# How to Play Blockade Solitaire

Blockade Solitaire has a tableau where you sequence cards by suit like [Josephine](https://solitaired.com/josephine) and deal them from the stock pile like [Spider](https://solitaired.com/spider-solitaire). 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.

![How to set up a game of Blockade Solitaire](https://defbnszqe1hwm.cloudfront.net/images/Blockade-solitaire-setup.png) 

### 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](https://solitaired.com/spiderette), [Big Spider](https://solitaired.com/bigspider) and [Scorpion](https://solitaired.com/scorpion) are all games where cards are dealt like Spider Solitaire. [Joesphine](https://solitaired.com/josephine) and [Penguin](https://solitaired.com/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](https://solitaired.com/)
* [Mahjong](https://solitaired.com/mahjong)
* [FreeCell Solitaire](https://solitaired.com/freecell)
* [Crescent Solitaire](https://solitaired.com/crescent)
* [Yukon Solitaire](https://solitaired.com/yukon-solitaire)
* [TriPeaks Solitaire](https://solitaired.com/tripeaks-solitaire)
* [Pyramid Solitaire](https://solitaired.com/pyramid-solitaire)
* [Golf Solitaire](https://solitaired.com/golf)