Czarina Solitaire
How to play Czarina
Czarina is a one-deck Canfield solitaire played like Four Seasons, except that a tableau pile emptied is refilled at once from the stock.
Four Seasons with every emptied pile filled at once from the stock, and from the waste once the stock runs out.
The goal of Czarina
Move every card onto the four foundations, building each one up by suit from the rank the deal turns up, past the King to the Ace.
How to set up Czarina
The first card starts its suit's foundation, and its rank is the one all four foundations start from. One card is dealt face up to each of the five tableau piles, and the other 46 cards form the stock. There is no reserve.
Czarina rules
Tableau piles build down one rank at a time regardless of suit, and a King may go on an Ace. Only the top card of a pile can move, one card at a time.
When a tableau pile is emptied, the next card of the stock fills it straight away. Once the stock is used up, the top card of the waste fills it instead, and once both are empty, any card that can move may fill an empty pile, or the pile may stay empty.
Turn the stock one card at a time onto the waste. Only the top waste card is in play. There is no redeal, so you go through the stock once.
The foundations build up by suit from the starting rank to the King, then on through the Ace to the rank below it. A card on a foundation never comes back into play.
Click a card to play it: to its foundation if it fits, otherwise onto the first pile it builds on, and only then into an empty pile. Drag a card to choose where it goes yourself. With Autoplay off in Settings, only a drag moves a card.
How to win at Czarina
You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. Once the stock and the waste are empty and every pile is in order, Auto complete, on by default in Settings, moves the remaining cards up for you. The game is stuck when no card can move and turning the stock brings up nothing that can.
Czarina strategy tips
Emptying a pile brings the next card of the stock into play on that pile without covering the waste. Turning a few cards first changes which card that will be.
The stock is turned only once. A waste card you pass over is covered by the next one and comes back into play only when every card above it has been played.
A card in a pile can go home only once every card above it has moved off. Before you build on a card, check that its foundation will not need it before the cards you cover it with.
Look at the first foundation card before anything else. Its rank is where every suit starts, so cards of that rank go home first, and the card one rank below it is the last of each suit to go up.
Czarina questions and answers
How do you play Czarina solitaire?
Deal one card to start the foundations and one to each of five tableau piles, and keep the rest as the stock. Build the piles down regardless of suit, one card at a time, and refill an emptied pile at once from the stock, or from the waste once the stock is gone. The foundations build up by suit from the first foundation card's rank, and you win when all 52 cards are on them.
What is the difference between Czarina and Four Seasons?
In Czarina an emptied pile is filled straight away from the stock, and from the waste once the stock runs out. In Four Seasons an empty pile waits until you choose a card for it. Everything else is the same: five piles, no reserve, one card moved at a time and one pass through the stock.
Where does an empty pile in Czarina get its card from?
From the stock: its next card goes straight onto the empty pile. Once the stock has run out, the top card of the waste is used instead, and when both are empty any card that can move may fill the pile, or it may stay empty.
How many times can you go through the stock in Czarina?
Once. The stock is turned one card at a time, and there is no redeal when it runs out.
Is Czarina harder than Four Seasons?
About as hard, as far as testing shows. On 100 shuffled deals of each, the game's solver proved 29 Czarina deals winnable against 32 for Four Seasons, and could not settle most of the others in either game. The forced refill takes a choice away from you, but it also brings a fresh card into play every time a pile empties.
Can every Czarina deal be won?
No. Tested on 100 shuffled Czarina deals, the game's solver proved 29 winnable in the search a hint gets and found none lost; it could not settle the other 71. A proved deal took a median of five shuffles and about a second to find, too long to keep you waiting for one, so every deal is an ordinary shuffle and there is no Winnable switch. The Hint button still asks the solver for a winning line before it suggests a move.
Is there a daily Czarina game?
Yes. Czarina has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day. You need to be logged in to play it.