Beleaguered Castle is a solitaire game where every card is face up from the start, so there is no luck after the deal, only planning. The four Aces form the castle walls in the middle, and your job is to bring every card home to them.
The layout
The four Aces start on the foundations, a column down the middle of the table. Each foundation builds up in its own suit from Ace to King.
The other 48 cards are dealt face up into eight rows of six, four on each side of the foundations. On a phone held upright, the rows stand as columns under the foundations instead.
Only the last card of each row, the one fully showing, can be moved.
The rules
Move one card at a time.
In the rows, build down regardless of suit: any 6 can go on any 7.
An empty row can take any card.
Cards on a foundation stay there. You win when all 52 cards are home.
Controls
Drag a row’s top card onto another row, an empty row or its foundation.
Double-tap a card to send it to the best spot: its foundation first, then a row it builds on, then an empty row.
Cards that no other card could still need go up to the foundations by themselves, and once every row is in order the game finishes on its own.
Undo takes back your last move along with any cards that flew up after it. New game can also restart the current deal. On a keyboard, keys 1 to 8 play a row’s top card and U undoes.
Modes
Winnable (the default): every deal is checked by a solver before you see it, so it can always be won.
Classic: any shuffle at all. Roughly a third of these deals have no solution.
Streets and Alleys: the Aces are shuffled in and dealt into the rows too, so the foundations start empty. A tougher variant.
Your best time, fewest moves and win rate are kept separately for each mode.
Strategy tips
Look first for low cards buried under high ones. Those rows need untangling before anything can go home, so plan where their covering cards will go.
An empty row is the most valuable thing on the table. Work toward emptying a short row early, and don’t drop a card into an empty row unless it unlocks something. Before each move, check that you aren’t covering a card you will need soon.