Three Blind Mice

How to Play Three Blind Mice

What Is Three Blind Mice?

Three Blind Mice is a single-deck solitaire game from the Scorpion family, named after the nursery rhyme. Almost the whole deck is dealt face up, but three columns each hide a few face-down cards, and those hidden cards are the "three blind mice" that give the game its name. Your goal is to arrange all 52 cards into four complete runs, one per suit, from King at the top down to Ace at the bottom. Finish a full same-suit run and it moves off to the foundation by itself. Build all four runs and you win. Fair warning: this is a hard game. Skilled players win roughly one deal in five, but nearly every loss comes down to planning, not luck, which is exactly what makes it so satisfying to beat.

The Layout

One standard deck of 52 cards is dealt like this:

• Ten tableau columns of 5 cards each, 50 cards in total, spread across the table.
• The seven columns on the left are dealt entirely face up. You can see every card in them from the start.
• The three columns on the right each get 3 cards face down and 2 cards face up on top. These nine hidden cards are the blind mice.
• The last 2 cards form a small reserve, sometimes called the mousehole, set off to the side. Both reserve cards are dealt face up so you always know what they are.

There is no stock pile. Apart from the nine face-down cards, the entire game is visible from your very first move.

Building Down by Suit

In the tableau you build downward by suit, and only by suit. A card may be placed only on the card one rank higher in the same suit. The Jack of diamonds can go on the Queen of diamonds, and nowhere else. Red-on-black rules from Klondike do not apply here: the 6 of clubs cannot sit on the 7 of spades, because clubs and spades are different suits. With a single deck there is exactly one legal home for every card, which is a big part of why the game demands careful thought.

Moving Groups: The Scorpion Rule

Any face-up card in a column can be picked up, and when it moves, every card stacked on top of it moves with it, whether or not those cards are in any kind of order. Suppose the 5 of hearts is buried under the King of clubs and the 9 of diamonds. You may still grab the 5 of hearts and carry all three cards onto the 6 of hearts in one move. The game only checks the bottom card of the group: it must land on the next-higher card of its own suit, or, if it is a King, on an empty column. This freedom lets you dig out almost anything, but every dig dumps loose cards somewhere else, so each rescue has a price.

The Reserve Is a One-Way Street

The two reserve cards are yours to play at any moment: at any point in the game, you may move a reserve card onto a legal spot in the tableau. But the door only swings one way. Nothing can ever be placed back on the reserve. Once a reserve card leaves, its space is gone for good, and you can never park a card there the way you would in FreeCell. Think of the reserve as two free gifts that you may open whenever you like, but only once each.

Uncovering the Blind Mice

When you move away all the face-up cards sitting on a face-down card, that card turns over and becomes playable. Turning up all nine hidden cards in the three right-hand columns is a key milestone: after that, the whole deal is an open book.

Empty Columns

An empty column accepts Kings only: a lone King, or a King together with whatever pile of cards is stacked on top of it. No other rank may move into an empty space. Since completed runs must start with a King, empty columns are the natural workbench for building your four winning runs.

How to Win

You win when all four suits have been built into complete King-to-Ace runs. As soon as a full run of one suit comes together in a column, it is swept to the foundation automatically. Four runs, four suits, one empty table: that is victory in Three Blind Mice.

Playing on This Site

Drag and drop a card to move it with everything on top of it, or double-click a card (double-tap on touch screens) to send it to the best legal spot. Above the table you will find buttons for a New deal, Undo, Redo, a Hint when you are stuck, and Auto-finish for when the win is already secure. Undo is unlimited, so you are free to explore a line of play, back out, and try again. Each deal carries a seed number, letting you replay the identical shuffle or share it with a friend to compare results.

Three Blind Mice Strategy & Tips

Hunt the Blind Mice First

The nine face-down cards in the three right-hand columns are the only things you cannot see, and unseen cards are what ruin long plans. Make uncovering them your first project. Each of those columns has only two face-up cards guarding its hidden ones, so a couple of early moves can often flip a card and hand you free information. A move that reveals a face-down card is almost always better than a move that just tidies the open columns. The sooner all nine mice can see, the sooner you can plan the whole game with nothing left to chance.

Spend the Reserve at the Perfect Moment

Your two reserve cards are the most flexible cards in the deal, and also the easiest to waste. Because nothing can ever go back on the reserve, playing one is a one-way decision. Do not release a reserve card just because it has a legal spot. Ask what it does for you: does it complete a link in a run, unlock a buried card, or give a stranded group somewhere to go? A reserve card played at the right moment can crack the whole deal open; the same card played early often just adds one more card to the tangle. When in doubt, leave it in the mousehole a little longer.

Respect the Kings

Kings are the roof of every run and the only cards allowed into empty columns, but in the tableau they are also walls. Nothing can be placed on top of a King usefully except its own Queen, and a King parked in the middle of a column blocks everything beneath it until you find it a home. So think twice before you move any group onto a column that has a King buried low, and think three times before you cover a King with cards from another suit. The classic losing pattern in Three Blind Mice is a King entombed under a scrambled heap with its own Queen trapped beneath it.

Look Before You Bury

Every Scorpion-style move drops a group onto some column, and whatever lies under the landing spot gets deeper. With one deck, every card has exactly one legal home, so burying the 8 of spades under six cards means the 7 of spades has nowhere to go until you dig it out again. Before each move, glance at what you are covering and ask when you will need it. Unlimited Undo is your planning partner here: play a line out, and if it knots up, rewind and pick the other branch.

Accept the Odds, Play the Long Game

Three Blind Mice is rated a hard solitaire. Even strong players win only about one deal in five, so a string of losses does not mean you are playing badly. The good news is that the game is mostly skill: the same deal that beat you can often be won on a second try with a better order of moves. Use the seed to replay tough deals, keep your reserve cards for real emergencies, free the blind columns early, and give your empty columns only to the Kings that earn them. Wins are rare enough here that each one feels like a real achievement.

Frequently Asked Questions

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