By the name of the game itself, solitaire is a one-player game enjoyed by many people across the globe. It is called in different names in other countries – “patience” in the UK and France and “kabale” in the Scandinavian region and eastern Europe.
Today’s solitaire has evolved so much from what it was centuries ago. From the Tang Dynasty to the Victorian era, and until it reached the United States, the game has gone through so much in terms of rules, social impression, popularity, images, and more.
As the digital explosion continues, card games are no longer confined to PCs. Mobile phone companies have created their own versions of card games. Many apps and websites offer simple but interesting solitaire such as TriPeaks, Klondike, Napoleon at St. Helena, Devil’s Grip, and so much more.
Let’s look at some of the most notable historical milestones of solitaire and card games in general.
Early History
From these three names, “kabale” is the oldest and provides traces and theories as to the name’s origin. The word itself is related to the secret or occultic idea of laying out cards with the same pattern as fortune-telling (cartomancy). Cartomancy, despite being an underground practice, became popular in Europe in the mid-1700s.
More likely, the card pattern was intended to predict the success of a venture or a vow. If the game comes out positive, the undertaking will be successful, or the marriage will last forever. If the outcome is unfavorable to the person who commissioned the fortune-telling, the venture will not be fruitful. Thus, in France, solitaire is also called “réussite’, or success.
In a German book published in 1978, “patiencespie” appeared as a contest between two players with bystanders placing their bets on the outcome. The illustration described the game, which resembled a card game recorded as Grandfather’s Patience in English books. Other historians say that the game originated in either Sweden or Russia.
Books on how to play solitaire first appeared in Russia and Sweden in the early 1800s; France and the UK followed later. It’s highly noticeable that most of these books were written by women. The most popular of these books is the Livre des patiences par madame de F***, translated in English in 1842.
In these early books, authors made a lot of references to Emperor Napoleon out of a mistaken assumption that Napoleon loves playing solitaire while in exile. There was no evidence to render this supposition valid. However, historians documented that Napoleon was amused playing Pique and Whist.
Game Development in Victorian Era
No one really knows, but there is a general endorsement that the cards were created for King Louis XIV. Rumor has it that the cards made for him depict the kings and queens that lived in the Château before he did. These royalties were called “Versailles Playing Cards,” referring to their crucial political decisions made in the city from 1682 to 1789.
The card game’s popularity grew more when the King moved to Paris. Overall, card games developed at the end of the 16th and 17th centuries. This was the time when “Gingwas” and “All Fours” were invented. Changes were made to solitaire, like making the ace card higher in rank than other graphic symbols (or pips).
In England, Charles Dickens’s works made card games famous. He wrote novels where characters play Patience. The Great Expectations was published in 1861, the year Albert, Queen Victoria’s husband, died. Albert was a keen player of card games during his lifetime.
Meanwhile, Patience, the first American collection, was written by Edna Cheney in 1870. Patience is a series of thirty card games, introducing each game to the public. Lady Adelaide Cadogan, a British noblewoman, published an Illustrated Games of Patience.
The last decades of that century became the golden era of patience games, with many fans trying to collect as many cards as possible. Mary Whitmore Jones compiled the largest collections of patience cards during that time.
Modern Solitaire Game
After the Victorian Period, solitaire games had a dull existence. Popular media only shows two or three types of classic card games, such as Klondike and Spider, which they all refer to as a solitaire. The media didn’t showcase anything new about card games for the public to be interested in.
For instance, the collections that were published in newspapers were primarily rehashes of classic titles. There was little to no acknowledgement given to the inventors of the card games or their history. The boring presentation made card games unappealing to the public.
This changed in 1950 when Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith published the Complete Book of Patience which rekindled the public’s interest in card games. The two authors were very knowledgeable about the topic, and they presented different perspectives about conflicting rules. They also distinguished the features of each card game and arranged them based on complexity and similarities.
These thrilling new pieces of information changed some stereotypes about solitaire and card games in general – that they are pastimes for handicapped, not physically active persons, and for women rather than men, although card games were enjoyed by prisoners-of-war who are mostly men.
The internet brought significant changes to solitaire when Microsoft included it in their OS package in 1990. Digital solitaire was initially invented to teach users how to use the computer mouse. The program was well-received even by those who had never played the game before.
The public’s overwhelming response to solitaire convinced Microsoft to provide more games like FreeCell and Spider when it released the later edition of Windows. According to some sources, solitaire was played by over 500 million worldwide from 2010 to 2020 alone. At present, the numbers keep going up which makes digital solitaire a global phenomenon.
Where to play solitaire?
While you can always play solitaire with a deck of cards as the game was originally played, it’s much easier to play online where the cards are automatically shuffled and dealt for you. Here are some good places to play online:
- Solitaire Bliss has over 30 solitaire games with instructions so you can learn to play them all
- Microsoft Solitaire now has an online version so you aren’t limited to just playing on Windows
- Solitaired has a version of FreeCell where you can play with educational themed decks
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