Rules
Crazy Quilt Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use two standard 52-card decks, for 104 cards total.
- Start the foundations with one ace and one king of each suit.
- Deal 64 cards face up into an 8 by 8 quilt of alternating vertical and horizontal cards.
- The remaining 32 cards form the stock.
- Draw one card at a time from the stock to the waste.
- Ace foundations build upward by suit from ace to king.
- King foundations build downward by suit from king to ace.
- Only quilt cards with an exposed short side are available.
- Available quilt cards can move to foundations or onto the waste by same-suit adjacent rank.
- When the stock is empty, the waste may be turned into a new stock once.
How to play
How to play Crazy Quilt Solitaire
Crazy Quilt is a two-deck patience game where the reserve is not a normal row or tableau. It is a woven-looking quilt: cards alternate upright and sideways across eight rows and eight columns. The goal is to move every card to eight foundations, one ace-up and one king-down foundation for each suit.
On each turn, look for cards whose short edge is open. A vertical card is available from its top or bottom edge. A horizontal card is available from its left or right edge. That detail is the heart of the game. A card can sit on the outer border and still be blocked if the open border is a long side rather than a short side.
Once a quilt card is available, it can move to a foundation if it is the next card of the same suit. It can also move onto the waste pile if it matches the waste card's suit and is one rank higher or lower. The waste card itself can move only to a foundation, so every quilt-to-waste move should either uncover new edges or prepare a future foundation move.
Setup
The layout on this page
This version removes one ace and one king of each suit before the deal. Those eight cards start the foundations. After that, 64 cards are dealt face up into the quilt and the last 32 cards become the stock.
The foundation area shows both directions. Ace-up foundations climb A, 2, 3, and so on to king. King-down foundations descend K, Q, J, 10, and so on to ace. Suits never mix.
Edges
What "exposed short side" means
Imagine every card has two short ends and two long sides. Only the short ends matter for availability. If a vertical card has no card touching above it or below it, it is free. If a horizontal card has no card touching to the left or right, it is free.
Removing one card can free a neighbor whose short side now faces the gap. It may do nothing for another neighbor whose long side faces the same gap. That is why Crazy Quilt feels more spatial than a simple open-tableau game.
Moves
Legal and illegal Crazy Quilt moves
Foundation moves are strict by suit and direction. A 6 of hearts can go onto a 5 of hearts ace-up foundation. It cannot go onto a 5 of diamonds, and it cannot skip to a 4. A 9 of clubs can go onto a 10 of clubs king-down foundation, but not onto the ace-up club foundation unless that foundation already shows the 8 of clubs.
Waste moves are also same-suit, but they can go either up or down by one rank. If the waste shows the 8 of spades, an available 7 or 9 of spades from the quilt can move onto it. A 7 of clubs cannot. A king does not wrap to an ace in this version.
Foundation6 of hearts onto the 5 of hearts ace-up foundation
Foundation8 of clubs onto the 9 of clubs king-down foundation
Waste7 of spades from the quilt onto the 8 of spades waste card
Waste9 of diamonds from the quilt onto the 8 of diamonds waste card
IllegalA quilt card whose short sides are both blocked
IllegalA heart onto a diamond waste card, even if the ranks touch
Stock
How the stock, waste, and redeal work
The stock turns one card at a time to the waste. The top waste card is playable to a foundation if it is the next suited card in either direction. It also acts as a landing place for exposed quilt cards, which makes the waste more important than in many foundation builders.
When the stock runs out, this page allows one redeal. The waste pile is turned face down without shuffling and becomes the final stock. Cards moved from the quilt onto the waste are part of that pile, so casual waste packing can change what you see on the last pass.
Strategy
Crazy Quilt Solitaire strategy
Start with foundation moves that open short sides. A move from the middle edge of the quilt can be more valuable than an easy corner card if it creates two new available neighbors. The layout is a geometry puzzle as much as a rank puzzle.
Use the waste pile deliberately. Moving a quilt card to the waste can be excellent when it exposes a useful card or creates a waste top that accepts another quilt card. It is weak when it merely covers a waste card that was close to a foundation move.
Watch both foundation directions for each suit. A middle card may be closer to the ace-up foundation in one suit and closer to the king-down foundation in another. The best move is often the one that keeps both tracks moving instead of overfeeding only one side.
Mistakes
Common Crazy Quilt mistakes
- Counting any outside edge as available instead of checking the card's short side.
- Moving quilt cards to the waste just because the rank fits.
- Forgetting that waste builds by suit, not by color.
- Expecting kings and aces to wrap on the waste pile.
- Using the redeal before moving an obvious waste foundation card.
- Building one foundation direction while the matching opposite direction starves.
Difficulty
Is Crazy Quilt Solitaire winnable?
Crazy Quilt is not guaranteed from a random shuffle. The opening quilt gives you visible information, but not full freedom. Cards can be visible and still blocked by the short-side rule, and the stock order may bury a waste card until after its best moment has passed.
This page does not invent a win percentage. A meaningful number would need to be measured against this exact version: one redeal, no waste wrapping, eight seeded foundations, and the exposed-short-side availability rule used by the board above.
Variants
Crazy Quilt variants and related names
Crazy Quilt is also known as Quilt, Indian Carpet, or Japanese Rug in some card-game references. The shared idea is the woven reserve, but house rules differ. Some versions allow an extra redeal, which makes the stock more forgiving. Others change how the reserve outside the quilt is handled.
This site uses a clear single version so the game and guide agree: two decks, ace-up and king-down suit foundations, one draw at a time, one redeal, same-suit adjacent waste moves, and no king-to-ace wrap.
Nearby games
How Crazy Quilt compares with Crescent, Algerian, and Forty Thieves
Crazy Quilt and Crescent both use two decks and paired foundation directions, but Crescent gives you curved reserve piles while Crazy Quilt gives you a fixed woven grid. Algerian is larger and more compartmentalized, with reserve rows and tableau depots that create a different kind of traffic problem.
Forty Thieves is stricter about tableau building and has no quilt geometry at all. If you like the two-deck foundation pressure but want a more spatial puzzle, Crazy Quilt is the better fit. If you prefer long same-suit columns and empty-space management, Forty Thieves will feel more direct.