Rules
Canfield Solitaire rules at a glance
- Use one standard 52-card deck.
- Deal one card to the first foundation; its rank becomes the base rank for all foundations.
- Deal 13 cards to the reserve, with only the top reserve card available.
- Deal one face-up card to each of four tableau piles.
- The remaining cards form the stock.
- Draw three cards at a time from the stock to the waste.
- Foundations build upward by suit from the base rank, wrapping king to ace.
- Tableau piles build downward by alternating color, wrapping ace to king.
- While the reserve has cards, empty tableau spaces fill automatically from the reserve.
- Win by moving all 52 cards to the foundations.
How to play
How to play Canfield Solitaire
Canfield Solitaire is a compact foundation builder with one extra source of pressure: the reserve. At the start, one card is dealt to a foundation. That rank becomes the base rank. If the starter card is a 7, every foundation must begin with a 7 of its suit, then climb 8, 9, 10, jack, queen, king, ace, 2, and so on until each suit has 13 cards.
Most turns are about finding useful homes for the top reserve card, the top waste card, and the tableau tops. Move cards to foundations when they follow the current suit order. Move cards within the tableau when they build downward by alternating color. A red 6 can go on a black 7, and because this version wraps, a black king can go on a red ace.
Background
What is Canfield Solitaire?
Canfield is a one-deck patience game in the same broad family as Klondike, but it feels tighter and more urgent. Klondike gives you seven tableau columns and ace foundations. Canfield gives you only four tableau piles, a reserve that must be worked down, and a base rank that changes from deal to deal.
The game is also closely associated with the name Demon. That nickname fits the reserve: thirteen cards sit in a small pile, only the top card is available, and every empty tableau space is claimed by the reserve until it runs out. You are not just building pretty stacks; you are trying to keep that reserve from controlling the whole game.
Setup
The layout on this page
The opening deal uses all the familiar Canfield parts. One card starts a foundation and defines the base rank. Thirteen cards go into the reserve. Four face-up cards start the tableau. The remaining 34 cards become the stock, which draws three at a time to the waste.
The reserve is shown as one playable top card with a count. The waste also shows only its top card, even though more waste cards may be underneath it. Hidden waste order matters because recycling keeps the same card order rather than shuffling.
Reserve
How the reserve changes the game
The reserve is the main difference between Canfield and more familiar solitaire games. Only the top reserve card can move, but the reserve automatically fills empty tableau piles while it has cards. That means opening a tableau space is useful, but it is not fully yours until the reserve is empty.
A good reserve move does more than reduce the count by one. It should start a missing foundation, create a flexible tableau connector, or expose another reserve card that has a clear route. Moving a reserve card into a dead tableau pile can trade one blockage for another.
Examples
Legal and illegal Canfield moves
The foundation rule depends on the base rank. If the base rank is queen, an empty spade foundation needs the queen of spades, not the ace. Once that queen is there, the king of spades follows, then the ace of spades, then the 2 of spades. Suit always matters in the foundations.
The tableau ignores suit except for color. It builds down by alternating red and black. Because the rank order wraps, king can sit on ace, queen can sit on king, and 2 can sit on 3. A card cannot be placed on the same color, and it cannot skip a rank.
FoundationIf the base rank is 8, every empty foundation starts with an 8
Foundation wrapQ, K, A, 2 can continue in the same suit
TableauRed 6 onto black 7
Tableau wrapKing onto ace of the opposite color
ReserveOnly the top reserve card is playable
WasteOnly the top waste card is playable
Stock
How the stock and waste work
This version draws three cards from the stock to the waste. Only the newest waste card is available. If you draw again, that playable card is covered by the next small packet. You can still reach it later by cycling, but the timing changes.
When the stock is empty, the waste turns back into the stock without shuffling. There is no redeal limit in this version. Unlimited cycling makes the game more playable online, but it does not remove the puzzle, because tableau and foundation moves change which waste cards are useful when they appear.
Wrapping
Why rank wrapping matters
Canfield is easy to misplay if you think every foundation starts at ace. The base rank can be anything, so both foundations and tableau sequences may cross the king-ace edge. A foundation can climb from queen to king to ace. A tableau pile can descend from 2 to ace to king.
This makes middle ranks more important than they look. In a deal based on 8s, for example, the 7s are final foundation cards rather than early ones. A 7 may be a valuable tableau support for a long time before it can finally go home.
Strategy
Canfield Solitaire strategy that improves the position
Keep pressure on the reserve. A reserve card that can start an empty foundation is usually valuable because it opens a whole suit path and reveals the next reserve card. A reserve card that can move to the tableau is also useful if it creates a landing place for waste or tableau cards. The reserve is not just a pile to empty; it is the lane that decides how much freedom the tableau will have later.
Watch the base rank before making automatic foundation moves. Low-looking cards may not be early foundation cards in Canfield. If the base rank is 10, then 9s are the final cards of their suits. They may need to stay in the tableau as connectors for a long time.
Do not waste tableau spaces. While the reserve remains, every empty space becomes a reserve reveal. That can be excellent when the next reserve card has somewhere to go, and awkward when it drops a stiff card into your only flexible pile. After the reserve is gone, empty spaces become much freer and can accept any legal card or sequence.
Use the stock with a purpose. Drawing three is tempting when nothing obvious is happening, but each draw buries the current waste card. Before drawing, check whether the top waste card starts a foundation, moves the reserve, or builds a tableau bridge. A small useful move now can make the next waste cycle much stronger.
Mistakes
Common Canfield Solitaire mistakes
- Forgetting that the foundation base rank changes every deal.
- Missing wraparound moves such as king onto ace in the tableau.
- Drawing through the stock while the top waste card has a useful move.
- Moving a reserve card into the tableau without checking what it blocks.
- Assuming an empty tableau space stays empty while reserve cards remain.
- Sending a connector to a foundation before the tableau no longer needs it.
Winnability
Is Canfield Solitaire winnable?
Canfield Solitaire is not always winnable from a random shuffle. The opening base rank, reserve order, and draw-three stock order can create positions where essential cards appear too late or sit behind the wrong blockers.
This page does not invent a win-rate number. An honest percentage would need to be measured against this exact rule set, including unlimited redeals, undo, automatic reserve fills, and the hint behavior. What is safe to say is that good play matters, but it cannot guarantee every deal.
Variants
Canfield variants and house rules
Canfield has several rule traditions. Some versions draw one card instead of three. Some limit redeals. Some are stricter about moving sequences, while others treat empty tableau spaces differently after the reserve is gone. The name Demon is often used for very similar reserve games, and older books may describe small differences under either name.
This page keeps the version direct and playable: draw three, unlimited recycling, automatic reserve fills, wrapping foundations, wrapping alternating-color tableau builds, and movable tableau sequences. If a future draw-one or strict redeal mode is added, it should be shown as a separate option because it changes the pace and difficulty.
Nearby games
How Canfield compares with Klondike, Yukon, FreeCell, and Forty Thieves
Canfield and Klondike both build suit foundations and use a stock and waste, but Canfield is more compressed. Four tableau piles leave less room than Klondike's seven columns, and the reserve adds a second problem that Klondike does not have.
Yukon removes the stock entirely and lets large face-up packets move with unusual freedom. FreeCell reveals all cards and gives you temporary cells, making planning more exact. Forty Thieves goes in the other direction: two decks, many tableau piles, and stricter movement. Canfield sits between them as a quick, tense reserve builder.