How to Play British Canister Solitaire

A stricter Canister layout: cards move one at a time, tableau piles build in opposite colors, and only a King can claim an empty spot. The goal: Move all 52 cards to the four foundations, each building from Ace up to King in the same suit.

Setup

1. Deal all 52 cards face up across 8 tableau piles as evenly as possible (some piles have 7 cards, others have 6).
2. Leave space for 4 foundation piles, which begin when an Ace becomes available.

How to play

• When a card is ready for a foundation—the next rank up in its suit—it moves there automatically. You can adjust this behavior in Settings if you prefer.
• Build tableau piles down using opposite colors—place a red 6 on a black 7, for example.
• Only single cards move between tableau piles; you cannot move sequences.
• Fill empty tableau piles only with a King.
• Empty tableau piles are valuable for maneuvering blocked cards.

How to win

Objective: Move all 52 cards to the four foundations, each building from Ace up to King in the same suit.

Win by moving all cards to the foundations. You're stuck when no valid moves remain.

Tips

• Create empty piles strategically when you have Kings to place.
• Build foundations steadily to free up tableau cards.
• Careful sequencing prevents the tableau from becoming blocked quickly.

Play British Canister free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes British Canister alongside 300+ other games. It saves every move as you play, so you can close the window and pick the game up later, replay any deal, and take on a new Daily Challenge deal every day. Browse every game in the Game Gallery.

Related games

More games from the Baker's Dozen family:

• Canister — A straightforward game where all cards are dealt face up at the start with no stock.
• Exiled Kings — A streamlined solitaire where you deal cards to foundations and tableau, building down by rank in the tableau while filling empty spaces only with Kings.
• Four Leaf Clovers — A single-deck game where every card lands on one shared foundation pile, no matter its suit, climbing upward one rank at a time and wrapping from King back to Ace to place all 52 cards.
• Luckier Thirteen — An open-tableau game where you build down in alternating colors across thirteen piles, with the friendly twist that any card can fill an empty pile.
• Martha — Build four foundations from aces while managing twelve tableau columns that start with a mix of face-up and face-down cards.