How to play Crescent Solitaire

Crescent is a grand two-deck patience traditionally laid out in a sweeping crescent of sixteen little fans around a core of eight foundations. It is one of the more demanding solitaires — the win rate is low and every move matters — but it rewards patience and forward thinking like few others, and the three precious shuffles give you just enough rope to escape a tangle. If you like Spider's long game, Crescent is the next mountain to climb.

Goal

Move all 104 cards onto the eight foundations. Four foundations build up in suit from the Ace to the King; the other four build down in suit from the King to the Ace. Complete all eight and you win.

The board

• Eight foundations sit across the top — an Ace and a King already in place for each suit. The dashed piles build up; the dotted piles build down.
• Sixteen tableau piles of six cards fan out below. Every card is visible, but only the card on the end of each pile is in play.

Moves

• Play the top card of any pile onto a foundation when it's the next card up (for an Ace pile) or down (for a King pile) in that suit.
• Or place it on the top of another tableau pile if it's the same suit and exactly one rank higher or lower — tableau sequences can run in either direction.
• Only one card moves at a time, and empty piles are not refilled, so think before you clear one. Double-click a card to send it to a foundation automatically.

Shuffles and strategy

When you stall, the Shuffle button moves the bottom card of every pile to its top — you get three of these per game, and they are your only escape from a dead position, so spend them wisely. The art of Crescent is keeping your options open: avoid burying a card you'll soon need, build tableau sequences that you can later feed onto a foundation in one run, and try not to commit both Aces and Kings of a suit too early. Use undo to test a line, and save a shuffle for the endgame, where one well-timed reshuffle often unlocks the last stubborn cards.