other tableau cards are face-up. Two face-up cards remain in a reserve and are dealt onto the first two columns when chosen. Any face-up card moves along with all cards above it, provided the destination is one rank higher and the same suit. Empty columns accept only a King or King-headed group. Complete all four K–A same-suit runs in the tableau to win.
How it differs from Scorpion and Wasp
Scorpion uses seven columns with empty columns accepting only Kings. Wasp uses seven columns with empty columns accepting any card. Three Blind Mice uses ten columns with the same King-only empty column rule as Scorpion.
The ten-column layout changes the strategic calculus. More columns mean more suit-run candidates in play simultaneously. The extra columns give more staging room, but an unordered tail can still cover cards needed for another suit run.
Read the Three Blind Mice section of the Scorpion guide →
Carried tails at larger scale
A selected card still needs a same-suit, one-rank-higher destination. Its unordered tail can carry several blockers to a new column. With ten columns, compare which destination leaves useful cards accessible before moving a large tail.
Before a move, ask which card it reveals and whether the carried tail will block another useful card. Compare both effects before choosing a destination.
Three Blind Mice is part of The Web · Spider & Scorpion and is a variant of Scorpion.
More Spider & Scorpion games
- Scorpion — Move any face-up stack to build suit runs.
- Wasp — Scorpion where empty columns accept anything.
- Spider — Build same-suit sequences to clear the board.
- Beetle — Two-deck Spider cousin with ten columns.
- Mrs. Mop — Two-deck open Spider, all face-up.
- Relaxed Spider — Spider with relaxed redeal rule.
Also try
- Beleaguered Castle (Castle games) — Eight columns flanking four aces.
- Calculation (Waste-pile builders) — Race four foundations built by fixed increments.
- Canfield (Canfield family) — Compact reserve patience with wrap-around foundations.
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