Solitaire players are just realising original game has a totally different name

Daily Record

5 days ago

If you've ever been bored and had a Microsoft laptop, you've probably played Solitaire at some point in your life. But did you know this fun trivia about the card game?
If you've ever had a Microsoft laptop, you've probably played solitaire at some point in your life. That's because the classic computer card game has been included with Windows operating systems since 1990.
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Solitaire as a concept can be traced back for hundreds of years. It's believed to have originated in France during the 18th century but remains popular to this very day. After being introduced by Microsoft intern Wes Cherry in 1988, it became one of the most popular digital games ever. Millions now know the rules – but did you know the original version wasn't actually called 'Solitaire'?
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Games expert Dmitry Kandratsyeu, Head of Product at Solitaires.com, said: "From a quick game at work to killing time on your nan's PC, most of us have played Solitaire. But that classic card game you know and love isn't called Solitaire.
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"In fact, its real name is Klondike. The name you've been referring to for all these years is actually just a category. Solitaire means any single-player card game, and Klondike just happens to be the one that went viral before going viral was even a thing.
Solitaire can actually refer to a variety of one-player card games. The most common type, often called Klondike, centres around arranging a deck of cards into four foundation piles, ordered by suit and rank (ace through King).
However, it has different names when you travel around the world. In many English-speaking countries in Europe, it's traditionally known as Patience.
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Dmitry added: "Here in the UK, you may also hear people refer to the game as Patience, a name still commonly used across Europe.
"In Finland, it's Pasianssi. In Poland, it's Pasjans and in France it's known as La Patience. But, when Microsoft added the game to Windows 3.0 back in 1990, they labelled it simply as 'Solitaire', and that name stuck, especially for those who grew up playing it on screen.
"The name Klondike comes from the Klondike Gold Rush in the late 1800s, when Canadian prospectors would pass the time with a patience-testing card game. It eventually became popular in the US, and when Microsoft digitised it, the rest was history, or should we say, computer history.
"If things weren't confusing enough, old-school Americans often refer to it as Canfield, named after the 19th-century gambler who supposedly made the game popular in casinos. But while Canfield is related, it's a different version of Solitaire altogether, with its own distinct set of rules.
"This just shows how many different names and variations this one game has around the world, even though the core idea remains largely the same.
"One thing's for sure, whether you call it Solitaire, Klondike, Patience or even Canfield, it's a game that's stuck around for good reason. From killing time on your lunch break to tapping away on your nan's old PC, we've all played it at some point."