How to Play Canfield Solitaire

Canfield is a one-deck solitaire with a twist that sets it apart from every other game on the table: a pile of thirteen cards, called the reserve, that you have to work your way through one card at a time. It plays fast, a game takes only a few minutes, and it is famously hard to win. This page explains how to play Canfield from the deal to the last card, with examples along the way. These are the rules our free Canfield Solitaire game uses, and we point out where people commonly play a little differently.

What You Need

• One standard deck of 52 cards, with the jokers taken out.
• A little table space. Canfield takes up less room than most solitaire games.
• One player and about five to ten minutes.

The Layout

Shuffle the deck well, then deal like this:

1. The reserve. Count off thirteen cards face down into a single pile on your left. Turn the top card of the pile face up. You are not allowed to look at the cards under it.
2. The first foundation card. Deal the next card face up, above and to the right of the reserve. This card starts the first of four foundation piles.
3. The columns. Deal four cards face up in a row below the foundations. Each one starts a column. Together the four columns are called the tableau.
4. The stock. The 34 cards left over stay face down in your hand, or in a pile on the table. This is the stock, and our game calls it the deck.

The Goal: Build the Foundations From the Starting Rank

You win by moving all 52 cards onto the four foundation piles, one pile for each suit. So far that sounds like most solitaire games. The difference is where the piles start.

In Canfield the piles do not start with Aces. They start with whatever rank was dealt to the first foundation. That rank is called the base, or the starting rank. The other three cards of that rank go to the foundations as soon as they turn up, and each pile then builds upward in its own suit. When a pile reaches the King, it keeps going: the Ace goes on the King, then the 2, and so on, until the pile holds all thirteen cards of its suit.

Example. The first foundation card is the 9 of hearts. All four piles now start with a 9. The heart pile builds 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7 and ends with the 8 of hearts. The 9 of spades, 9 of diamonds and 9 of clubs each start their own pile when you find them.

The last card of every pile is always the rank just below the starting rank. If you start with Aces, which happens about one deal in thirteen, the piles run from Ace to King and there is no wrapping around at all.

On our site: the empty foundation spaces show the card they are waiting for, such as 9♠, and the message box above the table names the starting rank, so you never have to remember it.

Building Down in the Columns

In the four columns you build downward in alternating colors. A card may be placed on a card that is one rank higher and the opposite color: a red 6 on a black 7, a black Queen on a red King.

The columns wrap around too. Because the foundations can start anywhere, no rank is ever a dead end: a King may be placed on an Ace of the opposite color, and then a Queen on that King. The order runs … 3, 2, Ace, King, Queen … for as long as you can keep it going.

Example. A column shows the 2 of spades. You may place the Ace of diamonds or the Ace of hearts on it. On that red Ace you may then place the King of spades or the King of clubs.

The cards you can pick up and play are:

• the top card of the reserve,
• the top card of the waste pile (the cards you have turned over from the stock), and
• the last card of each column, which can go to a foundation.

Moving Columns

You may move one column onto another, but in the traditional game the whole column moves as a unit. The first card of the column you are moving must fit on the last card of the column it is going to. You cannot peel off the bottom few cards and leave the rest behind.

Example. One column holds a red 9, a black 8 and a red 7. Another column ends with a black 10. You may pick up all three cards and place them on the 10, because the red 9 fits on the black 10. You may not move just the 8 and 7, or just the 7, to some other column.

The one exception is the foundations. The last card of any column can always go up to its foundation by itself when it is the next card that pile needs.

House rule: many people allow part of a column to be moved, as in Klondike. It makes the game easier. Our game follows the traditional rule, but you can turn on Move part of a column in Settings.

The Reserve and Empty Columns

The top card of the reserve is always available. You may play it to a foundation or onto a column. When it leaves, turn the next reserve card face up.

The reserve also has a special job. Whenever a column becomes empty, you must fill it at once with the top card of the reserve. You don’t get a choice about this. It is actually good news, because it is one of the main ways to get cards out of the reserve. Moving a whole column onto another column empties a space, the reserve card drops in, and a new reserve card is turned up.

Once the reserve has been used up, the rule changes. Now an empty column may be filled with the top card of the waste pile, and you may also leave the space open until a card you like comes along. An open space late in the game is very useful.

On our site: the reserve card moves into an empty column by itself, so you can’t forget. After the reserve is empty, tap the top turned-up card to send it to an open column when it has no better place to go.

The Stock and the Waste

When nothing on the table can be moved, or you simply want more choices, turn to the stock. Take three cards at a time from the top of the stock and turn them face up onto the waste pile, keeping them in order so that the third card ends up on top. Only the top card of the waste can be played. When you play it, the card beneath it becomes the top card and can be played next.

If fewer than three cards are left in the stock, turn over what there is.

Example. You turn over three cards and the top one is the 5 of clubs. You place it on a red 6 in a column. The card that was under it, the Jack of hearts, is now on top of the waste. It fits on a black Queen, so you play it too. The third card, a 2 of clubs, doesn’t fit anywhere, so you turn over three more.

Redeals: Going Through the Deck Again

When the stock runs out, pick up the waste pile, turn it face down without shuffling, and it becomes the new stock. In the usual rules you may do this as many times as you like. The game ends when you win, or when you go all the way through the deck without being able to make a single move.

Because the cards are not shuffled, they come around in the same order every time. The order only shifts when you play a card from the waste. Take one card, and from that point on, different cards land on top of each group of three. Good players use this on purpose; see our Canfield strategy guide.

Cards on the Foundations Stay There

In Canfield a card that has gone up to a foundation is out of play. You can’t bring it back down to a column to help with a move. That makes the timing of some foundation plays worth a moment’s thought.

Winning and Losing

You win when all four foundations are complete, thirteen cards each. You lose when you are stuck: no card on the table can be moved and a full trip through the stock turns up nothing you can play.

Be ready to lose often. Canfield is one of the harder solitaire games, and most deals are not won even by people who play well. The cards you need are frequently buried in the reserve where you can’t get at them. Many players judge a game by how many cards they got onto the foundations, and treat a real win as a small celebration.

Scoring: The Old Casino Game

The game is named after Richard Canfield, who ran a famous gambling house in Saratoga Springs, New York, in the 1890s. As the story goes, a player paid $50 for a deck of cards and played one game under the eye of a house dealer. The house then paid back $5 for every card on the foundations, with a prize of $500 for getting out all 52. If you want a way to score your own games, that payout table works nicely with matchsticks or pennies:

So ten cards was the break-even point, and the house made a steady profit, which tells you how the average game goes. Our game doesn’t keep a money score. It simply counts your games played and games won.

Playing on Our Site

• Tap a card and it moves to the best place. If there are several good places, they light up and you tap the one you want. You can also drag cards.
• To move a whole column, tap its first card, the one at the top of the column on your screen.
• Tap the deck to turn over cards. When the deck is empty, tap its space to turn the used cards back over.
• Auto-move to foundations is on to start with. Cards that are safe to put up go there by themselves.
• Undo takes back moves with no limit, and Hint points out a useful move.

Canfield Rules at a Glance

• One deck, 52 cards. Thirteen to the reserve, one to a foundation, one to each of four columns, 34 in the stock.
• The first foundation card sets the starting rank for all four foundations.
• Build the foundations up by suit from the starting rank, going from King to Ace, until each has thirteen cards.
• In the columns, build down by one rank in alternating colors. A King may go on an Ace.
• A column moves onto another column only as a whole.
• The top card of the reserve can be played to a foundation or a column.
• Fill an empty column at once from the reserve. With the reserve gone, fill it from the waste or leave it open.
• Turn the stock three cards at a time. Play the top waste card. Redeal as often as you like.
• Win by getting all 52 cards onto the foundations.

If you know Klondike, most of this will feel familiar: the same alternating colors in the columns and the same three-card turn of the deck. For advice on playing well, see our Canfield strategy guide, and for other ways people play, see Canfield rule variations.