Play Lafayette Solitaire Online — Foundations Both Ways
Lafayette is a Canfield board with a twist no other Canfield game has: eight foundations on one deck. Four build up from the ace and four build down from the king, one of each per suit, so every card has two possible homes and the two piles of a suit meet in the middle. A thirteen-card reserve is fanned in full view; four columns of a single card build down in alternating colours; an emptied column is refilled from the reserve, and once the reserve is spent only a seven may enter one. The stock turns three at a time with unlimited redeals. Bank all 52 to win.
Setup
Shuffle one deck. Deal thirteen cards face up into the reserve, spread so every one shows. Deal four columns of one card. The remaining thirty-five cards form the stock. The eight foundations start empty: four wait for aces, four for kings.
Rules
- Up foundations take an ace of their suit and build up to the king.
- Down foundations take a king of their suit and build down to the ace.
- Nothing wraps: a suit's two piles together hold all thirteen cards, split wherever you choose.
- Tableau builds down in alternating colours; a packed run moves as a unit.
- The reserve shows every card; only the top one plays, and nothing may be placed on it. An empty column takes the reserve's top card at once.
- Only a seven may enter a space once the reserve is empty.
- Stock: three cards a turn to the waste, with unlimited redeals.
- Win when the eight foundations hold all 52 cards.
Strategy
Two-way foundations change what a "low card" means: every card is near a foundation from one side or the other, and the middle ranks are the ones with nowhere to go. The reserve is in view, so the whole game can be planned.
- Bank from both ends. Aces and twos go up; kings and queens go down. Send them at once — nothing on this board needs them as hosts.
- Choose where a suit meets. Each suit's up and down piles share thirteen cards. If the eight of spades is buried, let the up pile stop at seven and the down pile come to nine; the eight goes last, either way.
- Read the reserve top to bottom. Its order is fixed and visible. Plan which columns must be emptied to take its cards in sequence.
- Sevens are the space cards. Once the reserve is spent, only a seven opens a column. Keep one seven free rather than banking it if a column must be emptied.
- Use the three-card turn. Playing one waste card shifts which cards surface next pass, and the redeals are unlimited.
- Four columns is not many. Build sparingly; a long run on a one-card board is a wall.
Where It Sits in the Canfield Family
Lafayette is a Canfield-engine game — a reserve, a forced fill, a three-card stock with unlimited passes — that brings the catalogue's down-foundation axis to the family: the shared layer now states each foundation's base and direction, which is how one deck can have eight. Kingsley, Double Kingsley and Wheatsheaf take the same axis on other engines.
Other Games to Try
- Superior Canfield — the visible reserve on Canfield's own rules
- Wheatsheaf — half-up, half-down foundations on a Forty Thieves board
- Canfield — the family's original
- Kingsley — all four foundations down from the king
About This Version
Lafayette runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install it as an app on your phone or computer and it works offline. You get unlimited undo, a hint button that names a legal move, statistics that track your wins and times, and seeded deals: every game has a seed you can replay, so a board you enjoyed (or lost) can be played again exactly.