How to Play Canfield Solitaire: Rules and Tips

Canfield Solitaire is the game a casino once tried to sell by the deck. You get one pack, four small piles and a reserve of 13 cards that you must dig through, and the foundations don’t even start at Ace. Most deals are lost, which is exactly what the house was counting on. This guide covers the setup, the full rules, the strategy that wins more often, the main variants and the real story behind the name.

What is Canfield Solitaire?

Canfield is a one-deck solitaire (patience) game for one player. In Britain the same game is called Demon, and it was first recorded there as Demon Patience. Both names refer to the same rules, so if you’ve learned demon solitaire, you already know Canfield.

The goal is to move all 52 cards onto four foundation piles, one per suit. What sets Canfield apart is the reserve: 13 cards, only the top one visible, that feed the tableau whenever a space opens.

What you need and how to set up

Take one standard 52-card deck without jokers and shuffle it. Then deal in this order:

• Reserve: count 13 cards face down into one pile and turn the top card face up. Only that top card is in play.
• First foundation: deal the next card face up to the right of the reserve. This is the base card. Its rank is the starting rank for all four foundations.
• Tableau: deal one card face up to each of four piles below the foundations.
• Stock: the remaining 34 cards go face down in a pile. Leave room next to it for a face-up waste pile.

If the base card is the 8 of clubs, then the other three foundations can only be started by the other three 8s, whenever they turn up.

Canfield solitaire rules

Building the foundations

Each foundation builds up in its suit, starting from the base rank. Ranks wrap around, so with an 8 as the base, a foundation runs 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, 2 and on up to 7. A complete foundation holds all 13 cards of its suit.

Building on the tableau

The four tableau piles build down in alternating colors: a red 6 goes on a black 7, a black Jack on a red Queen. The tableau wraps too, so a King can go on an Ace of the opposite color.

You can move the top card of a pile, or you can move the entire pile as a unit onto another pile. You can’t split a pile and move just part of it. When you move a whole pile, its bottom card has to fit on the top card of the pile it joins.

The reserve and filling spaces

The top card of the reserve is always available. It can go to a foundation or onto a tableau pile, and when it moves, the next reserve card turns face up.

When a tableau pile is emptied, the space is filled with the top card of the reserve. In the traditional rules this is done right away, and the reserve card should be used whenever it can fill a gap or build a foundation. Once the reserve is empty, you may fill a space with the top card of the waste pile, or leave it open until a useful card turns up.

The stock and the waste

Deal the stock in packets of three cards, face up onto the waste pile. Only the top waste card can be played, to a foundation or a tableau pile. When the stock runs out, turn the waste pile over to form a new stock and keep going. The standard rules allow unlimited redeals as long as you still have moves.

Winning and losing

You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. You lose when no move helps, even after going through the stock again.

How hard is Canfield?

Very hard with three cards at a time. The odds Wikipedia gives in its infobox are about 1 in 30, and the article notes that the game is rarely won under the standard three-card rules.

Most deals are not impossible, though. Wikipedia also reports that a computer solver found about 71 percent of 50,000 random deals winnable. The gap shows how much a human loses to hidden cards and to the three-card stock, where only every third card is reachable on each pass.

Strategy tips that win more games

Work on the reserve first

The reserve is where most Canfield games are lost. Every reserve card you play uncovers another, and a buried reserve card can’t be reached any other way, so reserve moves usually come before stock moves.

Merge piles to open spaces

Moving a whole pile onto another pile empties a space, and the reserve fills it straight away. With only four piles, these merges are the fastest way to bring new reserve cards into play.

Know which waste cards you can reach

In the three-card game only the top card of each packet is playable. Playing one card from the waste shifts which cards end up on top next time through, which can bring a stuck card within reach.

Use the foundations with care

With only four piles, every tableau card is a possible landing spot. Sending a card home is safe once both opposite-color cards one rank below it are on the foundations. Before that, check whether it is still useful on the table.

Variants of Canfield

Wikipedia lists several close relatives, most of which change one rule.

• Storehouse (also called Reserve or Thirteen Up): the 2s are removed and placed on the foundations first. The stock is dealt one card at a time and can be gone through only twice. Wikipedia notes that most players can win close to its best possible rate of about 44 percent.
• Superior Canfield: the whole reserve is visible, and spaces can be filled by any card, not only by the reserve.
• Selective Canfield: five cards are dealt after the reserve, you choose one of them to start the foundations, and the other four become the tableau.
• Rainbow: the tableau builds down regardless of suit, and the stock is turned one card at a time with no redeals.
• Chameleon: a 12-card reserve and only three tableau piles, with the stock dealt one at a time and no redeals.
• Variegated Demon: a two-deck version with Aces always as the base cards, a tableau of five piles and two redeals.

Where the name comes from

The game was first recorded in England in 1891, when Mary Whitmore Jones described Demon Patience and called it “by far the best game for one pack that has yet been invented.”

The American name comes from Richard A. Canfield, who in 1894 took over the Clubhouse in Saratoga Springs, New York, later known as the Canfield Casino. According to Wikipedia, a gambler there would buy a pack for $50 (some sources say $52) and receive $5 for every card placed on the foundations. At $5 a card, a player needed about ten or eleven cards home just to get the price of the pack back, so the house expected to profit.

The idea never really took off. A game of solitaire took longer than a typical casino game, and each player needed a croupier to watch. Canfield sold the casino to the City of Saratoga Springs in 1907, reportedly at quite a loss. One more twist: Canfield himself is said to have called the game Klondike, and the names Canfield and Klondike were swapped and confused for years afterward. Wikipedia’s Canfield article covers the full history and the naming tangle.

Canfield vs Klondike

Both are one-deck games with a stock and a tableau built down in alternating colors. Klondike foundations always start with Aces, its seven piles hide face-down cards, and only a King can fill a space. Canfield foundations start from the base rank, its four piles are face up, and the 13-card reserve fills every space.

If you’re new to card solitaire, our guide on how to play Solitaire covers the Klondike rules, and you can deal a hand of Klondike Solitaire any time.

Play Canfield online

You can play Canfield Solitaire online free on dinogame.gg, on desktop or on a phone. It deals the standard game by default, with the stock dealt three at a time, unlimited redeals and spaces filled from the reserve on their own.

• Easier or harder rules: switch to Draw 1, or limit the game to two, one or no redeals.
• Help when you’re stuck: unlimited undo, a hint button, and an optional auto-move that sends cards to the foundations once they are safe.
• Casino points: an optional points mode: start at -52 and score 5 per foundation card.
• Replays: every deal has a number you can replay or share, and a daily deal gives everyone the same cards for the day.

Frequently asked questions

What are the basic Canfield solitaire rules?

Deal 13 cards to a reserve, one card to start the foundations and one card to each of four tableau piles. Build the foundations up in suit from the base rank and the tableau down in alternating colors, both wrapping around. Fill spaces from the reserve, and deal the stock three cards at a time with unlimited redeals.

Is Demon solitaire the same as Canfield?

Yes. Demon is the British name for the same game, first recorded as Demon Patience in 1891. Americans call it Canfield after the casino owner Richard A. Canfield.

Can you move more than one card at a time in Canfield?

Only a whole pile. You can move the top card of a pile, or move the entire pile onto another pile if its bottom card fits. You can’t split a pile in the middle.

What are the odds of winning Canfield Solitaire?

Low with three cards at a time: Wikipedia gives about 1 in 30. Dealing one card at a time, or playing an easier relative such as Storehouse, wins far more often.

The bottom line

Canfield Solitaire is quick to learn and hard to beat. Remember the base rank, attack the reserve and merge piles to keep spaces coming, and you’ll win more deals than the old casino expected. When a hand goes badly, take a break with the Chrome Dino game before you deal again.