How to Play Blockade Solitaire

Blockade Solitaire has a tableau where you sequence cards by suit like Josephine and deal them from the stock pile like Spider. It's called "blockade" because cards can get blocked when you deal them in the stock pile. 

Objective

Your goal is to move all 104 cards to the 8 foundation piles by moving cards from the stock pile and organizing them in the tableau.

The Setup and Play Area

Tableau: This is the area where there are 12 columns each, with one face-up card.

Stock pile: The remaining 92 cards go into the stock pile. Cards are dealt from the stock pile 8 times. The first 7 times one card is dealt to each of the 12 tableau columns. On the last deal, 10 cards are dealt for the first 8 tableau columns.

Foundation piles: These are the 8 piles where you aim to move playable cards in order from Ace to King by suit. Successfully placing all 104 cards in the foundation wins the game.

Available moves

• Foundations must be built in ascending order by suit. For example, a foundation pile will start with an Ace of Hearts, followed by a 2 of Hearts, and so on until it ends with a King of Hearts.
• Tableau cards can be moved by sequencing them in descending order by suit. For example, a 3 of Spades can be placed on top of a 4 of Spades.
• The last card of each tableau column can be moved to the foundation.
• You can move multiple cards at one time. To move a group of cards, they must be sequenced in descending order by suit, and the top card of that group must be placed on top of a playable card of the same suit and one rank higher.
• You can place any card in an empty tableau column. Once a tableau pile is empty, any card or sequence of cards can be moved onto this pile.

Strategy

• Make sure there are no more useful moves before drawing from the stock pile. Cards dealt from the stock pile can block cards, so make sure to make moves that advance the game before drawing from it.
• Continue to free up tableau columns. This allows you to move any card or sequence to these empty columns and free up cards.
• Move Kings to empty tableau columns. Kings cannot be placed on top of other cards. This means at some point, you'll need to move a King to an empty column to win.
• The first visible sequence may not always be the best one. Plan out your moves to remove as many cards as possible from the tableau.
• If you get stuck, use the undo button. You may not always make the right moves, and you may need to reverse some to win the game.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are some games similar to Blockade?

Spiderette, Big Spider and Scorpion are all games where cards are dealt like Spider Solitaire. Joesphine and Penguin are similar in that you sequence cards by the same suit.

How Difficult is Blockade Solitaire?

Blockade is considered easy in difficulty. When looking at 74 random games played, 48 were won, making the win rate 64.86%. This makes Blockade an easier game compared to other Solitaire games.

What are other popular Solitaire games?

Here are some good games to try:

• Solitaire
• Mahjong
• FreeCell Solitaire
• Crescent Solitaire
• Yukon Solitaire
• TriPeaks Solitaire
• Pyramid Solitaire
• Golf Solitaire