Scorpion resembles Spider until you move the first group
Scorpion is a game of seven columns and four complete King-to-Ace runs. Like Spider, it asks you to build full descending sequences in the same suit and automatically removes them when completed. Yet it borrows a crucial freedom from the Yukon family: you may select any face-up card in a column and move it together with every card below it, even when the group is unordered. The destination must contain the next higher rank of the same suit.
Those simple ingredients produce a demanding puzzle. Moving a Nine of Spades onto the Ten of Spades may uncover a hidden card, but the Nine can carry a mixed group that will need to be separated later. The three-card stock is not available at any moment you choose. In the current Blupoli Cards variant, the three cards can be dealt only when no tableau move remains. Scorpion is therefore a game about exact destinations, protecting useful space and understanding what a legal group transfer will leave behind.
Forty-nine cards in seven columns
Scorpion uses a standard fifty-two-card deck without jokers. Blupoli Cards deals forty-nine cards into seven columns containing seven cards each. The first four columns begin with three face-down cards and four exposed cards. The last three columns begin fully face up. The remaining three cards form a small reserve that can be dealt onto the first three columns when the game reaches the appropriate condition.
The deal offers plenty of information immediately, but the twelve concealed cards in the first four columns may contain important ranks for completing the four suits. You cannot repeatedly draw from a large stock to change the available options. Most of the deck must be rearranged on the table from the outset. A useful first inspection is to identify which columns hide cards and which fully visible columns can supply exact same-suit landing places for the groups above them.
Descending by suit, not alternating colours
A card may be placed in the tableau only onto the next higher rank of the same suit. A Seven of Hearts fits on the Eight of Hearts but not on the Eight of Diamonds, even though both are red. A Nine of Clubs needs the Ten of Clubs, not a Ten of Spades. Suit identity matters more than colour, just as it does in Russian Solitaire and several other strict-building patience games.
This restriction makes certain supports extremely valuable. If you need to move a Nine of Clubs, you must find the accessible Ten of Clubs. If the Ten is buried, it will have to be exposed before the Nine can travel. Learning to think of the tableau as several interconnected same-suit chains is more helpful than searching for any card with an attractive rank. A legal landing spot may be the key to uncovering cards in another column that initially seemed unrelated.
The movable group can be disordered
You may choose a face-up card partway through a column and move every card below it as a group. Those lower cards do not need to share a suit or form a descending sequence. Scorpion checks the selected leading card against the free card at the destination: it must be one rank lower and of the same suit. If it fits, the whole block travels.
This freedom makes uncovering cards possible without fully sorting each column first. But the group arrives with its internal disorder intact. A Nine of Clubs accompanied by a Queen of Diamonds and a Five of Spades remains a complicated collection after the transfer. You may later need exact supports for those lower cards to separate them again. A useful Scorpion move solves a problem at the origin without creating an even more expensive problem at the destination.
Four complete runs finish the game
Winning means completing four descending King-to-Ace sequences, each entirely within one suit. When the exposed end of a column contains such a thirteen-card run, the engine removes it automatically and increases the completed-run count. There are no ordinary ascending foundations built one card at a time as in Klondike. The completed cards disappear from the tableau together.
This changes what progress feels like. A King-Queen-Jack-Ten group is a promising start, but it must eventually connect to every lower rank down to Ace before it can be removed. Finishing a run frees thirteen cards' worth of space and may expose a card that had been concealed beneath it. The best completion can also make another column easier to rearrange. In Scorpion, completed runs are both the objective and one of the most powerful ways of creating new space.
Empty columns still need Kings
A fully empty tableau column accepts only a King or a group led by a King. You cannot park any convenient card in the opening. This makes accessible Kings strategically significant. A King can begin the next full run in a new location and create a route to reorganise other groups. Yet moving a King may also bring a large disordered block into what had been your only empty space.
Before clearing a column, consider which King might occupy it and what moving that King would uncover. If the King leaves a hidden card behind, the exchange may be valuable. If it merely transports a troublesome stack without revealing anything, you may have spent the space without gaining useful flexibility. Empty columns are scarce resources that deserve an actual plan, not just a satisfying animation.
The three stock cards are not an escape button
In Blupoli Cards, the remaining three stock cards can be dealt only when no legal move exists between tableau columns. This is more restrictive than simply dealing whenever you feel stuck. The game checks every possible tableau transfer, including moves beginning with exposed cards inside a column. If even one legal group move exists, the stock deal is not available.
That rule means your understanding of unordered-group movement directly affects how the game progresses. A position may look blocked if you inspect only the top card of each column, while a movable middle card still has a same-suit destination elsewhere. When the condition is finally met, the stock adds a face-up card to each of the first three columns. These new cards may provide much-needed supports or cover the end of a run you were preparing. The deal is a special stage of the game, not a flexible source of repeated rescue cards.
Why the twelve hidden cards matter
The concealed cards in the first four columns are a major source of uncertainty. Exposing one may reveal the exact Ten a Nine needs, a King for an empty space or the Ace that completes a nearly finished run. Moves that uncover those cards deserve attention because knowledge can change the value of every exposed support elsewhere.
But information is not free. To reveal one card, you may need to move a large mixed group onto a destination that another suit will need shortly. That transfer might gain one unknown value while losing several useful paths. Think about both effects. Often a fully open column can provide a temporary landing place that lets you clear a hidden card without sacrificing too much mobility. A strong move reveals information and keeps enough options alive to exploit it.
Fully open columns are working space
The last three columns contain no concealed cards at the beginning. That does not make them less important than the covered columns. They provide known cards and exact landing places for groups that are holding down the hidden portions of the tableau. A partially arranged same-suit run in one of these columns can become a key component of a future complete sequence.
Yet filling an open column with a very messy block can destroy its usefulness. Before transferring several cards onto it, look at which card will become exposed at its free end and whether the carried cards can later move elsewhere. Scorpion's freedom invites ambitious transfers, but the best use of open columns is often temporary organisation. Treat them as a workshop where you prepare supports, not as a place to abandon every difficult group without considering what happens next.
A Nine and a Ten of Hearts
Imagine a Nine of Hearts visible in the middle of the first column, with several unrelated cards below it. The Ten of Hearts is exposed at the end of another column. You can select the Nine and move the entire accompanying group onto the Ten. If the origin reveals a face-down card, you have gained new information, perhaps even the next piece required for a full run.
The continuation is not automatically simple. The group travelling with the Nine may include an Eight of Hearts, but if that Eight does not become the exposed end of the new column, it cannot necessarily be placed directly onto the Nine. You may need to move other cards first. The example shows why a legal match between the two leading ranks is not proof that the entire stack is now ordered. The exact arrangement of all carried cards still matters.
A partial run is a promise, not a victory
A King-Queen-Jack-Ten run of the same suit looks like clear progress. It reduces the number of missing connections required to complete that suit. But the run may remain buried behind other cards, and you may need to relocate it before the lower ranks can join. The thirteen-card run must appear correctly ordered at the end of a tableau column to disappear.
Focusing exclusively on one nearly completed suit can also consume landing places needed by other groups. Sometimes it is more effective to develop two or three partial runs and finish the first only when doing so releases a particularly useful section of the table. The four suits share the same seven columns. They are not independent mini-games, and completing one at all costs may obstruct the others. Balance progress on one run against the overall flexibility of the tableau.
Kings are tools, not automatic solutions
A King has two important roles: it can occupy an empty column, and it starts a completed King-to-Ace run. When a King becomes available, moving it into a gap can feel obviously correct. However, it may carry several disordered cards beneath it and fill the space with a group that is difficult to dismantle. You may gain no new information if its original location was already fully visible.
Before moving a King, check what will remain at its origin and what will occupy the new column. Will the move expose a hidden card? Does it give another group an exact destination? Can the transferred block eventually be separated? If it answers those questions positively, the move may be very strong. If it merely relocates congestion, perhaps another preparation should come first.
Dealing the stock changes three columns at once
When no tableau move remains and the three-card stock is still available, the game lets you deal those cards onto the first three columns. Each appears face up and becomes the new exposed card of its column. This can create a critical same-suit support, but it can also cover a partial run or change which values you can use immediately. There is only one small reserve deal, not a stock you can cycle repeatedly.
The timing is not fully under your control because the engine requires a legal dead end among tableau moves first. Learning to distinguish a genuinely move-free position from a frustrating but still playable one is part of Scorpion. A transfer that makes little immediate progress may still be compulsory before the stock becomes available, so inspect its consequences carefully. The extra cards introduce fresh possibilities, but you still have to manage the groups they uncover or obstruct.
Comparing Scorpion with Spider
Spider also removes full descending same-suit runs from King to Ace. Its standard deal, however, uses two decks and ten columns. Movable multi-card groups must already be ordered within one suit. Scorpion uses one deck and seven columns, and lets unordered groups travel when their leading card has the right same-suit destination.
The stock also behaves differently. Spider deals a new row of ten cards only when every tableau column is occupied. Scorpion has just three reserve cards that can be dealt when no tableau movement remains. These distinctions change how you use space. Spider rewards maintaining coherent mobile runs and preparing for disruptive new rows. Scorpion offers more flexible transfers within a smaller board but fewer stock opportunities and highly specific destinations. Sharing the same final-run objective does not make their strategies interchangeable.
The Yukon and Russian Solitaire connection
Scorpion's group movement is closely related to Yukon, which lets you move cards from any exposed point in an unordered group. But Yukon builds tableau sequences by alternating colours and finishes through ascending suit foundations. Russian Solitaire shares Scorpion's same-suit landing requirement, though it too uses foundations and places the whole deck on seven columns at the beginning.
Playing the three games reveals how a few different rules create different strategic worlds. In Scorpion, a thirteen-card King-to-Ace run disappears automatically. In Yukon and Russian Solitaire, cards travel individually to ascending foundations. As a result, completing long tableau sequences has a different purpose in Scorpion. It is not simply an easier or harder form of Yukon. It combines a movement style with a distinct completion goal and a tiny conditional stock.
When the table looks completely blocked
Scorpion can reach a position where only one or two groups seem to have destinations. Perhaps a Nine of Clubs is exposed while the Ten of Clubs is buried, or a King occupies the only free column without revealing anything useful. A lack of visible complete runs does not mean a lack of legal movement. An exposed card inside a mixed group can still lead a transfer if its next higher same-suit card is available.
If no tableau move exists and the three stock cards remain, the game offers the final deal. If the stock has been used and no move remains, the position is blocked. It helps to distinguish those rules from a temporary feeling of not making progress. Hints can identify legal opportunities, but understanding the difference between a visually awkward position and a genuine dead end leads to better decisions in future games.
History as a family of rules
Scorpion belongs to the broad tradition of patience games involving tableau construction and movable groups. Accounts of its precise origin vary, and surviving descriptions do not support a confident claim about a single inventor. Similarities with Spider, Yukon and Russian Solitaire help explain its mechanics but do not automatically establish a documented invention sequence from one game to another.
It is better to describe what distinguishes the version in front of us: complete same-suit runs are removed, unordered groups can travel, Kings occupy empty columns, and a three-card stock becomes available at a specific stage. Those mechanical relationships are enough to give Scorpion a clear identity. Players interested in history can compare rule collections and older descriptions without needing a legend that assigns every rule to an imaginary moment of inspiration.
Playing with overlapping cards on a phone
Seven deep columns can become visually dense, particularly when some cards are face down and others are exposed but still buried within a group. On a phone, you need to know exactly which card leads the selected block and which lower cards will travel. Same-suit destinations must also be legible. A red Ten of Hearts is not a legal support for a Nine of Diamonds, even though their colours match.
A browser can move the block automatically, flip concealed cards when revealed and remove completed runs without tedious physical card handling. This lets the player concentrate on the actual puzzle. Hints and undo can help with accidental selections or decisions worth reviewing, but the table itself must remain clear enough to communicate the rules. The difficulty should come from managing space and sequences, not from guessing which tiny card a tap will select.
A hint shows a possibility, not a strategy
Blupoli Cards can suggest a legal move when a crowded Scorpion table becomes hard to read. That is useful because a valid transfer may begin with a face-up card in the middle of a column. Yet the suggested move is not necessarily the best for completing a run. It may transfer a large mixed group to a valuable same-suit support and create a difficult position afterwards.
Before following a hint, look at what it would reveal in the source column and which support it would occupy at the destination. Consider whether the carried cards will have places to go later. If the hint reveals a move you missed, try to understand why. Were you looking only at column ends, confusing suit identity or overlooking a King that can enter a gap? A useful hint teaches you to read future tables better.
Undo helps explain where a suit became trapped
A group transfer can cover the only Ten of a suit that its Nine needs. If the move produces an awkward blockage, undo lets you return and compare another path. This is most valuable when you identify the resource that was lost: an exact same-suit destination, a column reserved for a King, or access to a concealed card.
The goal is not to try every move randomly until something works. Instead, study one decision and its consequences. Perhaps another group should have moved first to free a support. Perhaps a partial run needed more room before being relocated. Naming the cause helps you recognise similar patterns in later deals. Scorpion can be unpredictable because some cards begin hidden, but its movement restrictions remain consistent and can be understood.
A quick pre-move review
Start by identifying concealed cards that could be revealed through a transfer. Then inspect the leading card of the group you want to move and confirm a next-higher destination in the same suit. Look at all the cards travelling with it and what the origin will expose. If a gap appears, identify an accessible King. Finally, check whether any King-to-Ace run is near completion and what its removal would free.
When no move seems available, inspect the intermediate face-up cards before expecting the three-card stock. The deal is only legal if no tableau moves remain. This brief review becomes easier with practice and can prevent many impulsive blockages. It is not a guarantee that every deal can be solved, but it gives each transfer a clear reason and helps preserve the opportunities needed to finish.
Four runs that transform the table
Scorpion is won by completing and removing four full King-to-Ace same-suit runs. Getting there means uncovering hidden cards, using unordered-group movement intelligently, finding exact same-suit destinations and saving enough flexibility to arrange the final sequences. The conditional three-card stock offers one small shift when all tableau movement stops. The appeal lies in planning how the whole table changes rather than building neat-looking piles for their own sake.
Try Scorpion on Blupoli Cards and compare it with Spider, which shares the full-run objective but uses stricter movable groups. If you prefer ascending foundations, Russian Solitaire and Yukon provide useful contrasts. Explore the Cards catalogue to see how many different puzzles can grow from the same familiar deck.
For historical comparisons, consult patience-game rule references and an overview of Scorpion Solitaire. Precise invention dates should not be treated as established without documentation.