Half Moon Solitaire

Half Moon, rules and strategy

A two-deck solitaire game: 12 piles arranged in an arc around 8 reserve cards. Remove cards in pairs that add up to 11, and face cards in sets of three, a Jack, a Queen and a King, until all 104 cards have been cleared from the board. This site explains the exact rules, strategy and a winning game verified card by card. To play: Half Moon Solitaire, on iPhone, iPad and Android.

Read the rulesDownload the app

Available on the App Store and on Google Play.

Half Moon Solitaire on a phone held in landscape orientation, at the start of a game on the green table background: twelve piles in an arc with only the top card visible, and the eight reserve cards in the centre; time 0:00, score 0, 0 moves.

Half Moon at a glance

Half Moon is played alone with 2 shuffled decks of 52 cards, making 104 cards in total. Of these, 96 form 12 piles of 8 cards; only the top card of each pile can be played. The remaining 8 form the reserve, which is always playable.

Remove two cards from Ace to 10 that add up to 11: Ace and 10, 2 and 9, 3 and 8, 4 and 7, or 5 and 6, regardless of suit. Face cards are removed in sets of three: a Jack, a Queen and a King. Each pair scores 10, and each triplet 15. The rules explain every tap in detail, while the strategy explains how to approach the game.

A deal from the app

Here is deal HM1-N-AAAAAAB as dealt by the app, using the same layout as the game screen: each slot shows the top card and, below it, the pile number (from 1 to 12) or reserve slot number (R1 to R8) and its card count. Enter this code in the New Game window to play it; a winning game in 48 moves is detailed on the Examples page.

pile 1: 8 cards, 5 of spades on top; pile 2: 8 cards, ace of hearts on top; pile 3: 8 cards, king of hearts on top; pile 4: 8 cards, 4 of clubs on top; pile 5: 8 cards, queen of hearts on top; pile 6: 8 cards, 5 of hearts on top; pile 7: 8 cards, 7 of spades on top; pile 8: 8 cards, 6 of diamonds on top; pile 9: 8 cards, 10 of diamonds on top; pile 10: 8 cards, 10 of clubs on top; pile 11: 8 cards, 2 of diamonds on top; pile 12: 8 cards, king of hearts on top; pile R1: 1 card, 10 of hearts on top; pile R2: 1 card, 6 of spades on top; pile R3: 1 card, 3 of diamonds on top; pile R4: 1 card, 4 of spades on top; pile R5: 1 card, 7 of diamonds on top; pile R6: 1 card, 5 of spades on top; pile R7: 1 card, jack of hearts on top; pile R8: 1 card, ace of clubs on top.

Deal HM1-N-AAAAAAB at the start: 12 piles of 8 cards in an arc, with the reserve of 8 cards in the centre.
Pile contents, from bottom to top
  1. Pile 12♥9♣V♦V♦2♥2♠7♥5♠
  2. Pile 2A♦8♠9♥3♠8♠4♣9♥A♥
  3. Pile 39♠R♠7♦D♣V♣5♣3♥R♥
  4. Pile 48♥4♦4♦9♣8♦7♠5♦4♣
  5. Pile 55♥10♠V♠D♦3♣D♠10♣D♥
  6. Pile 610♠8♣6♣3♥R♦A♣D♥5♥
  7. Pile 7A♦10♦10♥V♥A♥6♠A♠7♠
  8. Pile 82♠3♦3♠5♣D♠D♣V♣6♦
  9. Pile 99♦V♠A♠8♣9♠6♣2♦10♦
  10. Pile 10R♣R♣2♣3♣7♣8♥6♥10♣
  11. Pile 116♦4♥9♦5♦D♦7♣4♠2♦
  12. Pile 126♥7♥4♥R♠8♦R♦2♣R♥
  13. Pile R110♥
  14. Pile R26♠
  15. Pile R33♦
  16. Pile R44♠
  17. Pile R57♦
  18. Pile R65♠
  19. Pile R7V♥
  20. Pile R8A♣

Where to start?

On phone and tablet

The app is played in landscape. It offers a code for each game so you can replay or share a deal, undo of the last 100 moves, statistics and 36 languages.

Half Moon Solitaire on a phone in landscape orientation, with a game in progress: 44 cards already removed, score 220, 20 moves, time 1:48; one reserve slot is already empty.
Phone, in landscape orientation.
Half Moon Solitaire on a tablet in landscape orientation: the same game (score 220, 20 moves), on a larger screen.
Tablet, in landscape orientation.