Rules
Crescent Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use two standard 52-card decks, for 104 cards total.
- Remove one ace and one king of each suit to start the eight foundations.
- Ace foundations build upward by suit from ace to king.
- King foundations build downward by suit from king to ace.
- Deal the remaining 96 cards into 16 crescent piles of six cards each.
- Only the top card of each crescent pile is playable.
- Crescent piles build one rank up or down by suit, with king-ace wrapping.
- Move one card at a time. No sequences move together.
- Empty crescent piles are not filled.
- Choose 3, 6, or 9 shuffles, each moving every pile's bottom card to its top.
How to play
How to play Crescent Solitaire
Crescent Solitaire is a two-deck builder with a distinctive push and pull. Four foundations begin with aces and climb upward by suit. Four foundations begin with kings and descend by suit. The rest of the cards sit in sixteen piles around them. Your job is to keep feeding both sides until every card has left the crescent.
On each turn, look at the top card of every crescent pile. A top card can move to a foundation if it continues the correct suit sequence. It can also move onto another crescent pile if the target top card is the same suit and exactly one rank away. For example, 7 of spades can go on 6 of spades or 8 of spades. Kings and aces are neighbors in the crescent, so king can go on ace and ace can go on king.
Layout
The layout on this page
The traditional table layout forms a broad arc, which gives the game its name. This page uses a compact crescent: ten piles across the upper arc, three down each side, and the foundations in the middle. Each pile shows its current top card and a count, because only that top card can move.
This version follows the closed-pile rule: only the top card of each pile starts face up. When you remove that card, the newly exposed card turns face up. Open Crescent, where more of the pile order is visible from the start, is a separate easier variant.
Foundations
Ace-up and king-down foundations
Crescent has two foundation directions for each suit. The ace foundation for clubs builds A, 2, 3, and so on to king. The king foundation for clubs builds K, Q, J, and so on to ace. The same pattern exists for diamonds, hearts, and spades.
The two directions create useful tension. A card may be wanted by the upward foundation now, while the downward foundation in the same suit needs it later. Good play often means deciding which side of the suit needs help first.
Examples
Legal and illegal Crescent Solitaire moves
Suit matters everywhere. A 9 of diamonds can never build on an 8 of hearts in the crescent, even though the ranks are adjacent. It needs the 8 or 10 of diamonds. On a foundation, the same 9 of diamonds can move only if the diamond foundation is showing 8 in the upward direction or 10 in the downward direction.
Empty piles are different from Klondike-style spaces. You do not fill them with kings or any other card. Clearing a pile is still valuable because it removes all blockers from that pile, but it does not create a storage space.
Ace foundation2 of clubs onto ace of clubs
King foundationqueen of hearts onto king of hearts
Tableau up7 of spades onto 6 of spades
Tableau down5 of spades onto 6 of spades
Round the cornerace of diamonds onto king of diamonds
No spacesAn empty crescent pile stays empty
Shuffles
How Crescent shuffles work
A shuffle in Crescent is not a stock deal and it is not a full deck shuffle. It rotates the piles: the bottom card of each non-empty crescent pile moves to the top, while the rest of that pile stays in the same order. This page lets you choose 3, 6, or 9 shuffles.
Shuffles are powerful because they expose sixteen new top positions at once. They are also limited, so use them after you have checked foundations, same-suit crescent moves, and useful foundation transfers. A rushed shuffle can bury a card you were about to use.
Transfers
Moving cards between foundations
Crescent allows a helpful special move: when the ace-up and king-down foundations of the same suit meet in sequence, a top foundation card can move to the other foundation. The base cards are fixed, so the original aces and kings cannot be moved.
These transfers matter when one side of a suit has grown too quickly. Suppose the upward heart foundation reaches 7 and the downward heart foundation is sitting on 8. Moving the 7 onto the 8 may unlock a card from the crescent or rebalance the suit.
Strategy
Crescent Solitaire strategy that keeps both directions alive
Build foundations, but do not play on autopilot. Because each suit has two foundation directions, a middle card can become a hinge between the ace side and the king side. Before moving a 6 or 7 to a foundation, check whether it is also serving as a same-suit bridge in the crescent.
Prefer moves that expose new cards. A tableau move that simply shifts a top card from one pile to another can be useful, but a move to a foundation removes a blocker entirely and reveals the card below it. When several foundation moves are available, start with the one that uncovers a pile whose suit is already active.
Watch for reversible suit ladders. Because crescent piles build up or down, a pile topped by 8 of clubs can receive 7 or 9 of clubs. That flexibility is precious. Do not cover a flexible card with a rank that gives you fewer next moves unless it reveals something better elsewhere.
Treat the shuffles as stage changes. Early in the deal, they help find missing suit links. Late in the deal, they can rescue a buried foundation card. The worst shuffle is the one made before checking whether a small foundation transfer or same-suit move would have opened a pile first.
Mistakes
Common Crescent Solitaire mistakes
- Forgetting that crescent piles build by suit, not by alternating color.
- Missing king-ace wrapping in the crescent piles.
- Using a shuffle before checking all sixteen top cards.
- Assuming empty piles can be filled like Klondike columns.
- Overbuilding one foundation direction while the other side of the same suit stalls.
- Ignoring foundation transfers when the two suit directions meet.
Winnability
Is Crescent Solitaire winnable?
Crescent Solitaire is not guaranteed from a random shuffle. Hidden pile order matters, and the shuffle limit may or may not expose key cards at the right time. Some deals open naturally as foundations feed each other. Others lock important cards under piles that rotate poorly.
This page does not claim a win-rate number. A meaningful rate would need measurement against this exact rule set, including closed piles, selectable shuffle limits, foundation transfers, undo, and hint behavior. The practical lesson is simpler: skill improves your chance, but Crescent still has real shuffle luck.
Variants
Crescent Solitaire variants and house rules
Crescent is also known by the older French name La Demi-Lune, meaning half-moon. Rule descriptions vary in how much of the crescent is visible and how generous the shuffle limit is. Crescent Four is an easier house rule that gives a fourth shuffle.
Open Crescent changes the feel more dramatically by dealing the piles face up in fan-style spreads. That turns the game from a partly hidden patience into a more open planning game. This page uses a closed-pile version with selectable shuffles, so the guide and hints are written for that rule set.
Nearby games
How Crescent compares with Algerian, Forty Thieves, Canfield, and Scorpion
Crescent and Algerian both use two decks with ace-up and king-down foundations, but Algerian adds reserve piles and stock deals. Crescent has no stock; its pressure comes from rotating the crescent piles and deciding which foundation direction gets each suit card.
Forty Thieves is stricter because tableau cards build down by suit and usually move one at a time from ten columns. Canfield is a shorter one-deck reserve game with foundations that start from a changing base rank. Scorpion is more tableau-driven: it cares about building full king-to-ace suit runs instead of feeding paired foundations.