Canfield Solitaire Strategy Guide
Canfield, also called Demon, is a solitaire game with a 13-card reserve, four columns that start with one card each, and four foundations that begin from a rank chosen by the deal. It is a game of managing the reserve and a handful of columns. This guide covers how to read the base rank, how to use the reserve and empty columns, how to play the stock and which mistakes cost the most deals.
Opening principles
You start with 52 cards in four places: a 13-card reserve (only its top card is face up), four columns of one card each, one foundation base card and a 34-card stock. The base rank decides everything about the foundations: each suit is built up from that rank, wraps from King to Ace, and ends on the card just below the base rank. Columns build down in alternating colours and also wrap, so a King can go on an Ace. You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations.
- Check the base rank first. The status bar shows it. Cards of that rank go to the foundations as soon as they are free, and the cards one rank below it (the last card of each suit) are the ones that will matter last.
- Look at the reserve top. Most openings start by seeing whether the top reserve card fits a column or a foundation.
- Make the first moves cheap. Only four columns exist, so every early move that frees a card from the reserve is worth more than a move that just shuffles columns.
The reserve and empty columns
The reserve is the center of Canfield. It holds 13 cards and you can only touch the top one, so it is a long queue that you work through one card at a time.
- Play the reserve whenever it is safe. Every reserve card you play uncovers the next one and also makes an empty column possible later.
- Empty columns are refilled from the reserve for free. While the reserve has cards, an emptied column takes the top reserve card automatically, so emptying a column is a way to play a reserve card without building anything on it.
- After the reserve is gone, empty columns are valuable. They stay empty and accept any card or sequence, so keep them for something useful instead of the first card that fits.
Building columns
Columns build down in alternating colours and wrap around: a King can sit on an Ace, so a column can in principle run through the whole rank cycle.
- Move sequences from the middle when it helps. You can lift any card that is part of a proper sequence together with the cards below it, so a sequence is not locked to the column it started in.
- Prefer moves that expose a card you need. A card you can send to a foundation or that uncovers a useful card is better than a neutral shuffle.
- Keep sequences continuous. A longer sequence can move as one piece and keeps the cards underneath out of the way for several turns.
Using the stock
The stock turns three cards at a time and can be redealt without limit, so patience pays. Because you only see the top waste card, the order of the stock matters, and the cards you skip come back around.
- Turn the stock when nothing else is useful. Before every draw, check the reserve top and the four column bottoms.
- Remember what you skipped. Each pass through the stock shows the same cards in the same groups of three until something is played from the waste; playing a card changes the groups for the next pass.
- Playing a waste card is a real change. It shifts which card shows up on top the next time around, which can bring a card you need into view.
Common mistakes
- Filling an empty column with the first card that fits. Once the reserve is empty, that column is worth more than most single cards.
- Ignoring the reserve. Cards stuck in the reserve are out of play, so leaving it untouched for long is risky.
- Forgetting the base rank. Foundations start from the base rank, not from the Ace, so cards of that rank are the ones to free first.
- Burying low-priority cards on top of needed ones. Cards cannot come back from a foundation, so think about what you leave under a sequence.
- Giving up too early. Unlimited redeals mean a stuck position can often be solved by playing a card from the waste in a different order.
Advanced techniques
- Plan the whole pass through the stock. You see the waste in groups of three, so you can count which cards will come up and decide in advance which one to play.
- Use sequence moves to free a column. Moving a whole sequence from the middle of a column can empty it, and with reserve cards still available that column refills for free.
- Spend a column deliberately. Sometimes it is right to put an awkward card into an empty column so that it can be built on, not because it is the best card but because it unblocks others.
- Use Undo and the Solver. Undo lets you try another order for free, and the Solver in the menu tells you whether the current position can still be won.
How winnable are the deals?
Many random Canfield deals can be won, but not all of them. In our screening, the solver proved a full winning line within its search limit for about 59% of 6,000 random deals (3,545 of them). That figure is a lower bound, because a solver with a limited search can miss lines. New games and the Daily Challenge only use deals the solver has proved winnable, so a winning line always exists. The solver sees the whole stock and the whole reserve, and you do not, so winnable does not mean easy.
Practice and play
Play a few deals with one rule: look at the reserve top before every stock draw, and treat each empty column as something to spend with care. That habit alone makes Canfield feel much less random.