How to play Canfield Solitaire

Canfield is the famous "casino solitaire" — invented, the story goes, as a money game where players bought a deck for $52 and won back $5 for every card they sent home. That history shows in the design: it is a hard game, and a complete win is a genuine triumph. Even so, it plays fast and pulls you straight into "just one more deal," which is exactly why it has stayed popular for more than a century.

Goal

Move all 52 cards to the four foundations. Unlike most solitaires, the foundations do not start on Aces: the first card dealt sets the base rank, and every foundation builds up in its own suit from that rank, wrapping around past the King back to the Ace.

The board

• The reserve is a stack of thirteen cards on the left. Only the top one is in play, and the count beneath it tells you how many remain.
• Four tableau columns start with one card each and build downward.
• The stock and waste sit alongside; click the stock to turn three cards at a time, and recycle it as often as you like.
• Four foundations show the suit you are aiming to complete, each starting from the base rank.

Moves

• Build the tableau down in alternating colours, wrapping past the Ace to the King, and move ordered runs as a group.
• Send cards to a foundation when they are the next rank up in that suit. Double-click a card to send it automatically.
• Whenever a tableau column empties, it is refilled automatically from the reserve — so emptying a column is how you dig the reserve out.
• The top of the reserve and the top of the waste are both always available to play.

Strategy

The reserve is the whole game. Those thirteen cards are the ones most likely to strand you, so make freeing them your priority and play almost every reserve card you legally can. Because empty columns refill from the reserve, deliberately emptying a column is often your best move even when it feels wasteful. Be a little careful about rushing cards to the foundations — a low card kept in the tableau can be the bridge that lets a reserve card escape. Recycle the stock patiently, watch for the base-rank cards of each suit so you can open the other three foundations, and use undo to test a line before you commit to it.