Solitaire — known as Patience in British English — is roughly 240 years old. It started in Northern Europe in the late 1700s, spread through Victorian rule books, picked up the name "Klondike" during the 1890s gold rush, and came with almost every version of Windows after Microsoft shipped it with Windows 3.0 in 1990. This is the short version of how a quiet card game ended up in the World Video Game Hall of Fame.
The earliest written references to patience games appear in Northern European texts from the 1780s. The earliest is usually given as a 1783 German book, though the games it describes differ from modern Klondike. Historians place the birthplace somewhere between Scandinavia, Germany, and France — the records are too thin to be more precise.
Long, dark winters and isolated communities are a plausible setting for solo card games. Several historians have argued that patience games either began in Nordic countries or matured there before spreading south.
A popular legend says a French aristocrat invented Solitaire in the Bastille during the Revolution. The story is romantic but unsupported. What is well documented is that French nobility embraced patience games in the early 1800s as a fashionable salon pastime.
💡 Fun Fact. The earliest known written reference to patience games appears in a 1783 German book. The games described differ significantly from modern Solitaire.
The 1800s turned patience from a niche pastime into a household activity. Three forces drove the change.
The Industrial Revolution made playing cards cheap. What had been a luxury item became a household staple, and patience games went with them.
The Victorian era produced the first wave of patience anthologies. Lady Adelaide Cadogan's Illustrated Games of Patience (1870) was the most influential. It collected dozens of variants in one place, sold widely in Britain and abroad, and shaped how patience games were taught for the next half-century.
Unlike gambling, patience was considered intellectually respectable. Victorian society treated it as suitable entertainment for any household member, particularly because it didn't require a partner.
"Solitaire" describes the whole family of single-player card games. "Klondike" is the specific variant that became default in North America. The name traces to the Yukon Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–1899. Prospectors and miners passed long winters with single-deck patience, and the regional name stuck.
By the early 20th century, Klondike was so dominant in North America that most players just called it "Solitaire" — often unaware that hundreds of other patience games existed.
Solitaire's biggest moment came not from a designer but from an intern.
In May 1990, Microsoft shipped Windows 3.0 with a Klondike Solitaire game written by Wes Cherry, then a summer intern. The card faces were drawn by Susan Kare, the artist behind the original Macintosh icons. Microsoft did not include the game purely for entertainment. They needed users to learn the mouse.
Most PC users in 1990 had spent their careers typing MS-DOS commands. The mouse was new and awkward. Microsoft needed a way to teach drag-and-drop, click-targeting, and double-clicking without making it feel like a training course. Solitaire was the answer. Playing it taught all three motions in a setting people actually enjoyed.
From then on the game came with almost every version of Windows; only Windows 8 and 8.1 left it out. For many users it was their first computer game, and for some their first real use of a computer.
Its impact ran past entertainment:
🎮 Did You Know? Wes Cherry never received royalties for Microsoft Solitaire. In interviews he has said he holds no grudge — the experience and the resume credit were enough. He went on to make cider on Vashon Island, in Washington State.
Web Solitaire arrived in the late 1990s. The advantages over a downloaded program were clear:
The smartphone era brought Solitaire full circle — back to true portability. Just as printed cards were portable in the 1800s, mobile Solitaire let players play anywhere. The vertical tableau also fits a phone screen better than most desktop games.
Today, Solitaire apps are on every phone platform.
The mobile boom also brought a problem. Many "free" Solitaire apps became delivery vehicles for aggressive advertising and predatory monetization. Games interrupted play with video ads. Premium tiers locked basic features. Some apps collected far more user data than they needed.
That violated the spirit of a game most players first met as a free Windows install. Some players went looking for simpler versions that respect their privacy.
In 2026, Solitaire is still widely played.
What explains the longevity? A few things compound.
No special equipment, no opponents, no time commitment, no complex rules. Anyone can play, anywhere, anytime.
The game sits between luck and skill. Each deal feels fresh. Each loss feels recoverable. Each win feels earned.
The core mechanics don't depend on a particular era. Solitaire ages well in a way most digital games do not.
Cards, then mainframes, then Windows, then web, then phone. Solitaire has fit every shift in computing without losing its essential character.
The next decade will bring more iteration, not reinvention.
The core appeal stays the same: focused calm, a mental puzzle with a satisfying resolution, a connection to two centuries of players who have done the same.
No single event mattered more for the game's modern reach. The Windows 3.0 port put a 200-year-old card game on almost every Windows PC.
Cherry was a summer intern at Microsoft in 1988. He built the Solitaire app on his own time using the Windows graphics tools available then. Susan Kare — known for the original Macintosh icons — drew the card faces.
As an intern project, the game earned Cherry no royalties. In interviews he has been candid that the experience and credit were enough. He left software for cider-making in the Pacific Northwest, far from the digital legacy he started.
Microsoft's motivation wasn't entertainment. The graphical interface was new in 1990 and the mouse felt awkward to most users. Microsoft needed a way to teach mouse fundamentals without making it feel like training. Solitaire was the perfect cover. Playing it naturally drilled three core skills:
The strategy worked. Users who would have resisted formal computer training spent hours on Solitaire and came back to their spreadsheets clicking and dragging like naturals.
Solitaire reshaped office break-time. It was the universal break game. Office workers discovered their machines could entertain them as well as bill clients. Some employers eventually banned it. In 2006, New York City's mayor, Michael Bloomberg, fired a city employee after seeing Solitaire on his office computer.
For a generation, Microsoft Solitaire was their first computer game. Grandparents who had never held a controller spent hours on Klondike. Children found it on the family PC. It crossed every demographic.
💡 Fun Fact. In 2019, the Strong National Museum of Play inducted Microsoft Solitaire into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, alongside Colossal Cave Adventure, Mortal Kombat and Super Mario Kart.
Microsoft kept iterating. Windows 95 added FreeCell. Windows Vista refreshed the visuals. In 2012, Microsoft launched the Microsoft Solitaire Collection — Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, and TriPeaks bundled into one app with daily challenges and global leaderboards.
In 2020, Microsoft said the Collection had more than 35 million players a month, about three decades after the intern project that started it. To learn the rules of the version that started it all, see our guide to playing Solitaire.
Apple's App Store launched in 2008, and Android's store, now Google Play, a few months later. The game that had owned the desktop quickly owned the pocket too.
Solitaire was among the first wave of mobile apps, and for good reason. Tap a card to flip it. Drag with a finger to move. Double-tap to send to foundation. The motions felt arguably more natural on a touchscreen than on a mouse.
The portrait orientation of phones also fit the vertical tableau. Many desktop games needed major rework for mobile. Solitaire didn't.
Many Solitaire apps appeared within the first few years of mobile stores. Some were faithful Klondike clones. Others added themes, daily challenges, and social features.
Mobile also introduced new business models:
These approaches drew criticism. Many players felt aggressive monetization clashed with a game that had been free on almost every Windows machine for decades.
Microsoft gave the clearest numbers for the game's 30th anniversary in 2020. Its Solitaire Collection, on phones and PCs, had more than 35 million players a month, in over 200 countries and territories and 65 languages, and they played more than 100 million hands a day (Microsoft, 2020).
Mobile also changed when and where people play. Desktop Solitaire was a home or office game. Mobile Solitaire fits commuter trains, waiting rooms, lunch breaks, and bedtime. The game became a constant companion. With so many solitaire variants available on phones, players have more choices than ever.
Solitaire is a solo game by nature, but a small competitive scene has grown up around it. Speed-solving, tournaments, and world-record chasing have turned a quiet card game into a niche competitive pursuit.
The speedrunning community is built around finishing video games as fast as possible. Solitaire fit naturally. Top players complete a Klondike game in under 30 seconds, hands moving in a blur of clicks and drags.
These records depend on the deal as well as the player. Not every Klondike deal is winnable, and some are far easier than others. That introduces a luck element that makes record-chasing exciting and unpredictable. Dedicated players run hundreds of attempts per session, waiting for a deal that gives them a shot at a personal best.
Several platforms now host competitive events on identical deals. Giving every player the same shuffled deck removes luck from the equation. Players are ranked by completion time, move count, or a combined score.
Daily-challenge formats are especially popular. One deal per day, ranked against other players. Monthly and annual leaderboards reward consistent strong play, not just one lucky run.
Solitaire records span several categories:
The competitive community makes a strong case for Solitaire as a mind sport. Like chess or competitive puzzles, top play needs pattern recognition, fast decisions under pressure, strategic planning, and deep mechanical knowledge. Players constantly weigh risk and reward — when to play it safe, when to commit.
Online forums share strategy, debate optimal lines, and analyze recorded games. The body of strategic knowledge there would surprise casual players who think of Solitaire as luck. Want to test your own times? Play a game and see how you do.
No one person did. The game emerged across Northern Europe in the late 1700s. The earliest written references appear in the 1780s. A popular legend credits a French aristocrat in the Bastille, but no evidence supports it. Patience games developed in parallel across several countries, refined over decades by anonymous players, then formalized in 19th-century rule books.
Microsoft shipped Solitaire with Windows 3.0 in 1990 to teach mouse skills. The graphical interface was new and the mouse felt awkward. Playing Solitaire taught clicking, dragging, and double-clicking without feeling like training. The game stayed bundled in nearly every Windows release since. To play the game that started the run, see our how to play solitaire guide.
About 240 years old. The earliest known references to patience card games date to the 1780s. Playing cards reached Europe in the 14th century, but single-player card games are an 18th-century development.
The oldest documented patience variants appear in late-1700s German and Scandinavian texts. They differ considerably from modern Klondike. Among games still played today, La Belle Lucie and other French patience games date to the early 1800s. Klondike, the variant most people now call "Solitaire," is associated with the 1890s gold rush. For a tour of the family, see our solitaire variants guide.
Yes. They name the same family. "Patience" is the British and broader European term. "Solitaire" is the North American one. German, Dutch, and several other languages use "Patience" directly. Both describe single-player card games — Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, and the rest. Try a game yourself by whatever name you prefer.