How to Play Crescent Solitaire

A two-deck game where one foundation row ascends (Ace to King) and the other descends from King and wraps around past Ace. All 96 remaining cards are dealt face-up across 16 tableau piles, where you build same-suit runs in either direction.

Setup

1. Shuffle two standard decks together.
2. From the deck, remove one Ace and one King of each suit and set them as foundation bases.
3. Arrange the remaining 96 cards into 16 piles of 6 cards each in a crescent shape (the specific arrangement doesn't matter).
4. All tableau cards are dealt face-up, so every card in every pile is visible from the start.

How to play

• Cards automatically move to the foundations when they fit. You can change this behavior in Settings.
• The Ace-piles build upward by suit: A, 2, 3... Q, K. The King-piles build downward by suit and wrap around: K, Q, J... 2, A, then continuing with another K.
• On the tableau, build sequences either upward or downward by the same suit, with wraparound allowed.
• Move only one card at a time—you cannot move runs.
• When you need access to buried tableau cards, use the Rotate button up to three times. Rotate moves the bottom card of each tableau pile to the top.
• Empty tableau piles cannot be refilled, so think ahead about which piles you clear out.
• There is no stock or redeal—everything you need to win is already laid out in the 16 tableau piles.

How to win

Objective: Move all 104 cards to the eight foundations: four ascending (Ace to King) and four descending (King to Ace).

You win when all 104 cards are built on the foundations. You're stuck when no more plays are available.

Tips

• Since every card is visible from the start, take a moment to scan all 16 piles before making your first move.
• Empty tableau piles can't be refilled, so freeing one up is permanent—make sure it's worth it.
• Only the King-piles wrap around past Ace; the Ace-piles stop for good once they reach King.

Play Crescent free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Crescent alongside 300+ other games. It saves every move as you play, so you can close the window and pick the game up later, replay any deal, and take on a new Daily Challenge deal every day. Browse every game in the Game Gallery.

Related games

More games from the Foundations family:

• Deuces and Queens — Build cards upward and downward simultaneously on two sets of foundations in this challenging two-deck game.
• Double Aces and Kings — A demanding four-deck game with eight ascending and eight descending foundation piles.
• Fifteen — A two-deck game with eight foundations building both up and down, and 15 tableau piles where you can build by one rank higher or lower in the same suit.
• Grandfather — A distinctive two-deck game where half the foundations build upward and half build downward simultaneously.
• Little Billie — Little Billie is a two-deck game featuring dual foundation piles that build in opposite directions.