Intrigue is a solitaire card game which is played using two decks of playing cards. It is similar to another solitaire game called Salic Law,^[1] but it also involves the queens and building in the foundations goes both ways.

First, one queen is removed from the rest of the deck and placed on the layout as the base for the first tableau column.

As they become available, all fives and sixes are placed at the foundations above the queens. The fives are built down to Aces, then to Kings, while the sixes are built up to Jacks, all regardless of suit.

Over the first queen, the cards are dealt over it until another queen appears. This new queen becomes the base for a new tableau column and cards are dealt over it. This is repeated until all eight queens are uncovered and all cards are dealt.

During the dealing, all fives and sixes are immediately placed in the foundations and any card that be built on the foundations must be placed there.

Once all cards are dealt and all those that can be built in the foundations make their way there, building continues. The top card of each column is available for play on the foundations. A column containing only a queen is considered empty and any card can be placed on it. There is no building in the tableau.

The game is won when all cards are built on the foundations with the face cards on top.

Below are harder variations of Intrigue:

• In Laggard Lady, the fives and sixes may not be moved faster than the queens. Therefore, for example, if there are five queens dealt so far, a sixth five or a sixth six must be dealt to the tableau.
• In Glencoe, each five and six must be placed over the queen of its respective suit. If the appropriate queen is not yet available at a time a five or six appears, that five or six must be dealt to the tableau. Glencoe was invented by Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith for their 1950 treatise on patience games.^[2]

In the closely related but much older game of Salic Law the foundations are only built upwards from Ace to Jack. When a King becomes exposed in the tableau it is permissible to transfer the end-card of a column to it as a temporary reserve; under this rule the game can often be completed successfully.^[1] Also closely related is Fairie Queen.

• Salic Law
• List of patiences and solitaires
• Glossary of patience and solitaire terms

• Morehead, Albert H. & Mott-Smith, Geoffrey (1950). The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games. New York: Longmans.
• Parlett, David (1979). The Penguin Book of Patience. London: Penguin.
• Parlett, David (1987). The Penguin Book of Card Games. London: Treasure Press. ISBN 1-85051-221-3

v t e Patience or Solitaire by type - (list, glossary)
Closed games	Simple builders Amazons Auld Lang Syne Birthday The Clock Clock Cotillion (Contradance) Leoni's Own Musical (Betsy Ross, Fairest, Four Kings, Plus Belle, Quadruple Alliance) Precedence Quadrille (La Française; Captive Queens) Reserved builders Carpet Eagle Wing Golf Duchess of Luynes (Grand Duchess) Queen's/King's Audience Matrimony Monte Carlo Moojub Odd and Even Patriarchs Pyramid Royal Cotillion Royal Rendezvous Sultan (Emperor of Germany) Tri Peaks Windmill Simple packers Batsford Big Ben British Constitution British Square Congress Corona Deauville Deuces Diplomat Emperor Following Fortune's Favor Four Seasons Gargantua Herring-Bone Klondike Napoleon at St Helena (Forty Thieves) Napoleon's Square Red and Black Westcliff Reserved packers Acme Alhambra American Toad Backbone Canfield Casket Crazy Quilt Duchess Gate The Plot Queen of Italy (Terrace) Seven Devils Closed non-builders Accordion Aces Up Baroness (Five Piles, Thirteens) Decade Eight Cards Elevens Frustration Good Thirteen Herz zu Herz Hit or Miss Hope Deferred Nidgi Novgorod Perpetual Motion (Narcotic) Royal Flush Royal Marriage Travellers (Four of a Kind, Hidden Cards, Hide & Seek, Spoilt, Wandering Card)
Half-open games	Builders Interregnum Royal Parade Tournament Virginia Reel Blockades Babette British Blockade Labyrinth Planners Calculation Colorado Colours Cribbage Squares Frog Imaginary Thirteen Jubilee Poker Squares Puss in the Corner Rosamund's Bower Sir Tommy Packers Agnes Algerian Blockade Box Kite Bristol Four Corners Heads and Tails Intelligence Martha Miss Milligan Mount Olympus Pyramide Russian Solitaire St. Helena Stonewall Yukon Zodiac Spiders German Patience Rouge et Noir Scorpion Simple Simon Spider
Open games	Open builders Archway Black Hole Crescent Intrigue Salic Law Stalactites Open packers Baker's Dozen Baker's Game Beleaguered Castle Bisley Capricieuse Eight Off Flower Garden (Bouquet) Fortress FreeCell Grandfather's Clock House in the Woods King Albert La Belle Lucie Mrs. Mop Päckchen Penguin Persian Russian Patience Seahaven Towers Shamrocks Open non-builders Fourteen Out Gaps (Montana) Gay Gordons (Exit) Maze Nestor
Competitive games	Australian Patience Double Klondike (Double Solitaire) Kings in the Corner Nerts (Pounce, Racing Demon) Russian Bank (Crapette) Speed Spite and Malice Spit