Canfield Solitaire
How to play Canfield
Canfield is a one-deck solitaire game with a thirteen-card reserve, four tableau piles and a stock turned three cards at a time, whose foundations start from a rank the deal sets rather than from the Ace.
Turn the stock three at a time and work through a thirteen-card reserve to build the foundations up from the deal's own rank.
The goal of Canfield
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 Canfield
Thirteen cards are dealt face down into the reserve, and its top card is turned face up. The next 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 four tableau piles, and the other 34 cards form the stock.
Canfield rules
Tableau piles build down one rank at a time in alternating colours, and a King may go on an Ace. Move either the top card of a pile or the whole pile at once; a pile is never split anywhere else.
The top card of the reserve can go onto a foundation or a tableau pile. When a tableau pile is emptied, the reserve's top card fills it straight away. Once the reserve is used up, an empty pile may be filled from the waste, or left empty.
Turn the stock three cards at a time onto the waste. Only the top waste card is in play. When the stock runs out, turn the waste back over to make a new stock, as often as you like.
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. Click the bottom card of a pile to move the whole pile. Drag a card or a pile to choose where it goes yourself. With Autoplay off in Settings, only a drag moves a card.
How to win at Canfield
You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. Once the reserve, 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.
Canfield strategy tips
Moving a whole pile onto a pile it builds on empties its place, and the reserve's top card fills it at once. That move costs nothing and brings one of the thirteen reserve cards into play, so look for it before you turn the stock.
There is no limit on passes through the stock, so a waste card is never lost, only slow to come round. Each pass turns up the same cards unless you play one, so play from the waste to change which cards come up next time.
Watch the rank in each empty foundation's corner. The card one rank below it goes home last, so in a game that starts from Sevens a Six is better used in the piles than waited on.
The stock starts with 34 cards and turns three at a time, so a pass in which you play nothing shows only 12 of them: every third card and the last one on its own.
Once the reserve is spent, an empty pile takes only the top waste card, never one moved from a pile, so fill it when the waste shows a card that would otherwise wait a whole pass.
Canfield questions and answers
How do you play Canfield solitaire?
Deal thirteen cards to the reserve, one to start the foundations and one to each of four tableau piles, and keep the rest as the stock. Build the piles down in alternating colours, play the reserve's top card whenever you can, and turn the stock three cards at a time. The foundations build up by suit from the first foundation card's rank, and you win when all 52 cards are on them.
Why don't the foundations start with Aces in Canfield?
The card dealt to the first foundation sets the starting rank for all four. If it is a Seven, each foundation starts with its Seven and builds up to the King, then on through the Ace to the Six. Each empty foundation shows that rank in its corner.
What happens when a tableau pile is emptied in Canfield?
The top card of the reserve moves into it straight away. Once the reserve is used up, an empty pile can take the top card of the waste, or stay empty until you want it.
How many times can you go through the stock in Canfield?
As many times as you like. When the stock is empty, turn the waste over to make a new stock and keep turning three cards at a time. The game only ends when no turn of the stock brings up a card you can play.
Can every Canfield deal be won?
No. Tested on 100 shuffled Canfield deals, the game's solver proved 60 winnable and 11 lost in the search a hint gets, and could not settle the other 29. Switch on Winnable in the menu beside New deal and each new board is shuffled until the solver proves it can be won, which took a median of two shuffles in testing; if the solver runs out of tries, you get an ordinary shuffle. The Hint button asks the same solver for a winning line before it suggests a move.
Is there a daily Canfield game?
Yes. Canfield has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. You need to be logged in to play it.