Canfield Solitaire is one of the most notoriously difficult solitaire games in the canon. A 3% win rate even with careful play, a wrapping tableau that builds across the rank boundary, a random base rank that varies with every deal, and a reserve pile sitting on the left that feeds cards into an already constrained tableau. Canfield rewards patience, pattern recognition, and an almost paranoid attention to the order in which foundation ranks must arrive.
What is Canfield Solitaire?
Canfield Solitaire is a single-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. Thirteen cards are dealt to a reserve pile (only the top card is available). One card is placed on a foundation — whatever its rank is becomes the base rank for all four foundations. Four tableau columns each receive one face-up card. The remaining 35 cards go to the stock.
The foundation rule is unusual: all four foundations start with the base rank and build upward by suit, wrapping around if necessary. If the base rank is 7, foundations build 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. Each suit must complete this same 13-card cycle starting from the base rank.
The tableau builds downward by alternating color, and also wraps: an Ace can be placed on a King (the sequence is continuous around the rank boundary). The reserve top card is always available for play. Draw 3 from stock to waste (or draw 1 if you prefer a harder game). Unlimited redeals allowed — waste recycles to stock indefinitely.
How to play Canfield Solitaire
Step 1 — Note the base rank
The first card dealt to a foundation determines the base rank for all four foundations. If a 9 goes to the hearts foundation, then every foundation must start at 9 and build 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8. This wrap is critical — Aces are not automatically sent to foundations if the base rank is not Ace.
Step 2 — Move the reserve top whenever possible
The reserve pile's top card is always in play. Whenever it can go to a foundation or a valid tableau position, move it. Clearing cards from the reserve uncovers the next one and gradually frees up your most constrained resource.
Step 3 — Build tableau alternating color, descending, with wrapping
Tableau columns build downward by alternating color — red on black, black on red — just like Klondike. But the sequence wraps: an Ace can go on a 2, and a King can go on an Ace (or vice versa across the boundary). An empty tableau column accepts any card.
Step 4 — Draw 3 from the stock
Click the stock to deal the top three cards to the waste, with only the top waste card playable. When the stock is exhausted, the waste automatically recycles back to stock — you get unlimited passes through the deck. Use redeals strategically: getting through the deck once before recycling helps you see all available cards.
Step 5 — Build foundations from the base rank upward
Send cards to foundations in strict order starting from the base rank. If the base rank is 9 for spades, send 9S first, then 10S, then JS, QS, KS, AS, 2S, 3S, and so on up to 8S. Cards can only go to foundations in this exact sequence — you can't skip ranks.
Step 6 — Be patient with cycling
Canfield often requires many stock cycles before the game opens up. Cards that seem permanently buried may become accessible after two or three full passes through the deck. Don't panic when the tableau feels frozen — continue cycling and look for small improvements each pass.
The Canfield Solitaire play area
Canfield's board is more compact than Klondike but denser with information. On the left side sits the reserve pile — a compact stack showing only the top face-up card, with a count badge for the remaining hidden cards. In the center are the four tableau columns, each building downward alternating color with wrapping.
On the right are the four foundation piles, each labeled with a suit symbol and the base rank shown when empty. The stock and waste sit below the main grid, allowing you to draw new cards at any time.
The base rank indicator above the board tells you which rank starts each foundation. Because this rank changes every deal, always check it before playing — a game where base rank is 7 plays very differently from one where it's Ace, and sending the wrong card to a foundation early (a non-base-rank card) is impossible — the engine prevents it.
Available moves in Canfield Solitaire
Canfield has a moderate move vocabulary. The wrapping rules add complexity to each decision.
Draw from stock. Click the stock to deal up to three cards (or one, in Draw-1 mode) face-up to the waste. When the stock runs out, it automatically recycles the waste back to stock face-down. Unlimited redeals are allowed.
Move reserve top. The top card of the reserve pile is always available — to a tableau column or directly to a foundation when it fits the current sequence.
Move waste top. The top waste card is playable to any valid tableau or foundation destination.
Move a tableau sequence. A face-up card and all face-up cards on top of it (forming a valid alternating-color descending sequence, with wrapping) can move together to another tableau column. A single face-up card can also move to a foundation.
Canfield Solitaire strategy
Identify the base rank and plan your foundation order
The moment you see the base rank, mentally list the 13-card sequence each foundation must complete. Know exactly which card rank must come next on each of the four foundations at all times. Sending a card to a foundation out of order is impossible, but understanding the sequence helps you prioritize which cards to surface from the reserve and waste.
Keep the reserve flowing
The reserve pile is your most constrained source of cards — 12 of its 13 cards start hidden. Every card you move off the reserve top uncovers the next one. Prioritize plays that let you place reserve cards, even if tableau moves seem more immediately attractive. A frozen reserve (no home for the current reserve top) is one of the main ways Canfield games stall.
Don't rush cards to foundations
In Canfield, tableau cards are often more valuable as receivers. A card on the foundation can never come back to help in the tableau. Before sending a card up, check whether it could serve as a landing spot for the reserve top or waste top over the next few turns. Delaying a foundation move by one cycle often opens more plays than the foundation move itself.
Cycle the stock multiple times before deciding
Canfield allows unlimited redeals. A game that looks locked on the first pass through the stock sometimes opens on the second or third. Make small, conservative tableau moves on each cycle rather than committing to large reorganizations, so you preserve flexibility across multiple passes. Canfield games that are won typically require at least three full stock cycles.
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Odds of winning Canfield Solitaire
Canfield Solitaire has one of the lowest win rates in mainstream solitaire. Most published analyses estimate approximately 3% of random deals are winnable with optimal play and unlimited redeals. The combination of a small tableau (four columns), a 13-card reserve feeding into it, and the random base rank creates a game where winnable configurations are genuinely rare.
The game has a historical casino connection that reflects this difficulty. In the nineteenth century, a gambler named Richard Canfield — no direct relation to the name of the game, which is sometimes disputed — reportedly offered a casino game where players bought a deck for $52 and received $5 per card moved to foundations. With three or fewer cards typically reaching foundations per attempt, the house edge was enormous.
With unlimited redeals (the standard modern rule), win rate improves compared to the limited-redeal version, but the fundamental problem remains: the tableau is too small to reorganize effectively when difficult distributions appear. Unlike FreeCell where over 99.999% of deals are solvable, Canfield is primarily a game of endurance and small optimizations rather than guaranteed solvability.
History of Canfield Solitaire
Canfield Solitaire's namesake is often cited as Richard A. Canfield, a prominent nineteenth-century American gambler and casino owner. According to the popular account, Canfield ran a solitaire game at his Saratoga Springs casino circa 1890: players bought a deck for $52, played the game, and received $5 for each card moved to the foundations at the end. Given that most players completed only a handful of foundation cards, the house profit was substantial.
Whether Canfield invented the game or simply popularized and named it is unclear. The game appears in British card game collections from the same era under the name "Demon," which remains the preferred name in the United Kingdom. "Demon" and "Canfield" are the same game; the name varies by country.
The connection to the reserve pile is often missed: the 13 reserve cards in Canfield (and Demon) are sometimes called the "Demon reserve" in older British sources, reinforcing that the two names refer to the same variant. Some modern references incorrectly conflate Canfield with Klondike, possibly because Microsoft's Solitaire collection doesn't include Canfield, leaving the game less well-known than it deserves to be.
Frequently asked questions
What is Canfield Solitaire?
- Canfield Solitaire is a single-player card game where 13 cards are dealt to a reserve pile, one card sets the base rank for all four foundations, and four tableau columns build downward alternating color with wrapping. Foundations build upward from the base rank in each suit, wrapping around as needed. Win rate is around 3%.
What is the reserve pile in Canfield Solitaire?
- The reserve pile holds 13 cards with only the top card available at any time. As you play the top card onto the tableau or foundation, the next reserve card flips face-up and becomes available. Keeping the reserve pile moving is crucial — a frozen reserve (no valid placement for its top card) is one of the main ways the game stalls.
What does the base rank mean in Canfield Solitaire?
- The base rank is determined by the first card dealt to a foundation slot. Whatever rank that card is — say, 7 — all four foundations start at rank 7 and build upward by suit, wrapping around if needed: 7, 8, 9, 10, J, Q, K, A, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6. This means Aces are not automatically the foundation starters in Canfield the way they are in Klondike.
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