Scorpion Solitaire: a stock of just three cards
On our home page the stock is the whole story: Klondike's 24 stock cards come round three at a time, again and again, and that one rule cut our simple bot's win rate from 42.3% at Turn 1 (95% range 41.3%–43.3%) to 10.6% at Turn 3 (10.0%–11.2%), each over 10,000 deals. Scorpion sits at the other end of the scale. Its stock is three cards, dealt once, one each onto the first three columns. After that, you play with what is on the table.
That makes Scorpion almost entirely a game of the deal. And the deal is harsh. A solver that could see every hidden card, including those three stock cards, solved 12.9% of 3,000 deals (11.7%–14.1%) and proved 67.5% impossible (65.8%–69.2%). The remaining 19.6% (18.2%–21.1%) were still open when its search ran out. So even with perfect information, at most about one deal in three can be won under this site's rules.
At a glance: Scorpion
| Measure (solver sees every card) | Result | 95% range | Deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Solved | 12.9% | 11.7–14.1% | 3,000 |
| Proven impossible | 67.5% | 65.8–69.2% | 3,000 |
| Undecided (search limit reached) | 19.6% | 18.2–21.1% | 3,000 |
| At least one King starts face down | 65.2% | 63.4–66.9% | 3,000 |
| Solved when 2+ Kings start face down | 14.0% | 11.5–16.8% | 645 |
| Solved when no King starts face down | 12.1% | 10.2–14.2% | 1,045 |
The winnable share lies between 12.9% and 32.5% (solved plus undecided). It is a ceiling: no player can see hidden cards the way the solver does. Scorpion is not covered by Blake and Gent (2026), so there is no published figure to check against, and we ran no bot, so we have no floor.
Does the tiny stock matter?
We did not test Scorpion with a different stock, so we cannot measure what those three cards are worth. What the rules make clear is that Scorpion gives you no stock to fall back on. In Solitaire Draw 3, a stuck position can often be rescued by another lap of the stock; our bot used 3.81 passes per win there (3.73–3.90). In Scorpion a stuck position is usually final.
What decides a Scorpion deal is the table: Kings only in empty columns, building strictly in suit, and twelve cards face down at the start. Oddly, buried Kings barely moved the solve rate in our test (14.0% with two or more, 12.1% with none). The ranges overlap, so we read that as no clear effect.
Scorpion rules on this site
- Deck: one standard 52-card deck.
- Table: seven columns of seven; the first four each have three cards face down.
- Stock: three cards, dealt one each to the first three columns, whenever you choose, once.
- Building: down in the same suit, one rank lower.
- Moving: any face-up card moves together with everything on top of it.
- Empty columns: Kings only.
- Win: build four King-to-Ace suits in the columns; each is removed automatically.
Playing a game with almost no stock
Uncover the hidden twelve
The face-down cards in the first four columns are the only unknowns besides the stock. Work toward them first.
Hold the stock for a purpose
You can deal the three cards at any time. Deal them when they cannot bury something you need, or when you are stuck anyway.
Group moves cut both ways
Any face-up card can drag the pile above it. That can free a buried card, or bury a good run under junk. Check what comes along.
Plan for Kings
Only a King may fill a gap. Before emptying a column, know which King will move in.
Accept losses quickly
Two deals in three are impossible even with perfect information. If nothing moves, Restart or deal a new game.
Scorpion next to Klondike Turn 3
Both games have face-down cards and both punish a wrong move, so it is worth comparing their ceilings. For Klondike Turn 3, our solver that sees every card solved 66.2% of 1,000 deals (63.2%–69.1%), proved 9.5% impossible (7.8%–11.5%) and left 24.3% undecided (21.7%–27.1%); the published figure from Blake and Gent (2026) is 81.945% (±0.084%). For Scorpion the same kind of solver proved 67.5% impossible. The two solvers are different programs with different search limits, so the comparison is rough, but the direction is not in doubt: Scorpion deals are lost at the deal far more often.
That is the key point for this site's theme. In Klondike, the three-card draw is a big part of why games are lost; in Scorpion, the stock is almost irrelevant and the layout does the damage. If you enjoy the stock-management puzzle of Turn 3, Scorpion will feel like a different kind of game: less about timing, more about seeing, early, whether a deal can go anywhere at all.
Playing on solitaire-turn-3.com
Scorpion is free in any current browser on computer, tablet or phone, with no sign-up. It comes with Hint, unlimited Undo, Restart and Auto Play, zoom and fullscreen, drag or tap moves, a counter for wins, time and moves, and choices for sound and table color.
How the figures were made
The solitaire-turn-3.com team ran this test in September 2026 on the Scorpion rules read from this site's code.
- Python 3.11, standard library only, seeds 1 to 3,000.
- A best-first solver that knows the face-down cards and the stock, with a 200,000-position limit per deal.
- Sorted every deal as solved, proven impossible or undecided; proofs spot-checked by an independent brute-force search.
- Wilson 95% ranges on every percentage.
- Not done: no bot and no stock variants.
Claude, an AI assistant by Anthropic, helped write and review the code and draft this page. Every figure comes from running the code, and the team checked them.
Scorpion questions
Why do I lose so often?
Because most deals cannot be won: at least 67.5% were proven impossible.
Is Scorpion harder than Klondike Turn 3?
By the solver's ceiling, yes: at most 32.5% for Scorpion against 66.2%–90.5% for Turn 3 Klondike (1,000 deals). Both come from solvers that see every card.
Similar games?
Spider shares the in-suit runs; Yukon shares the group moves. See the games page and the blog.
By Admin, solitaire-turn-3.com (Forty Media). Research run September 2026.