By Online Solitaire Free Editorial Team · Editorial Standards
Solitaire is one of the most played games in human history — and one of the least examined. Most players know the basic rules and have a favourite variant, but the story behind the game is far richer than the familiar green felt layout suggests. Solitaire has been played by royalty, used as a mathematical research tool, shipped with one of the most successful operating systems in computing history, and studied by probability theorists who discovered that its apparently simple structure conceals surprisingly complex mathematics. This guide tells that story — from solitaire's earliest recorded appearances through its transformation into a global digital phenomenon — along with some of the most interesting trivia the game has accumulated along the way.
Solitaire is one of the most played games in human history — and one of the least examined. Most players know the basic rules and have a favourite variant, but the story behind the game is far richer than the familiar green felt layout suggests. Solitaire has been played by royalty, used as a mathematical research tool, shipped with one of the most successful operating systems in computing history, and studied by probability theorists who discovered that its apparently simple structure conceals surprisingly complex mathematics. This guide tells that story — from solitaire's earliest recorded appearances through its transformation into a global digital phenomenon — along with some of the most interesting trivia the game has accumulated along the way.
After reading, put some of these facts to use at Play Solitaire online.
The precise origin of solitaire is genuinely uncertain — card games of the early modern period were rarely documented with the rigour applied to chess or other games with established competitive traditions. The most credible scholarly evidence suggests that solitaire originated in northern Europe, most likely in Scandinavia or the Baltic region, in the mid-to-late 17th century. The earliest written references to patience games — the European term for solitaire — appear in German and Scandinavian sources from around the 1780s, and some historians place the first appearances slightly earlier, in the 1750s or 1760s.
One persistent legend attributes the invention of solitaire to French nobility during the Revolutionary period — specifically to prisoners or exiles who had only a deck of cards for entertainment. While this makes for a romantic origin story, the historical evidence for it is thin. What is clear is that by the end of the 18th century, patience games were widespread across Europe, with documented variants appearing in Germany, France, Britain, and Russia in rapid succession.
The 19th century transformed solitaire from an informal pastime into a codified game with published rulebooks. The first known book dedicated entirely to patience games was published in Russia in 1826, followed by German, French, and British editions through the 1840s and 1850s. By mid-century, patience had become a fashionable parlour activity across Europe, particularly among women of leisure — a social dynamic that shaped how the game was discussed and marketed for several decades.
Napoleon Bonaparte is frequently cited as a solitaire enthusiast, reportedly playing patience during his exile on Saint Helena after 1815. The historical evidence for this is mixed — some accounts describe him playing card games during this period, but specific identification of patience as among them is largely anecdotal. Nevertheless, the association was strong enough that several 19th-century patience variants were named after Napoleon, and the connection persists in popular culture today.
Queen Victoria's court is documented as another centre of patience enthusiasm in the later 19th century. Lady Adelaide Cadogan, a lady-in-waiting at the court, published one of the most influential early patience rulebooks in 1870 — Illustrated Games of Patience — which went through multiple editions and is credited with standardising many of the variant names and rules still used today.
Of all solitaire variants, Klondike has the most interesting and disputed origin story. The name almost certainly derives from the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1899, when tens of thousands of prospectors flooded the Yukon territory of Canada seeking fortune. The game is believed to have spread rapidly among prospectors and in the mining camps of the region — a pastime perfectly suited to long periods of waiting, incomplete card decks, and the need to pass time alone. Whether the game was invented there or simply popularised there is debated, but its association with the Gold Rush era is widely accepted by card game historians.
The irony of Klondike's name is that almost no one outside North America uses it. In the United Kingdom and most of Europe, what North Americans call Klondike is simply called Patience or Solitaire — the generic names for the entire category of single-player card games. This naming confusion is why Americans travelling to Britain sometimes struggle to communicate which game they mean: