St. Helena (card game)

Last updated February 03, 2022

St. Helena (also known as Napoleon's Favourite or Washington's Favorite) is a patience or card solitaire game using two decks of playing cards shuffled together.^[1] Despite its name, it has no connection to the island with the same name, nor should it be confused with the better known Napoleon at St Helena, also called Forty Thieves in the US.

Rules

Explained here is the prevalent version. First, one king and one ace of each suit are removed and place in the middle of the table in two rows as shown. They are called the bases for the foundations. The kings form the upper foundations, while the aces form the lower foundations. Then, the rest of the cards are dealt clockwise into twelve piles starting with the upper left king. The table should now look like this:

	1	2	3	4
12	K	K	K	K	5
11	A	A	A	A	6
	10	9	8	7

The object is to build the upper foundations down by suit to the aces, and the lower foundations up by suit.

The top card of each pile surrounding the foundations is available for play onto another pile or on the foundations. Building on the piles is either up or down by suit. However a king cannot be placed over an ace and an ace cannot be placed over a king. Only one card can be moved at a time.

There is no mention in The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games of what to do with the spaces. This gives rise to at least two rule sets: one allows any card to be placed in a space; and another that does not allow a space to be filled.

For the first deal, there are restrictions as to which card goes to which foundation. Cards on piles 1 to 4 can only be played only to the upper foundations, cards on piles 7 to 10 can only be played to the lower foundations, and cards on piles 5, 6, 11, and 12 are available to either the upper or lower foundations.

After all possible moves have been made, the piles are collected in reverse order. That is, Pile 12 is placed over the Pile 11, then both are placed over Pile 10, and so on until all piles are placed over Pile 1. Then, without reshuffling, they are redealt again, one by one, into twelve piles around the foundations. After the cards are dealt anew, the restrictions no longer apply, i.e. a card can be placed on any foundation. This goes for after the second redeal.

The game is won when all cards are built into the foundations.

Variants

Louis is a solitaire variant of St. Helena. It is played exactly as St. Helena except for the following modifications:

First, 12 cards are dealt, one on each pile. From these twelve, the player places playable cards onto the foundations, filling a gap every time a card is played. If the game stops for lack of a play, the rest of the deck is dealt onto the twelve piles.
All top cards of piles are available to be built in any foundation (no restrictions).
Building in the piles can be up or down, but always by suit.

Box Kite is another variant, which is played the same as St. Helena, except that there are no restrictions about playing to the foundations after the initial deal, but no redeals are allowed.

Related Research Articles

Napoleon at St Helena is a 2-deck patience or solitaire card game for one player. It is quite difficult to win, and luck-of-the-draw is a significant factor. The Emperor Napoleon often played patience during his final exile to the island of St Helena, and this is said to be the version he probably played. Along with its variants, it is one of the most popular two-deck patiences or solitaires. The winning chances have been estimated as 1 in 10 games, with success typically dependent on your ability to clear one or more columns. The game is the progenitor of a large family of similar games, mostly with variations designed to make it easier to get out.

House in the Woods is a patience game which uses two decks of 52 playing cards. The game is basically a two-deck version of La Belle Lucie, but it borrows two things from its cousin Shamrocks, namely the building of cards up or down and the fact that there are no redeals.

Bristol is a Patience game using a deck of 52 playing cards. It is a fan-type game in the style of La Belle Lucie. It has an unusual feature of building regardless of suit on both the foundations and on the tableau; it is also one of the easiest to win. It was invented by Morehead & Mott-Smith.

Crescent is a solitaire card game played with two decks of playing cards mixed together. The game is so called because when the cards are dealt properly, the resulting piles should form a large arc or a crescent. An alternative and less common name for the game is La Demi-Lune.

Tournament is a patience or solitaire card game which uses two decks of playing cards shuffled together. It is a variant of the much older game of Napoleon's Flank or Nivernaise and was first known as Maréchal Saxe.

Intelligence is a Patience game which uses two decks of playing cards mixed together. It is basically a two-deck version of another solitaire game, La Belle Lucie, and its game play is somewhat closer to the parent game than its cousins House in the Wood and House on the Hill. As the name suggests, with intelligent play good players should be able to win about half of their games.

Capricieuse is a solitaire card game which is played using two decks of playing cards.

Westcliff is the name of two closely-related patience or card solitaire games of the simple packer type, both of which are played using a deck of 52 playing cards. One version is particularly easy to win, with odds of 9 in 10; the other is harder with odds closer to 1 in 4. The game has a variant, Easthaven.

Alhambra is a solitaire card game which is played using two decks of playing cards. Its unusual feature is akin to that of Crazy Quilt: the cards in the reserve are built either on the foundations or on a waste pile.

Napoleon's Square is a patience or solitaire card game which uses two decks of playing cards. First described in a revised edition of Lady Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Patience or Solitaire in the early 1900s, it is an easy variation of Napoleon at St Helena. It is not determined if Napoleon actually played this game, or any solitaire game named after him.

Leoni's Own is a 19th century American card solitaire played with two decks of playing cards shuffled together. This game may have come from Austria, takes approximately 20 minutes and is described as medium regarding difficulty and also uses an ingenious method called weaving.

Deuces is a solitaire card game which is played with two decks of playing cards. It is so called because each foundation starts with a "deuce", or two card. It also belongs to a family of card games which includes Busy Aces, which is derived from Forty Thieves.

Grand Duchess is a solitaire card game which is played with two decks of playing cards. It is a two deck game in the Sir Tommy family. One unique feature of this game is the building of the reserve, which is not used until the entire stock runs out.

The Plot is a Patience game which is played with two decks of playing cards.

Four Seasons is a patience or card solitaire which is played with a single deck of playing cards. It is also known as Corner Card and Vanishing Cross, due to the arrangement of the foundations and the tableau respectively. Another alternate name is Cross Currents.

Four Corners, also known as Les Quatre Coins, Cornerstones, or Corner Patience, is a solitaire card game which is played with two decks of playing cards. It is so called because of the pile of four cards at the corners of the tableau.

Jubilee is the name given to two solitaire card games, both played with two decks of playing cards. Both games are so-called because they were created during the time of the Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria in 1887. One of the games has an ornate layout, while the other is simpler and it belongs to the family of games which include Sir Tommy, Strategy, and Calculation.

Box Kite is a moderately difficult solitaire game using two decks. The object of the game is to move all of the cards to the foundations.

Corona is a relatively long and difficult patience or card solitaire using two decks. The object of the game is to move all of the cards to the foundations. Successfully winning the game is considered difficult.

Josephine is a patience or solitaire card game using two decks of playing cards. The object of the game is to move all of the cards to the Foundations. It is a variant of the more commonly known Napoleon at St Helena, and is named after Josephine de Beauharnais, Napoleon's first wife.

References

↑ "Saint Helena" (p.240-241) in The Complete Book of Card Games by Peter Arnold, Hamlyn Publishing, 2010. ISBN 978-0-600-62191-1

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[1] "Saint Helena" (p.240-241) in The Complete Book of Card Games by Peter Arnold, Hamlyn Publishing, 2010. ISBN 978-0-600-62191-1

[1]

St. Helena (card game)

Contents

Rules

Variants

See also

Related Research Articles

References