Canfield Solitaire

Canfield is one of the most popular games of solitaire. The game is said to have been devised in the late 19th century by the American gambler and art collector Richard Canfield. Canfield is considered the most typical, as well as the most challenging, game of solitaire.

In Canfield, 13 cards are counted off the top of the deck and placed facedown in a pile known as the stock; the top card of this stock is turned up. The 14th card turned up forms the first foundation. The next 4 cards after the 14th are dealt in a row faceup to the right of the stock and below the foundation to form the tableau. When subsequent cards of the same rank as the first foundation are revealed, they are placed in a row next to the initial foundation card. The remainder of the deck forms the hand. The object of the game is to get all 52 cards or as many as possible into the foundation piles.

The player continuously turns up packets of three cards from the hand, exposing the third card. These are placed in a waste or discard pile known as the talon. In each such turn the exposed card is available for play on a tableau card in descending order and in alternating colors--that is, red or black--or on a foundation card in ascending order and in the same suit only. The top card of the stock, which is exposed continuously, also is always available for such play. Playable cards may be shifted from one part of the tableau to another or from tableau to foundation piles, but must remain in the foundations once played there. Play stops when cards can no longer be played into the foundation. Canfield turned this game into a form of gambling by collecting from the player one chip for each card of the pack at the start of the game, and by paying five chips for each card that could be worked into the foundation piles. The odds against the player in this game are far greater than 5 to 1.