National Game and Puzzle Week 2026: Two-Deck Patience Games for the Thanksgiving Card Table
National Game and Puzzle Week, the week of Thanksgiving, is the time many households set up card tables and pull out decks. Single-deck Klondike is the familiar default, but two-deck patience games ask for more table space and a different kind of planning. The official 2026 sponsor and exact date window have not yet been made public.
Forty Thieves: a demanding two-deck patience
Forty Thieves, also known as Napoleon at St. Helena, Big Forty, Roosevelt at San Juan, and Le Cadran, is played with two 52-card decks shuffled together. Deal 40 cards face-up into ten columns of four; the remaining 64 cards form a stock that passes through a waste pile once, with no redeal. Eight foundations—two per suit—are built from Ace to King, while tableau building runs one card at a time in descending same-suit order. Empty columns accept any single card, but sequences cannot be moved as a unit. Win rates with optimal play are estimated around 10%, and a full deal can take 15 to 30 minutes of careful play.
Josephine: related to Forty Thieves but harder
Josephine Solitaire uses 104 cards across ten tableau piles and eight foundations. It belongs to the Forty Thieves family but adds a stricter rule: the tableau builds by suit rather than by colour, and the stock gets a single pass with no redeal, making it noticeably harder. You can practice the rules and pacing at free Josephine Solitaire game.
Two decks versus one: why the mechanics change
Klondike lets you alternate red and black and move sequences as a unit, and FreeCell rewards forward planning. Forty Thieves forbids both: with 104 cards in play, only the top card of each tableau column is available, and you must place a spade 7 on a spade 8. The extra deck doubles the foundations from four to eight, so a quick win depends on freeing Aces early and protecting empty columns. This is a different shape of patience, not just a bigger Klondike.
A casino card-table option between patience rounds
If your Thanksgiving table wants a change of pace after solitaire, Criss Cross Poker uses five community cards arranged in a cross to build an Across hand and a Down hand. A free Criss Cross Poker trainer lets you practise every bet, understand both hands, and see live strategy tips without real money. It is not a patience game, but it fits a holiday card-table rotation when guests want a shared table game.
For professionals planning game-week content
The official 2026 sponsor, exact date window, and Thanksgiving-week game-night sales figures from toy and game retailers have not yet been published. Public-library game-night programming for November 2026 is also not available in the public calendars released so far; local branches publish their own monthly schedules. Professionals who manage link acquisition for game and puzzle retailers can use a sourcing partner for SEO teams to organise recurring outreach campaigns.
Setting the Thanksgiving card table
Set aside two decks, leave room for ten columns, and accept that Forty Thieves and Josephine are meant to lose more often than they are won. The point of National Game and Puzzle Week is not a perfect win rate; it is a table with enough light, enough space, and a game that gives everyone a reason to stay.