What is Canfield solitaire?
Canfield has one of the best backstories in solitaire: it was designed to be lost. Its casino origins are baked right into how stingy the game is.
The casino origin
Canfield is named after Richard Canfield, whose Saratoga casino sold players a deck for $52 in the 1890s and paid out per card sent to the foundations. Since the game is so hard to win, the house came out ahead. That betting structure is the ancestor of today's Vegas scoring. In Britain the game is called Demon.
How Canfield works
Canfield deals a 13-card reserve you draw from, four tableau columns, and one foundation card whose rank sets the starting rank for all four foundations. You build foundations up in suit, wrapping past the King back to the Ace, and the tableau down in alternating colors. The small reserve and shifting start rank make it a tight, tricky game.
Why it's tough
With a limited reserve and foundations that don't start on the Ace, Canfield offers few easy moves and ranks among the more punishing single-deck games. If you enjoy its difficulty, explore the other demanding variants in our hardest solitaire rundown, or read the history of solitaire for more on its origins.
Related questions
What is Vegas scoring in solitaire?
Vegas scoring turns solitaire into a cash game. You 'buy' the deck for $52 up front, then earn $5 for every card you move to the foundations. Clear the whole game and you're up $208; stall early and your score goes negative. Unlike standard scoring, there's no time bonus.
What is the hardest solitaire game?
Russian Solitaire, Forty Thieves and 4-suit Spider are the hardest common variants - under one deal in ten falls even to strong players. Russian demands same-suit builds with free-wheeling moves; Forty Thieves gives one pass through the stock; 4-suit Spider needs eight full same-suit runs.
Where does solitaire come from?
Solitaire - called patience in much of Europe - first appears in written records in the late 1700s in northern Europe, likely Germany or Scandinavia. Klondike took its name from the 1890s gold rush, and the game's modern dominance came from Microsoft shipping Solitaire with Windows 3.0 in 1990.