The game is so called because when the cards are dealt properly, the resulting piles should form a large arc or a crescent.
If the player chooses, the piles should form a large arc, as mentioned above.
The top cards of each pile in the semicircle are available to play on the foundations or around the tableau.
Only one card can be moved at a time and building on the tableau is either up or down by suit and can go round-the-corner (placing a king over an ace and vice versa).
To make the game easier, Crescent Four enables a fourth special redeal move, as described by Comtesse de Blanccoeur.