Play Canfield Solitaire Online
Canfield begins with only 4 cards in the tableau, while 13 more wait in a reserve that feeds empty columns. The first foundation card decides the starting rank for all 4 suits. An opening 6 means every foundation must begin with a 6, climb through King, wrap to Ace and finish on 5.
Because the base changes, the cards worth freeing first change with it. An Ace may need to wait while a 6 or Queen can move straight to its foundation. An empty column is not working space while the reserve has cards, because the top reserve card fills the gap at once. Canfield uses less table space than Forty Thieves, but much of the play runs through the reserve and the stock as well as the tableau.
A Small Tableau with 3 Separate Card Sources
The opening table has 4 face-up tableau cards, a 13-card reserve, a stock, a waste pile and 4 foundations. You cannot choose what goes into the reserve the way you can with a free cell. Only its top card can be played, and whenever a tableau column becomes empty, the next reserve card moves into that space automatically. The stock turns up 3 cards at a time, with only the upper waste card available.
All tableau cards begin face up, but most of Canfield's deck is still concealed in the stock and reserve. Moving a tableau card can advance a foundation or empty a column so the reserve supplies its next card. The visible reserve card tells you what will fill that space, but not what comes after it.
Tableau Builds Wrap Around
Tableau cards build down in alternating colors. Rank order wraps, so a King may sit on an Ace when the colors alternate. A correctly ordered face-up run can move together. While the reserve still holds cards, an empty column is filled from it before another run can enter.
Foundations Follow the Dealt Base
Each foundation builds up by suit from the rank shown at the top of the board. The order also wraps from King to Ace. A foundation based on 9 therefore runs 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace and continues through 8.
Reserve Pressure Shapes the Middle Game
While the reserve is thick, every column you clear is filled at once by the next reserve card. That can be helpful when the reserve is blocking a foundation card, but it can also replace a flexible column with a rank that has no useful destination. Check the count beside the reserve as well as its top card.
In Klondike Solitaire the hidden cards are in the tableau, waiting to be turned over. Canfield begins with its tableau exposed and hides the reserve order instead. You can see what is playable now, but not which reserve card will follow it.
The Base Rank Changes What Counts as Progress
In most familiar building games, an exposed Ace is an obvious foundation candidate. Canfield removes that shortcut. In a deal based on Queens, an Ace cannot reach its foundation until the Queen and King of the same suit are already there. Until then, it may still be useful in the tableau because an opposite-color King can descend onto it.
The base rank also changes which cards can leave the tableau first. When the foundations start on 4, every exposed 4 has immediate value, followed by 5s of matching suits. How useful a card is depends on where it falls in this deal's cycle.
Draw 3 Creates a Waste Order You Can Revisit
Canfield turns stock cards over in packets of 3. After the stock is exhausted, the waste is returned for another pass. Unlimited redeals remove the 1-pass deadline found in Forty Thieves, but they do not make every buried waste card instantly reachable. A useful card can remain underneath the same pair until another play changes the packet order.
Moving a waste card changes which card appears on the next pass. Leaving it in place preserves the old packet order. The stock and pass counts help explain why a card seen earlier has not returned to the top yet.
Working Space Arrives in 2 Stages
Before the reserve empties, clearing a column does not buy storage. It just puts the next reserve card on the table. Once the last reserve card has entered play, a cleared column stays open and accepts any movable run. Late in the deal, clearing a column finally gives you real space instead of another reserve card to deal with.
Players who enjoy the visible planning of FreeCell will recognize the value of open space, though Canfield makes it less predictable. FreeCell gives you fixed cells from the opening. Canfield asks you to earn its empty columns while the reserve keeps refilling them.
Canfield Questions
Why did a reserve card jump into my empty column?
That is a Canfield rule. While the reserve still holds cards, an empty tableau column is filled from it straight away. Once the reserve is used up, empty columns stay open for you.
How many times can I go through the stock?
As many times as you like. The stock turns over 3 cards at a time, and the waste goes back to the stock whenever it runs out.
Where does the name come from?
The name is usually linked to Richard A. Canfield, who ran the gambling house in Saratoga Springs, New York, from the 1890s. The story goes that players bought a deck for a stake and were paid back for every card they got onto the foundations. Here the only stake is your score.
Can every Canfield deal be won?
Plenty of shuffled Canfield deals cannot be won. Every Winnable deal has a known solution, so a win is possible from the opening, while a Random deal may have none. A signed-in win on a Winnable deal without hints or undo goes on the Canfield leaderboard.
Where Canfield Fits Among Solitaire Games
Canfield belongs to the reserve builders, games in which a separate pile feeds the tableau while the foundations follow a set rank cycle. It is more compact than the 2-deck builders and less open than the cell games. The types of Solitaire overview places those families side by side.
For a full walkthrough of reserve refills, foundation wrapping and stock passes, read how to play Canfield Solitaire. No account is needed to play. Check the dealt foundation card at the start of each hand, because its rank sets the building order for that deal.