Strategy tips
- Draw one means each card is a one-time opportunity — think before you move.
- Any-suit building is flexible, but keep an eye on the reserve to maximize plays.
- Read the full Rainbow strategy guide.
Canfield variant
Rainbow Solitaire
Rainbow is Canfield with one key difference: draw one card at a time with no redeals. The tableau builds downward in any suit with wrap-around, giving you color flexibility while the single-draw rule keeps every card precious. The 13-card reserve and shared foundation base rank remain.
Click the stock to draw a card, or select a card to move it.
Stock
Waste
Empty
Reserve (13)
♣ Clubs
♦ Diamonds
♥ Hearts
♠ Spades
Column 1
Column 2
Column 3
Column 4
Related solitaire variants
- Canfield — draw three, unlimited redeals, alternating colors
- Chameleon — 3 columns, draw one, no redeals
- Selective Canfield — you choose the base rank
What is Rainbow?
Rainbow Solitaire is a Canfield variant with stricter stock rules and a relaxed tableau building rule. Where standard Canfield draws three cards at a time and allows unlimited waste recycling, Rainbow draws one card at a time and allows no recycling at all — each stock card is seen exactly once. Where Canfield requires alternating-color tableau sequences, Rainbow allows any suit to be placed on any card one rank higher.
These two changes move in opposite directions: any-suit building creates more legal moves, but the single-pass stock with no recycling means every unused opportunity is permanently lost.
How the single-pass stock changes everything
In Canfield, passing on a stock card is low-cost because the waste recycles. In Rainbow, a stock card you decline to play is gone. This makes the draw-one stock in Rainbow fundamentally different from draw-one Klondike (which recycles freely): every deal in Rainbow is a one-time decision.
The any-suit tableau building partially compensates — each drawn card has more legal tableau destinations than in Canfield. But the no-recycle rule means the benefit of extra destinations must be evaluated immediately, not deferred to a future pass.
Canfield family variants
- Canfield — draw three, unlimited redeals, alternating-color build rule
- Selective Canfield — player chooses base rank before dealing
- Superior Canfield — full reserve visible from the start
- Chameleon — three tableau columns, draw one, no redeals