How to Play

Canfield (Demon) is a one-player patience invented in the late 19th century by Richard A. Canfield as a casino gambling game. A 13-card reserve, a small 4-column tableau, and a randomly chosen foundation base rank define the distinctive mechanics; foundations wrap from King back to Ace.

Canfield (also Demon) is a one-player patience game invented in the late 19th century by Richard A. Canfield as a casino gambling game: players paid \$52 for the deck and earned \$5 per card sent to foundations. The modern solitaire version keeps the distinctive mechanics: a 13-card reserve pile, a randomly chosen base rank on the foundations (the next card dealt), a small 4-column tableau, and a draw-3 stock with unlimited redeals. Every foundation builds up in its own suit, wrapping from King back to Ace as needed. Computer analysis puts the maximum win rate around 71% with perfect play; casual play wins much less often.

Players

1 player. Canfield is strictly solitary; no multiplayer version exists in the classic rules.

Card Deck

One standard 52-card deck, no jokers. All four suits (clubs, diamonds, hearts, spades) and all thirteen ranks are used. Canfield uses wrap-around rank ordering: the circular sequence Ace, 2, 3, ..., 10, Jack, Queen, King, Ace, 2, ... is used for foundation building, so a King is followed by an Ace. Tableau building uses the standard alternating colour rule (red on black, black on red) in descending rank, also with wrap-around.

Objective

Move all 52 cards onto the four foundations. Each foundation is built upward in its own suit, starting at the randomly chosen base rank and wrapping King to Ace until 13 cards have been laid. When all four foundations contain 13 cards each, the game is won.

Setup and Deal

1. Shuffle the 52-card deck thoroughly.
2. Deal 13 cards face-down into a single packet; this is the reserve. Turn the top card face-up so it is available for play; cards beneath it remain face-down until the top leaves.
3. Deal the next card face-up as the first foundation card. The rank of this card becomes the base rank for all four foundations; whenever another card of the base rank becomes available, it may be played onto one of the four foundation slots.
4. Deal 4 cards face-up in a row below the foundations; these are the initial tops of the 4 tableau columns.
5. The remaining 34 cards form the stock (draw pile) face-down beside the tableau; the stock is turned in packets of 3 to a waste pile during play.

Gameplay

1. Available cards: The top of the reserve, the top of the waste, and the bottom card of each tableau column are available to play. (Technically a Canfield tableau is a single column in each of the 4 positions; since the initial deal places one card per position, 'bottom of the column' means that one card until more are built onto it.)
2. Foundation play (up by suit with wrap): Play an available card to a foundation if it is the next rank up from the foundation's current top in the same suit, wrapping from King to Ace as needed. Example: if the base rank is 7 and the foundation's current top is a 7 of hearts, the next card accepted is an 8 of hearts, then 9, ..., Queen, King, Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 to complete (13 total).A♠K♠Q♠
3. Tableau building (down by alternating colour with wrap): Move any available card (or a complete column of cards) onto another tableau column whose bottom card is exactly one rank higher and of the opposite colour. Wrap applies here too: a King can sit on an Ace of the opposite colour, or (by the same rule) an Ace on a 2 and a King below a 2 through the wrap.A♠K♠
4. Reserve to tableau / foundation: The top of the reserve is always available to play. Whenever the top reserve card is moved, the next card flips face-up and is now available. The reserve never refills.
5. Stock (draw-3) and waste: When you choose, flip 3 cards face-up from the stock onto the waste pile at once, overlapping so only the top card is playable. Play the top card if legal; the card beneath becomes available only when the top leaves. When the stock is empty, collect the waste pile face-down without shuffling and it becomes the new stock; unlimited redeals are allowed by default.
6. Empty tableau columns (automatic refill): Whenever a tableau column becomes empty, it is automatically filled by the top card of the reserve. If the reserve is empty, the column stays empty until you choose to fill it with any available card. This automatic-refill rule is the signature of Canfield; you cannot leave a tableau slot empty if the reserve can fill it.
7. Moving tableau columns as a unit: A complete tableau column (the entire stack built in alternating colours) may be moved onto another tableau column whose bottom fits the next-rank-up alternating-colour rule. You cannot move a partial column unless all cards above the moved one stay in place.
8. Illegal play: Moving a card onto a wrong-colour or wrong-rank target is illegal; return the card. Leaving a tableau column empty while the reserve still has cards is illegal; the refill is mandatory.
9. Game end: The game ends when all four foundations are complete (win), or when no legal move remains after the stock has been cycled without progress (loss).

Winning

• Win condition: All four foundations contain 13 cards each, each built in its suit from the base rank upward through the wrap back to the rank just below the base. 52 cards total on foundations; tableau, reserve, and stock are empty.
• Loss condition: No legal move remains and a complete pass through the stock has produced no new plays; the game is stuck.
• No tie-breakers: Win or loss; many implementations track cards-to-foundation as a score when the player gives up early.
• Success rate: Around 71% with mathematically perfect play; casual players achieve closer to 25-35%.

Common Variations

• Superior Canfield: The entire 13-card reserve is visible (face-up) from the start; empty tableau columns may be filled by any card, not only from the reserve. Easier.
• Rainbow (Rainbow Canfield): Tableau builds down regardless of suit (no alternating-colour requirement); stock is turned one card at a time, and no redeals are allowed. Much easier.
• Storehouse (Storehouse Canfield): Remove all four Deuces before dealing and place them as foundation bases (so the base rank is always 2); stock is turned one card at a time with only 2 redeals allowed. Harder than Rainbow, easier than classic.
• Single-card draw: Turn the stock one card at a time instead of three; raises the win rate substantially.
• No-redeal strict Canfield: Only one pass through the stock is allowed (the original casino variant); much harder.
• Acey Canfield / Three-card-draw no-redeal: Original gambling rules; draw three at a time with only one pass through the stock; the casino variant that Canfield charged \$52 to play.

Tips and Strategy

• Emptying the reserve is nearly always the top priority. While reserve cards are face-down, you have imperfect information; every reserve card played flips the next one up and gains information.
• Foundation greed is a trap. Sending every legal foundation card immediately often strips the tableau of cards you need later for column-rearrangement. Hold back when a card is needed as a tableau anchor or builder.
• Wrap-around mechanics are powerful. Planning a King-Ace-2 chain through the wrap lets you run long sequences both in the tableau and onto foundations; think in circular terms rather than linearly.
• Count how many redeals you have used. With unlimited redeals (standard), this is a soft limit; if your implementation limits to 2 or 3, redeal count becomes a tactical resource.
• Avoid filling empty tableau columns from the waste when the reserve is still non-empty; let the reserve do the work and save the waste card as a flexible late-game move.

Glossary

• Reserve: The 13-card face-down pile set beside the tableau at deal time; the top card is face-up and always available. Does not refill.
• Base rank: The rank of the card originally dealt to start the first foundation; all four foundations use this rank as their starting point.
• Foundation: One of the 4 suit piles built upward from the base rank through the wrap; the win condition is filling all four to 13 cards.
• Tableau: The 4-column area of face-up cards; builds down in alternating colour.
• Stock: The face-down reserve of undealt cards after the opening deal; turned in packets of 3 to the waste.
• Waste: The face-up pile fed by the stock; only the top card is available.
• Wrap-around: The convention that treats Ace as following King in the rank sequence; both tableau building and foundation building use it in Canfield.A♠K♠
• Automatic refill: The rule that an empty tableau column must be filled from the reserve whenever the reserve has any cards.