Play Canfield Solitaire Online for Free
Play unlimited games of Canfield. Use undos and redos to help progress through the game.
What is Canfield Solitaire?
Canfield is a variation of Klondike Solitaire with some key differences, such as the starting card of the foundation. The game is also called “Demon Patience,” reflecting the difficulty of game play.
How to Play
Objective
Your goal is to move all cards to the 4 foundation piles in ascending order by suit.
The Setup and Play Area
Foundation piles: These are 4 piles where you aim to move all cards in ascending order. Each foundation pile will begin with a starting number, which is determined by a single card placed in the foundation at the beginning of the game. For example, if the starting card is a 5 of Clubs, it would be followed by a 6 of Clubs and so on until the final card is the 4 of Club. All other foundation piles would start with a 5 as well. Successfully placing all 52 cards in the foundation wins the game.
Tableau piles: These are the 4 face-up cards in the middle of the game.
Reserve pile: These are the 13 cards laid out in a column, with the last card facing up. Whenever a tableau column opens up, the bottom reserve card is placed there.
Stock pile: The rest of the cards, or 34 cards, go into the stock pile. You can go through the stock pile unlimited times.
Waste pile: Cards are moved 3 at a time from the stock pile to the waste pile. The top card of the waste pile can be moved either to the foundation or the tableau if it is a legal move.
Available moves
- Foundations are built in ascending order based on the starting card.
- Tableau cards are sequenced in descending order, alternating between red and black. For example, you can move an 8 of Clubs on top of a 9 of Hearts.
- You can move multiple cards at a time in the tableau. To move a group of cards, they must be sequenced, and the top card of that group must be placed on top of another card of the opposite suit and one rank higher.
- The top card of the tableau can be moved to the foundation.
- You dispense cards from the stock pile into the waste pile to introduce new cards in the game. They can then be played into the foundation or tableau.
- If a tableau column is empty, the face-up card from the reserve pile is moved there, and then the next card in the reserve is turned face-up.
- If the reserve pile is empty, any moveable card can be placed into an empty tableau column
- You win when all the cards have been placed in the foundation.
Strategy
- Try to build the foundations evenly. If one foundation is built immediately in the game, you now have fewer cards of that color to help you sequence.
- Prioritize revealing and getting reserve cards into the game. Focus on creating empty tableau columns to do this.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the odds of winning?
When looking at 122,678 random games played, 10,962 were won, making the win rate 8.94%. This is lower than Klondike’s win rate of 32.91%
Who invented Canfield?
It is believed that the modern version of the game was invented in the 1890s by Richard A. Canfield. The game was introduced at Canfield’s Casino in Saratoga Springs, New York, as a betting game.
Patrons would buy a deck of cards for $50 and try to win their money back by playing Canfield Solitaire. For each card moved to a foundation pile, they would receive $5. If a player won, that would earn $260, for a $210 profit. Mostly, people just tried to win back the money they’d spent on the cards.
What are other popular Solitaire games?
Be sure to check out these Solitaire games:
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