Canfield

Canfield Solitaire

Canfield is a patience game with a twist that Klondike does not have: the rank where the foundations begin changes with every deal. A thirteen-card reserve sits beside the table, four piles hold the working cards, and the stock is drawn three at a time. Only the stock is hidden, so most of the game is planning.

Rules step by step

  1. The deal. Thirteen cards form the reserve, and you may play only its top card. The next card is turned face up and goes to the foundation of its suit. Its rank is the starting rank for all four foundations in this deal. Four more cards start the four piles, one each. The other 34 cards make the stock.
  2. Foundations. Each suit builds up from the starting rank, one card at a time, and wraps from king to ace. A suit is complete after thirteen cards. If the starting rank is a seven, every suit runs seven, eight and so on up to the king, then ace through six.
  3. Piles build down in alternating colors. A red card goes on a black card one rank higher, and a black card goes on a red one. The count wraps the same way: an ace goes on a two, and a king goes on an ace.
  4. Move sequences. Cards that already form a correct run may move together onto another pile. You can also take just the top part of a run.
  5. Empty piles. When a pile is emptied, the top card of the reserve fills it by itself. Once the reserve is gone, any card or run can be moved into an empty pile.
  6. Draw three. Click the stock to turn three cards onto the waste. Only the top waste card is playable. When the stock runs out, click it again to turn the waste over. You can do this as often as you like.
  7. Win when all 52 cards sit on the foundations.

Cards cannot come back down from a foundation, and the page shows time and moves but no score.

Why the reserve matters

The reserve holds a quarter of the deck, and none of it is in play until you free the top card. It is also the supply for your piles: each time a pile empties, a reserve card slides in. That makes emptying a pile a real move, because it puts a new card on the table and uncovers the next reserve card.

It also means the reserve decides how fast the game opens up. If you ignore it, twelve cards stay locked while the stock cycles pointlessly.

Strategy

Frequently asked questions

Is every deal winnable?

The default deals come from a pool that an offline solver has checked. The solver sees every card and found at least one winning line for each deal in the pool. Many random Canfield deals have no win at all, so the pool leaves them out, and it is a filtered sample rather than a random shuffle. That makes pool deals easier on average than a fair shuffle, but a win is still not easy, since you cannot see the cards in the stock.

Why does my pile fill itself?

That is the rule, not a glitch. When the last card leaves a pile and the reserve still has cards, its top card moves in at once. The status line under the table shows how many reserve cards are left.

Can I move part of a run?

Yes. Select the card where you want the move to begin, and every card below it moves too, as long as those cards form a correct run.

Do I need an account?

No. Settings, stats and the game in progress stay in your browser. The privacy page lists the entries.

How do I share a deal?

Every deal has its own web address. Copy it and a friend opens the same cards on this page.

Deal pool facts

Counted from this game's deal files when the site is built. The about page explains how the pool is made.

Deals in the pool
1,500, each with a stored winning line that the site's tests replay through the game rules
Shuffles with a win found
1,500 of the first 1,751 tried, or 85.7 percent
Median winning line
223 steps
Middle half of winning lines
205 to 248 steps

A step is one move as the solver counts it, so the move counter on the table can show a lower number for the same line. These are the lines the solver found, and shorter wins may exist. Shuffles without a win inside the solver's limits were left out.

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