Shuffling…

Canfield Solitaire

The first card sets the rank all four foundations start from, and everything wraps around past the King. A thirteen-card reserve feeds the columns, which is either a lifeline or a trap.

ObjectiveBuild all four foundations up in suit from the rank of the first card turned, wrapping past King to Ace.

The casino game that charged by the card

Canfield is named for Richard Canfield, whose Saratoga Springs casino sold the game in the 1890s: fifty dollars bought the deck, and the house paid five dollars back for every card you managed to place on a foundation. The arithmetic favoured the house heavily — most players place only a handful — which tells you up front what kind of game this is.

The deal is distinctive. Thirteen cards form a reserve, four columns of one card each form the tableau, and the next card turned sets the starting rank for all four foundations. If it is a Six, every foundation builds Six, Seven, Eight, wrapping past King to Ace, until each holds thirteen cards.

Canfield solitaire deal with thirteen-card reserve, four tableau columns and foundations that start from a dealt rank
The thirteen-card reserve on the left is the game: it drains one card at a time into the tableau.
  • The first foundation card sets the rank all four foundations start from.
  • Foundations build up in suit and wrap around: Q, K, A, 2 …
  • Columns build down in alternating colours and wrap too.
  • Empty columns refill from the reserve. The stock turns three at a time and recycles.

The four piles, and what each is for

Canfield's board has more moving parts than most patiences, and mistaking one pile's job for another's is the usual reason a first game goes nowhere.

Reserve
Thirteen cards, top one playable. Refills any tableau column you empty, automatically and for free.
Base rank
The rank of the first foundation card. All four foundations start there and wrap past King to Ace.
Tableau
Four columns, one card each to begin. Build down in alternating colours, wrapping allowed.
Stock
Thirty-four cards turned three at a time, recycling as often as you like at no cost.

The asymmetry to remember: the stock is infinite in practice and the reserve is not. Anything you can postpone, postpone into the stock; anything involving the reserve, do while you still have columns to put it in.

Draining the reserve

  1. 01

    Spend the reserve deliberately, but do spend it

    While the reserve holds cards it refills your empty columns for free. Once it is empty, an emptied column stays empty and you have lost your only workspace — so progress is measured almost entirely by how far down the reserve you get.

  2. 02

    Fix the base rank in your head first

    If the deal starts on Eight, then Sevens are your high cards and Nines are your next targets. Reading the board as though Aces mattered will mislead you for the entire game, and it is the mistake every newcomer makes once.

  3. 03

    Take the wrap seriously

    King on Ace is legal on the tableau and on the foundations. Beginners routinely miss the move that unlocks a stuck deal because their eyes stop at the top of the rank order.

  4. 04

    Read the stock order on the first pass

    The stock turns three at a time and recycles without limit, so patience genuinely is free here. Note where the cards you need sit in the cycle; the only truly irreversible resource in the game is the reserve.

How much skill can rescue

Deals are random, as the casino's were. Canfield has a genuinely low natural win rate, and no amount of play makes an unfriendly reserve friendly — what skill changes is how many cards you place before the board closes, which is exactly what Canfield's original scoring measured.

Unlimited undo and free stock recycling mean a careful player extracts far more from a deal than the casino ever allowed. For a game with a similar reserve idea but a verified guarantee behind it, FreeCell puts everything face up instead.

Questions about this game

Is Canfield the same game as Demon?
Yes — Demon is the older British name for the same layout, and it predates the casino story. Canfield is the name that stuck in America after the Saratoga gambling version made the game famous.
Why do the foundations start from a random rank?
The first card turned after the reserve is dealt goes up as the first foundation card, and its rank becomes the base all four foundations build from, wrapping past King to Ace as needed. It is the rule that most distinguishes Canfield from Klondike.
What is the reserve for?
It is a thirteen-card pile that only ever offers its top card, and it automatically refills any tableau column you empty. It is simultaneously the game's engine and its main obstacle, which is why draining it is the whole plan.