Rules
Four Seasons Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use one standard 52-card deck.
- Deal five face-up cards in a cross: top, left, center, right, and bottom.
- Deal the sixth card to the first corner foundation. Its rank becomes the base rank.
- The other three foundations start with the remaining cards of that same rank.
- Foundations build upward by suit and can wrap from king to ace.
- Cross piles build downward by rank, regardless of suit or color.
- Only one card moves at a time from the cross or waste.
- Empty cross spaces accept any available single card, including the next stock card.
- Draw one card at a time from the stock to the waste. Only the top waste card is playable.
- There is no redeal. Win by moving all 52 cards to the foundations.
How to play
How to play Four Seasons Solitaire
Four Seasons is a small-looking patience game with a surprisingly sharp rhythm. The cross in the middle is your workspace. The four corners are foundations. The starter foundation card sets the base rank for the whole game, so every suit must begin with that rank before it can climb around the corner toward completion.
Each turn, look for a top cross card or top waste card that can move to a foundation. If the base rank is 8, the 8 of clubs can start the club foundation, then the 9 of clubs can follow, then 10, jack, queen, king, ace, and onward. Suit always matters in the foundations.
The cross works differently. It builds downward by rank and ignores suit. A 6 can go on any 7. A queen can go on any king. Because this version builds round-the-corner, a king can go on an ace unless aces are the foundation base. That single exception keeps ace-base deals from turning the foundation starters into tableau supports.
Background
What is Four Seasons Solitaire?
Four Seasons Solitaire is a one-deck patience game also known as Corner Card, Vanishing Cross, and Cross Currents. Those names all describe the traditional layout: foundations in the corners, with five tableau piles forming a cross that should gradually shrink as the foundations grow.
It belongs to the packer side of solitaire: you are packing cards downward in the tableau so they can eventually climb upward by suit in the foundations. Compared with Klondike, it has fewer piles and no hidden tableau cards. Compared with FreeCell, it gives you far less spare space and a stock order that cannot be replayed.
Layout
The table layout on this page
The five cross piles are the only tableau. They begin with one face-up card each, but they can grow as you pack cards downward. For clearer online play, this page shows those five piles in one row beneath the stock, waste, base rank, and four foundations.
Traditional Four Seasons puts the foundations in the corners, which is why the game is also called Corner Card. The rule is the same here: one foundation starts immediately with the sixth dealt card, and the other three wait for matching base-rank cards to appear.
Foundations
How the corner foundations build
Every foundation builds upward by suit from the shared base rank. If the base rank is 5, an empty spade foundation needs the 5 of spades. Once it starts, the 6 of spades follows, then 7, 8, and so on. After king comes ace, then 2, 3, and 4 to complete the suit.
It is usually good to start missing foundations quickly, because an unstarted suit blocks every later card of that suit. Still, do not stop looking at the cross. A card that is technically playable on a foundation may also be the only useful support for an awkward tableau card.
Examples
Legal and illegal Four Seasons moves
A legal foundation move must match both suit and next rank. A 10 of diamonds can go onto a 9 of diamonds foundation, but not onto a 9 of hearts. A base-rank card can start its own empty foundation, but a different rank cannot.
A legal cross move only checks rank. A 4 can go on a 5, no matter what suits are involved. A 4 cannot go on a 6, and a 4 cannot go on another 4. Empty cross spaces are flexible: they can take any available top card, or, on this page, the next stock card when you tap the empty space with no card selected.
Foundation startIf the base rank is 6, each empty corner foundation needs its suited 6
Foundation wrapKing of hearts onto the queen of hearts, then ace of hearts onto the king
Cross build6 of clubs onto any 7, regardless of suit or color
Cross wrapKing onto ace is legal unless aces are the foundation base
Empty cross spaceFill it with a top cross card, the waste card, or the next stock card
WasteOnly the top waste card is available, and there is no redeal
Cross piles
How to use the cross well
The cross is not just storage. It is the only way to reshape the order of cards before they are ready for the foundations. Because suits do not matter in the cross, the best landing card is often the one that opens a foundation, creates an empty space, or keeps a difficult waste card from being buried.
Empty spaces are precious. Moving a card out of the cross can reveal a new top card and create a slot for a waste card or stock card. If you draw through the stock while empty spaces are available, you may cover a useful waste card and lose the chance to place the next stock card directly into the cross.
Stock
How the stock and waste work
The stock turns over one card at a time to the waste. The top waste card is available for foundations or the cross. There is no redeal, so a card covered in the waste can be reached only if the cards above it move away.
This page also lets the stock fill an empty cross space, matching the rule that vacancies can be filled from the pack. Use that carefully. A direct stock fill can save a waste card from being buried, but it can also spend an empty space on a card that has no immediate job.
Strategy
Four Seasons Solitaire strategy that improves the position
Track the base rank before every foundation move. In an ace-base game, foundations behave like familiar ace-to-king builders. In a queen-base game, aces are middle cards. In a 6-base game, 5s are the final foundation cards. That changes which tableau cards are safe to release and which ones may need to support other cards for a while.
Start the missing foundations when you can do it without damaging the cross. A missing foundation is a closed door for that suit, and the longer it stays closed, the more likely useful suited cards will pile up in the waste or tableau. Base-rank cards are often urgent, especially if they appear on top of the waste.
Use empty cross spaces as active tools, not as decoration. An empty space can accept the waste card, rescue a top card from another cross pile, or take the next stock card. Before filling it, ask what the move reveals, what it blocks, and whether the new top card can help a foundation.
Draw from the stock after checking every top card. Four Seasons is short, but the stock is unforgiving. Since there is no redeal, the order in which waste cards are covered matters. A small cross move now can make the next stock card playable instead of turning it into a buried problem.
Mistakes
Common Four Seasons Solitaire mistakes
- Forgetting that foundations start from the deal's base rank, not always from aces.
- Missing that cross piles build down regardless of suit or color.
- Drawing from the stock before using an empty cross space.
- Leaving a base-rank card in the waste when it could start a missing foundation.
- Sending a useful cross support to a foundation too early.
- Expecting a redeal after the stock runs out.
Difficulty
Is Four Seasons Solitaire winnable?
Four Seasons Solitaire is not always winnable from a random shuffle. The game gives you visible tableau cards and flexible rank-only packing, but it also gives you only five cross piles, one waste top, and no second pass through the stock.
This page does not invent a win-rate number. A meaningful percentage would need to be measured against this exact rule set, including the one-card stock, direct stock fills into empty cross spaces, one-card moves, the ace-base cross exception, undo, and hint behavior.
Variants
Four Seasons variants and rule notes
Older and modern descriptions of Four Seasons do not always match perfectly. Some original rules deal into a tighter three-by-three layout, allow longer packed sequences to move, and handle waste or vacancies more strictly. Later descriptions emphasize the separated corner foundations and the five-card cross, with one-card moves and a waste fed by the stock.
This site uses the later cross version: five tableau piles, corner foundations, one-card moves, cross piles building downward regardless of suit, foundations building upward by suit from the shared base rank, one-card stock to waste, empty cross spaces that can be filled from available cards or the stock, and no redeal. Related names and variants include Czarina, Corner Card, Corners, Vanishing Cross, Cross Currents, and Simplicity.
Nearby games
How Four Seasons compares with Canfield, Agnes, Flower Garden, and Klondike
Four Seasons, Canfield, and Agnes all use a foundation base rank that changes the meaning of every deal. Canfield adds a 13-card reserve and four tableau piles. Agnes spreads the pressure across seven tableau columns and reserve depots. Four Seasons is smaller and more direct: five working piles, four base-rank foundations, no redeal.
Flower Garden is more open because its bouquet reserve is visible from the start. Klondike is more familiar because foundations start with aces and the main puzzle is revealing hidden tableau cards. Four Seasons sits between those moods: compact, old-fashioned, and much more dependent on base-rank timing than its small layout first suggests.