Patience Solitaire

Patience is the traditional name for any card game designed for a single player. The word comes from the French la patience, a nod to the unhurried, contemplative quality these games demand. You lay out cards, study the position, and work methodically toward a goal — usually sorting all cards into ordered foundation piles.

The term has been in use since at least the late 18th century, when patience games first appeared in written records across France, Germany, and Scandinavia. For most of their history, these games were simply called “patience” everywhere. The word “solitaire” only gained dominance in North America, where French card-game terminology was filtered through a different cultural lens.

Today, the terms are functionally interchangeable. When someone in London says they're “playing patience,” they mean the same thing as someone in New York “playing solitaire.” The games, the rules, and the strategy are identical — only the label differs.

What makes patience distinct from other card games is the solo format. There's no opponent, no bluffing, no hidden information (in most variants). It's you against the deck. The challenge is part logic puzzle, part probability management, and part sheer stubbornness. The name “patience” captures that perfectly.

The short answer: nothing. Patience and solitaire are different names for the same category of games. But the naming split tells an interesting story about how language diverges across oceans.

There's one wrinkle worth noting: in British English, “solitaire” traditionally refers to the peg-jumping board game (also called “peg solitaire”), not card games. So if you ask a Brit to play solitaire, you might end up with a marble board instead of a deck of cards. This is partly why the British stuck with “patience” for card games — the word “solitaire” was already taken.

The American usage won the global branding war, largely thanks to Microsoft. When Windows 3.0 shipped with a card game called “Solitaire” in 1990, it cemented that name for an entire generation of computer users worldwide. But in everyday British, Australian, and European speech, patience remains the natural word.

Patience games number in the hundreds, but most fall into a handful of recognizable families based on their mechanics. Here are the major categories, with playable examples from our collection.

The exact origin of patience games is murky, but the earliest written references appear in northern Europe around the 1780s. A German game anthology from 1783 describes a form of patience, and Swedish sources from the same era mention kabal-laying. The games likely evolved from fortune-telling layouts — you'd deal cards and interpret whether the game “came out” as a prediction of future events.

The Napoleonic legend is too good to fact-check. The story goes that Napoleon Bonaparte played patience obsessively during his exile on St. Helena (1815–1821), and several games bear his name. Whether he actually invented any of them is doubtful, but the association stuck. “Napoleon's Tomb” and “Napoleon at St. Helena” (now called Forty Thieves) remain popular today.

Patience reached peak cultural status in Victorian England. Lady Adelaide Cadogan published Illustrated Games of Patience in 1870, one of the first comprehensive rule books, and patience became a staple of respectable domestic entertainment. It was considered an appropriate pastime for women — intellectually engaging but not dangerously competitive. By the late 19th century, patience was being played in parlors and clubs across Europe and America.

The computer revolution transformed patience from a physical pastime into a digital phenomenon. Microsoft included Klondike in Windows 3.0 (1990) partly to teach mouse skills to users unfamiliar with graphical interfaces — dragging and dropping cards was intuitive training. It worked spectacularly well, and “Solitaire” became the most-played computer game in history. FreeCell followed in Windows 95, and Spider came with Windows XP.

Today, patience games are played billions of times per year across phones, tablets, and browsers. The core appeal hasn't changed since the 18th century: they're absorbing, self-paced, and endlessly replayable. The deck shuffles differently every time.

Out of hundreds of patience variants, these ten have stood the test of time. Each one offers a genuinely different experience.

1. Klondike — The default. Seven columns, a stock pile, alternating-color building. Roughly 80% of deals are theoretically winnable, but the average player wins about 30% because of hidden information.
2. FreeCell — All cards visible, four holding cells. Over 99.99% of deals are solvable. Only one deal in the original 32,000 is provably unsolvable. The thinking person's patience game.
3. Spider Solitaire — Two decks, ten columns. Build same-suit runs to remove completed sequences. Three difficulty levels depending on how many suits you use.
4. Pyramid — Pair cards that sum to 13. Quick games, satisfying when you clear the entire pyramid.
5. TriPeaks — Three overlapping peaks. Remove cards one rank above or below. Chain long sequences for combos.
6. Yukon — Klondike without a stock pile. Move face-up groups freely. More aggressive and strategic.
7. Forty Thieves — Two decks, single-card moves, build by suit. One of the hardest mainstream patience games.
8. Canfield — Named after casino owner Richard A. Canfield, who used it as a gambling game. Low win rate, high drama.
9. Golf — Fast-paced removal game. The lower your remaining card count, the better your “score.”
10. Baker's Game — FreeCell's predecessor and the game that inspired it. Same layout, suit-only building.

With dozens of variants available, picking the right one depends on what you're looking for. Here are the key factors:

By Skill Level

• Beginner: Klondike, TriPeaks, Golf — simple rules, forgiving gameplay.
• Intermediate: FreeCell, Spider (1-suit), Yukon — more strategic depth, manageable complexity.
• Advanced: Baker's Game, Scorpion, Forty Thieves — tight margins, low win rates, deep planning.
• Expert: 1-Cell FreeCell, Calculation, Beleaguered Castle — serious puzzles for serious players.

By Time Commitment

• 2–3 minutes: Clock, Aces Up, Golf — quick hits.
• 5–10 minutes: Klondike, FreeCell, Pyramid — the sweet spot.
• 15–30 minutes: Spider (4-suit), Forty Thieves — longer sessions, bigger decks.

By Luck vs Strategy

• Pure luck: Clock Solitaire — zero decisions after the deal.
• Mostly luck: Canfield, Accordion — limited control over outcomes.
• Balanced: Klondike, Spider — skill matters but luck plays a role.
• Mostly skill: FreeCell, Baker's Game, Calculation — your decisions determine the outcome.

For a detailed breakdown of every game's difficulty and win rate, check our Solitaire Difficulty Ranking.

We've ranked every solitaire variant on this site by difficulty, factoring in win rate, decision complexity, and how much the deal influences the outcome.

See the full difficulty ranking →