Guide
How to Play Canfield Solitaire
Canfield Solitaire is a game of planning. Clear the 13-card reserve, build four columns down in alternating colours, and lift every suit up from the base card. Here are the deal, the rules, the controls, and the habits that win more games.
Play Canfield SolitaireThe objective
Move all 52 cards to the foundations
Canfield Solitaire is played with one standard 52-card deck. Four foundation piles sit above a four-column tableau, with a 13-card reserve beside it. You win when every card has been moved to the foundations, each built up in a single suit from the base card and wrapping from King to Ace.
Between the deal and the win, the work is emptying the reserve while keeping four columns ordered — descending ranks in alternating colours — and turning the stock, three cards at a time, to feed cards you cannot yet reach. There is no timer forcing your hand; the challenge is the order you do things in.
The game is free, runs in the browser, and needs no account. Open the board when you want to play; use this guide for the rules, what makes Canfield different from Klondike, and the habits that win more games.
The deal
A reserve, four columns, one base card
Thirteen cards are dealt to the reserve with only the top card face up. One card goes to a foundation and sets the base rank. Four cards are dealt face up, one per tableau column. The remaining 34 cards form the face-down stock in the top-left, with the waste pile beside it and the four foundations to the right.
Every deal here is a fresh shuffle. Some are comfortably winnable and some are not, and you cannot always tell which is which — that uncertainty is part of the game.
Controls
Drag, tap, or use the keyboard
Every method moves the same cards. Pick whichever fits the device in your hand.
Everywhere
Drag or tap-to-move
Drag a card or an ordered run onto its destination, or tap once to pick it up and tap the target column to drop it. Legal drop targets light up while you hold a card, so a multi-card move is never a guess.
Fast foundations
Double-click / double-tap
Double-click any playable card to send it straight to its foundation when the move is legal. It is the quickest way to bank the base rank and the cards that follow it.
Desktop
Keyboard
Space turns the stock. U undoes, H asks for a hint, N deals a new game, and M mutes the sound. Every on-screen button also has a visible focus ring for keyboard navigation.
The loop
Four moves you repeat all game
Reading the board, then choosing between these four is the whole game.
- 1
Read the deal
Thirteen cards form the reserve, with only the top card face up. One card goes to the foundations and sets the base rank. Four cards are dealt face up to the tableau, and the other 34 cards make up the stock.
- 2
Build the tableau down
On the tableau, place a card on one that is one rank higher and the opposite colour: a red six goes on a black seven. Ranks wrap, so a King can go on an Ace. You can move a whole ordered run at once.
- 3
Use the reserve
The top reserve card is always in play — send it to a foundation or build it on the tableau. When a tableau column empties, the top reserve card drops in automatically. Once the reserve is gone, any card can fill a gap.
- 4
Build up from the base card
Each foundation starts on the base rank and climbs in suit, wrapping from King to Ace. Turn the stock three cards at a time when you are out of moves and redeal as often as you like. Move all 52 cards up to win.
Rules & scoring
Every rule that decides a move
The objective
Move all 52 cards to the four foundations, each built up in a single suit from the base rank, wrapping from King to Ace. The game is won the moment the last card lands.
The foundation base card
The card dealt to the foundations at the start sets the base rank. Every foundation begins with a card of that rank, so the other three cards of the base rank are the ones to hunt for first.
Tableau building
Tableau columns are built downward in alternating colours, and ranks wrap from Ace to King. A card or a correctly ordered run can move onto a card one rank higher of the opposite colour. Cards on a foundation stay there.
Reserve and empty columns
Only the top reserve card is playable. When a tableau column empties and the reserve still has cards, the top reserve card fills the gap automatically. When the reserve is empty, any card or run from the waste or another column may fill a gap.
The stock and waste
Turning the stock moves three cards to the waste, and only the top waste card is playable. When the stock is empty, recycling the waste starts another pass. This version allows unlimited passes.
Winning and getting stuck
Most Canfield deals cannot be won. When no useful move remains, deal a new game. Undo is unlimited, so a dead end is only final once you choose to move on.
What is different
Canfield versus Klondike
If you know Klondike, four things change: the foundations start on a base card, the hidden cards live in a reserve, the tableau has four wrapping columns, and the stock always draws three.
- 01 · Not always Aces
The base card sets the foundations
In Klondike every foundation starts on an Ace. In Canfield the first card dealt to the foundations sets the base rank, so a deal with a 7 as its base builds every suit 7, 8, 9 … King, Ace, 2 … 6. The plan changes with each deal.
- 02 · 13 cards, one visible
A reserve instead of face-down columns
Klondike hides cards under the tableau. Canfield keeps 13 cards in a reserve and shows you only the top one. Emptying that pile is the real objective — it frees the tableau and lets the rest of the deck flow.
- 03 · Ace goes under Two, King goes under Ace
Four columns that wrap
The tableau has only four columns, and ranks wrap around, so no card is a dead end at the bottom of a run. Columns are refilled automatically from the reserve, which keeps the board moving but leaves fewer places to park cards.
- 04 · Only the top waste card plays
Draw three, unlimited redeals
The stock always turns three cards at a time. Redeals are unlimited here, so a game ends only when you genuinely run out of useful moves. Even so, Canfield is one of the hardest common solitaires to win.
Common mistakes
Why winnable games get lost
Ignoring the reserve
Playing only from the stock and the tableau leaves the reserve untouched while the deck runs dry. Look for the move that uncovers the next reserve card before anything else.
Blocking the columns
With only four columns, one badly buried card can freeze a whole column. Avoid stacking a card you need soon under a run that has nowhere else to go.
Turning the stock on autopilot
Clicking through the stock without tracking what lands on the waste wastes passes. Slow down, read each triplet, and know what you are hoping to reach.
Forgetting the base rank
A foundation that has not started is waiting for one specific rank. Losing track of where that rank is buried is one of the easiest ways to stall.
- Dig into the reserve early. Every reserve card you play is one fewer buried card and one step closer to a free tableau.
- Watch for the other three cards of the base rank — they start your remaining foundations.
- Do not rush cards to the foundations if you might need them to keep a tableau run alive.
- Move whole columns when you can. Emptying a column pulls a fresh card off the reserve for free.
- Before you turn the stock, look at the reserve top and the tableau tails. Ask which cards you would like to see.
- Remember the wrap: a King can sit on an Ace, so an Ace is not a dead end in the tableau.
- Use undo to test a line. If a move or stock turn opens nothing, take it back and try another order.
Where you can play
Same game on phone and desktop
canfieldsolitaire.app runs in any modern browser with no app to install. Progress stays on the device you played on.
Desktop browsers
Chrome, Edge, Firefox, and Safari all run the game with no plugin. Drag cards with the mouse, double-click to send a card to its foundation, or use the keyboard shortcuts for the stock, undo, and hint.
Phones and tablets
The layout is touch-first. Tap a card to pick it up and tap a column to drop it, or drag directly. The reserve, four columns, and four foundations stay on one screen in portrait, and restart is instant.
Progress on this device
Games won, best time, fewest moves, most cards on the foundations, and win streak live in local browser storage. They stay until you reset them or clear site data, and they do not sync between devices.
Still stuck on a rule? Read the Canfield Solitaire FAQ or jump in and play.
Play Canfield Solitaire free