World of Solitaire About World of Solitaire World of Solitaire has over 50 solitaire games, including Spider, Klondike, FreeCell and Pyramid. The site is 100% free, has full undo support, multiple decks, statistics tracking, custom backgrounds and more. Created with HTML5 and JavaScript, this online website works everywhere! My name is Robert and I created World of Solitaire. It started in 2007. My goal was to create a free, high quality, no hassle site to play solitaire on. I was just hoping to have 30 happy players each month. Today, over 250,000 different people come to the site every day! It is absolutely thrilling to me to know that so many people enjoy what I have created. I truly hope that you all continue to enjoy playing here for many years to come. If anyone has any comments, questions, ideas or bugs please e-mail me: robert@telparia.com Offline Version Rules of Card Games: Double Solitaire Software and Online Games Setup This is a competitive version of Klondike patience (solitaire). Each player plays with their own 52-card pack.

The backs of the cards should if possible be different so that they can be sorted out after the game. Each player deals a layout as for Klondike: 28 cards in 7 piles, each having the top card face up and the rest face down. The left hand pile has just one card, the second two, and so on, the right hand pile having seven cards. Between the players' layouts is space for the foundation piles, four piles per player, which can be played on by any player. Each player begins with a stack of 24 face-down cards. There are two different ways this game can be played: the players may take turns, or it can be played as a race, with everyone playing simultaneously. Turn-Based Play The turn based game is normally played as a two-player games, known as Double Solitaire. The player with the lower card on their one-pile starts - or in case of a tie whoever has the lower card on their two-pile and so on. At your turn you can make a series of moves as in Klondike. You may move cards around on your own layout, move cards onto the foundation piles when they fit, and move cards from your discard pile to your layout or the foundations.

You are not allowed to play onto or use your opponent's layout or discard pile. You end your turn when you cannot or choose not to make any other moves by turning over the top card of your face-down stack, and placing it on your face-up discard pile. Your opponent then plays. The game ends when one player has played all the cards to the foundation piles and wins, or when both players are blocked, in which case the winner is the player who has played more cards to the foundation piles. Simultaneous Solitaire This game is possible with up to 6 or 7 or even more players, each beginning with their own pack of 52 cards. The moves in this version are the same as above, but the players do not take turns. All play at once, as fast as possible, but each using only one hand. When you cannot or do not wish to make further moves with your face up cards, you turn over the top three cards of your stack, put them face up on your discard pile and continue playing. If there are no more cards in your stack, you may turn your whole discard pile over to make a new stack, and turn over its top three cards to start a new discard pile.

Play continues until one player has played all their cards to the foundation piles and wins, or until all players are blocked, in which case the winner is the player who has played most cards to the foundation piles, or equivalently, the player who has fewest cards in their stack plus layout. With more than two players, after one player has gone out, the game can be continued for 2nd place, 3rd place and so on. When the game blocks the remaining players are placed according to how many unplayed cards they have in their stack plus layout, the fewer the better. In the two-player game, some play that if both players are blocked and have fewer than 7 cards in their stacks, they may agree each to turn all the cards of their stacks face up in a row and use any of the cards from their own stacks to make any further moves that are possible. Software and Online Games Solitaire - Android Apps on Google Play Solitaire Top Developer Description Solitaire by MobilityWare is the ORIGINAL maker of Solitaire with Daily Challenges. We’re ALWAYS updating our Solitaire to include fun new features! We are the #1 Solitaire card game on Android.

If you like Windows Solitaire, you're going to love our old school Solitaire game! Popular with casual fans and casino lovers alike, this is the same Solitaire game AS SEEN ON TV, and the only Solitaire app that includes Daily Challenges. A unique Daily Challenge appears every day to test your logic and train your brain! Solve the Daily Challenge and receive a crown for that day. Earn trophies each month by winning more crowns! We have MORE NEW THEMES! Celebrate with the New Year’s theme, smell the flowers in the Spring Theme, and bundle up with the Rainy Day theme. MobilityWare Solitaire stays true to the classic Solitaire card game (also known as Klondike or Patience), the most popular version of Solitaire. With amazing graphics tailored for Android and the best game play of any Solitaire app on the market, you’ll have a blast rediscovering your favorite classic game! Solitaire is FREE to download! Play the classic card game now! Solitaire is also known as Patience.

SOLITAIRE BY MOBILITYWARE FEATURES: NEW: Play Solitaire in Immersive Mode Old school games take on new life in Immersive Mode: Play without distraction ♦ Classic Solitaire: remove the Menu and Status Bar on devices that utilize the Navigation Bar (requires Android 4.4 or above) Fun Addicting Games of Classic Klondike Solitaire Klondike Solitaire Draw 1 card ♠ Klondike Solitaire Draw 3 cards ♠ Winning Deals: Increase the challenge ♠ Vegas Cumulative: Keep your score rolling over ♠ Addicting, unique ways to play! Challenge Games of Solitaire - Unlock Challenges Each Day Daily Challenges task you with completing unique feats every day ♥ Challenges keep the classic game of solitaire new every time ♥ Play Solitaire every day for a unique, challenging game! Classic Games, Modern Options Portrait or Landscape view mode ♣ Solitaire statistics tracker: study your progress and playstyle ♣ Cards & Tables can be fully customized ♣ No wifi required for Random Deals. Play anywhere! Brain Training - Keep your Mind Sharp Solitaire is the original Logic puzzle. Stay mentally fit with a fun card game!

♦ Brain Games can help kids and adults alike in a fun, engaging way ♦ Challenges & Achievements will puzzle your brain, put your logic skills to the test and keep you coming back to play! Vegas Casino Style Scoring Vegas scoring means plenty of authentic casino fun ♠ Vegas fans will flip for Solitaire! Keep the score rolling with Vegas Cumulative Mode ♠ Casino Blackjack & poker lovers won’t be able to put Solitaire down! Multiplayer & Leaderboards View your scores on the leaderboards ♥ Play with friends: race against friends and see who finishes the fastest! Solitaire by MobilityWare is one of the best fun free games for kids and adults alike! If you’ve ever played Solitaire on your PC, enjoyed a round of casino blackjack, or any variants like Spider Solitaire or Tripeaks Solitaire, you’ll feel right at home in this authentic, original Klondike Solitaire game! Download Solitaire and bring the #1 classic game anywhere! Solitaire is ad-supported. 1 50,566 Adele Amy Really good game I am patient with the multiple ads that the game has. When some ads close its like my app restarts.. this was not cool.

I'm running a phone with limited free space so What I do not need is this app saving videos on my phone without my permission. Which takes up precious space. This is almost the final straw guys fix it please. I like this game but I'm going to have to uninstall if it continues. Tanya Rezayazdi Data eater It's great a great app. Simply a solitaire app. But beware, this eats data. I refuse to play multi-player off wifi bc of the amount of data it takes but in the end it doesn't matter. Your data will be eaten in just plain old winning deal play. I don't get it. Ads maybe? Background stuff going on? Connecting to get winning deals too much? Laurie Smith Never had a problem with it and it provides so many different ways to use it! 1st game I added to my new Galaxy Note from my Samsung 3. It keeps track of you score/time so you can beat yourself. Score based on # of moves you make and the amount of time you take. I love that if my goal is to up my score, I can quit a game that is not going my way.

I use the Random Draw option each time because it is more challenging and I do like a challenge. I think it keeps the mind up for the day to day grind. 5 stars! Great and Entertaining Have solitaire from same developer on my iPad, and really like the no-nonsense approach Mobilty uses. Yeah, the ads that pop on every new game are a thing, but they've got to make their payroll somehow. I would absolutely A) recommend this game to any solitaire fan and B) buy a paid version in a heartbeat. Great graphics, fast loading and playing and just an overall "job well done." Richard Thorndike Sr Solitaire MobilityWare I love playing this Solitaire game so far best Solitaire game is one of the best solitaire games I have played before. It's not too hard to play and as a good game to play while you're waiting for your doctor's appointment. The makers of this game did a very good job but this app. Keep up the good work again thank you very much. For those who are thinking about downloading this app give it a try you won't make that mistake you will have fun I am. A Google User Who doesn't enjoy solitaire?

Who hadn't wished they had it accessible while waiting in line, or for the doctor, or for the grass to grow? This one keeps the game at its simplest and most elegant. All the usual options, including a cumulative Vegas score, plus an easy interface make this app my go-to time waster. User reviews Adele Amy December 3, 2016 Really good game I am patient with the multiple ads that the game has. When some ads close its like my app restarts.. this was not cool. I'm running a phone with limited free space so What I do not need is this app saving videos on my phone without my permission. Which takes up precious space. This is almost the final straw guys fix it please. I like this game but I'm going to have to uninstall if it continues. Full Review Tanya Rezayazdi January 3, 2017 Data eater It's great a great app. Simply a solitaire app. But beware, this eats data. I refuse to play multi-player off wifi bc of the amount of data it takes but in the end it doesn't matter. Your data will be eaten in just plain old winning deal play. I don't get it. Ads maybe?

Background stuff going on? Connecting to get winning deals too much? Full Review Laurie Smith January 4, 2017 Never had a problem with it and it provides so many different ways to use it! 1st game I added to my new Galaxy Note from my Samsung 3. It keeps track of you score/time so you can beat yourself. Score based on # of moves you make and the amount of time you take. I love that if my goal is to up my score, I can quit a game that is not going my way. I use the Random Draw option each time because it is more challenging and I do like a challenge. I think it keeps the mind up for the day to day grind. 5 stars! Full Review November 17, 2016 Great and Entertaining Have solitaire from same developer on my iPad, and really like the no-nonsense approach Mobilty uses. Yeah, the ads that pop on every new game are a thing, but they've got to make their payroll somehow. I would absolutely A) recommend this game to any solitaire fan and B) buy a paid version in a heartbeat.

Great graphics, fast loading and playing and just an overall "job well done." Full Review Richard Thorndike Sr December 18, 2016 Solitaire MobilityWare I love playing this Solitaire game so far best Solitaire game is one of the best solitaire games I have played before. It's not too hard to play and as a good game to play while you're waiting for your doctor's appointment. The makers of this game did a very good job but this app. Keep up the good work again thank you very much. For those who are thinking about downloading this app give it a try you won't make that mistake you will have fun I am. Full Review A Google User November 17, 2016 Who doesn't enjoy solitaire? Who hadn't wished they had it accessible while waiting in line, or for the doctor, or for the grass to grow? This one keeps the game at its simplest and most elegant. All the usual options, including a cumulative Vegas score, plus an easy interface make this app my go-to time waster.

Full Review Susan Decosse December 12, 2016 The best electronic solitaire game I've played I really appreciate that I'm not limited by time or number of moves as to how long I can play. I only stop when I decide to. And my game automatically saves so if I need to suddenly go somewhere else on my phone, when I come back the game is right there where I left off. Another thing I've come to appreciate after having had to use another Solitaire game for a while is the option to customize the background, card backs, etc. Full Review Ashley Booms January 16, 2017 Great game, great company This is my favorite brand for phone card games. I also have Spider Solitaire by them and it's awesome. Very customizable, from the style of play to many choices on backgrounds and card designs. Yes, there's ads, but only at the beginning of each game- once you exit the ad, you go back to the game screen and there's no ads there, just the cards. To the makers: Please come out with a version of Pyramid Solitaire!

Full Review Richard Hessler December 18, 2016 Engrossing simple solitaire Longtime favorite for wasting time. Lots of features & other rules-relaxing ways to make the game easier if winning is more important than a challenge. Focus on speed of play to improve scores & don't un-do card plays to keep yourself honest & strict. Full Review Frank Murray December 19, 2016 Best version Can move the deck to the right, so a right-handed person can see the cards without their fingers in the way. Better yet, you can ask for a winning deal. That way you know not to quit and keep perusing a solution. If you just can't find one, you can ask for a hint. If there is no solution, you can replay the deal and try different moves along the way. This game has made me a much better player. Full Review Jill Pearson December 17, 2016 Force Closes Repeatedly I have had this game installed for a few years, along with Spider Solitaire, and have enjoyed them both. For the past few days, both games force close almost as fast as I open them.

I reinstalled Spider to no avail, so ended up uninstalling it. This one will be next unless I get a reply to one of the many reports I filed! Full Review MobilityWare December 20, 2016 Sorry that you are having trouble with our game. We would like to help. Please send us a description of the problem. Use Email Customer Support from Settings within the game, or send directly to support@mobilityware.com. We will get back to you with a reply. Thanks for playing! Anthony Berlingieri December 5, 2016 Great app, but chews up data? So recently I've noticed this app is almost at the top of my list for data usage. I understand the need to generate money with ads, but using video ads that make you watch 5 seconds at the minimum, uses quite a bit of data. And after each game, it gets irritating. Full Review MobilityWare December 5, 2016 Sorry that you are having trouble with our game. We would like to help. Please send us a description of the problem. Use Email Customer Support from Settings within the game, or send directly to support@mobilityware.com.

We will get back to you with a reply. Thanks for playing! Bart Bishop January 7, 2017 Too much time wasted on advertising I've been playing this game for years and love the game. But they are now forcing you to watch 15 second commercials for a game that only lasts 60 seconds. That's too much time wasted! KFC add is 15 seconds and you cannot back out until it's over! I hate KFC! Also hate the ads that are in Spanish. I am in the USA. Also hate the 15-second Best Buy Anger Management ad Full Review MobilityWare January 11, 2017 Sorry that you are having trouble with our ads. We'd like to help. If you are having trouble with a particular ad, let us know by using Email Customer Support from Settings within the game. If you can, include a description and a screenshot of the ad. Thanks for playing! L Jackson November 25, 2016 Used to love this game I used to love this game. This version was the one I installed on every new phone. Then yesterday, all of a sudden, it just stops playing.

Every time I go in, it kicks me out. I tried uninstalling and reinstalling even though I lose all my high score and daily challenge info but I still can't get the game to stay on. Full Review Chrystal Laird January 13, 2017 Loosing interest I am/was addicted to this game. I play every night to fall asleep but I can't stand the app advertising any more. Looking to download another game now just because of the ad annoyance. I will even buy an app just to not see the ads anymore. Maybe you should offer an ad free version. I would pay to loose the ads. Full Review MobilityWare February 17, 2016 Sorry that you are bothered by the ads. Advertising is how we support the development of this Free app. If you are having trouble with a particular ad, let us know by using Email Customer Support from Settings within the game, or send directly to support@mobilityware.com. Include a description or screenshot of the ad. Thanks for playing! November 20, 2016 Solitaire by Mobilityware. EXCELLENT!! Fantastic puzzle game.

Have just had to start again, after playing this game non stop after a couple of years, as it disappeared off my tablet! For no reason at all. Was so disappointed! Had to upload/download the app all over again. All my jewelled crowns gone, for all those days and months playing! Now I've only got 14 crowns and 4 jewelled crowns, for this month. But, it IS great game, which is really hard to put down at times. 20/10! Full Review Vishwanath Sastry January 14, 2017 Ad frequency is irritating An ad appears after completing every single game and after skipping aroind 4 games, which is really annoying as there are 15 second unskippable ads. Please reduce the frequency of the ads. I don't mind ads, but if they appear after every single game, it's frustrating to constantly skip the ad. Full Review Suzanne Hamilton December 7, 2016 All Seasons Solitaire Ads a bit off putting, but worth it. GR8 game. GR8 time waster. Play anytime & anywhere.

Love new updates: New Years; Spring; Rain; Summer; Summer Sports; Fall; Halloween; Winter & Valentine's Day. Superb updates of themes. Let's have Christmas, Mothers' Day & Fathers' Day too. Please. Thank you. Would gladly pay for a pro version. Full Review Gavin White December 23, 2016 Scare Mungering tactics with adverts This app is great apart from the adverts. Over time the adverts have got more intrusive and now the adverts are for things like RAM cleaners which tell you your device is at risk... Rubbish. It's just a ploy to get you to install some rubbish app. Get back to your roots people and stop trying to scare people into installing crap.... Full Review Frank Iorio December 17, 2016 Video Ads hog data I'm ok with ads on free games but not when they eat up the data. Seems to be an ongoing issue with this app but all I see is the same form response. "Sorry you're having trouble with our game...blah ..blah...blah." Going to have to uninstall it. Pity Full Review MaryAnn Hauck November 26, 2016 They asked for a Review...

I've used this game for years. Customer service people are Stuck on Stupid. I have played the same hand twice, on different devices. If it was programed right, that should have never happened. Would have given 5 stars, but it's not Solitaire anymore. Too much useless changes. I'm going to look for a basic Solitaire game, this one sucks anymore, anx there are too many ads. Full Review Super Sass November 22, 2016 Laggy and too many ads Whenever you want to play a new deal an add pops up and eventful it doesn't need Wifi it keeps lagging. I used to like this app but it just gets worse every time I play it and there is nothing Hong with my phone as it is brand new so the app is the problem Full Review Diana Manwaring November 18, 2016 Video ads stink They cannot be closed. Can't back out of them. Will try airplane mode like someone suggested. If that doesn't work I will delete this game. Sorry, MobilityWare, but you can't pester me into paying for this!

Full Review December 12, 2016 I love solitaire Sometimes i feel like I'm cheating. Then i realize even if the it's just following the probability of error or success. I can try to beat my best time or strategically focus on the cards for better grasp of probability. Either way It is always fun and stimulating. Full Review miker6570 December 19, 2016 Nice game too many ads I really like this game. It does give a fairly good challenge. But since the last update the game is getting way too spammy with the ads. I realize with a free game you need to make some kind of revenue from it. But all of the ads you got spread out in the game might make me uninstall this soon. Tone down the ads and I could change my rating. Full Review Sue Morris December 20, 2016 Easy Format This game is easy to play. Oddly, it even has a deal that wins everytime- great for kids. Not happy with full ads between games, but if you buy game I guess it goes away. Not sure. Game never gave me an option to buy it only to buy other games.

Full Review Jessica Bagley December 14, 2016 Great, but... I don't like the ads in-between the games-- especially the gross ones showing mouth cancer from cigarette smoking! I don't even smoke! Please take it away it's not fair to have that pop up in my face. :( Full Review africaan January 12, 2017 TOO MANY ads! I played this solitaire for last two years. It was only one ad every time when you start new game. It was OK, it wasn't annoyed. Now it show me one ad (sometimes with timer to close!) when I start, then it can be followed by next ad (yes, two ads one-by-another!), then small ad in the menu... And all full-screen ad with close button in different corners... Very annoyingly. Uninstalled Full Review Thomas Bucklin December 16, 2016 Soltaire A great game that keeps me occupied during times of stress. The multiple features keeps it fresh and fast paced. Moreover, it makes it more interesting and fun by being able to keep track of stats and achievements. By far the best card game I've ever downloaded. Thank you MobilityWare!

Full Review December 12, 2016 Endless entertainment Great entertainment and easy to use. There are advertisements posted before starting each game, but they are easy to dismiss if you are not interested. All in all, the app is great for playing solitaire, and after playing it for several years, I've not encountered any bugs or other problems. Full Review Mark Hutchens December 27, 2016 Too Intrusive No one needs to know who i talk to or what i have connected to my system. In addition auto play advertisements eat up ur data and forces u to use unsecure wifi. Other than that i give it a 5 Full Review Thiago dos Santos January 3, 2017 Does not fully work with ad blockers I love this game, but after I installed an ad block app on my mobile (AdAway), daily challenges are no longer available. It says "unable to show challenges. Check your network". Can the developer please fix it? Full Review Thomas Scruggs November 22, 2016 Solitaire with Metrics Adding dimension of scoring provides element of competition. Not enough to simply win but shows the quality of your play in comparison to all other players.

Makes it altogether different game. Full Review John Snyder December 4, 2016 Used to be good .... I like to listen to my music while playing. But now Ads pop up out of nowhere, shutting off my tunes. I have to exit out of the game to restart my music, then bam, another one. Not to mention the terrible Lag that has taken over the gameplay. Its not like an action game, with awesome graphics; it's freakin cards with minimal movement. Just like all the other apps are getting.... GREEDY. Shoving ads down your throats for more profit. Time to delete. See ya Full Review Nookie Nookie December 3, 2016 New Ads that slowdown device and hackers. And now you added ads that slowdown every damn phone with hackers EVEN with the "tap to move" and quick fingers like the devs claim, there's tons of score that make no sense at all. Based on the calculs you can make to clear the board, the human thinking time to move would have to be negative to be able to do some specific times. The game is filled with hackers that auto-solve the board and hack the time to get top.

It's plagued with that since a few months, some hackers use private method to do this. Full Review Dawn Collier January 9, 2017 My error Ok well I gave a long tirade bout the ads while trying to play my game.....well as it turns out I had downloaded music paradise also. It was music paradise causing my pop up ads..... I was wrong. I'm sorry. I do love this game. Since getting rid of Music Paradise I've had no ads. I suggest you do download this game lots and lots of fun😄😄 Full Review Lovin Breaker December 2, 2016 Amazing Game but The worst idk why players join then disconnect😂 like are you too stupid or a slow slider? why even download it if you'r gonna be unfair its just a card game Full Review November 30, 2016 Solitaire There are 4 Comercial 's 10 to 20 seconds long you can't stop. You have no control at all. It really deserves 2 stars..... How do you play free solitaire games? | Reference.com How do you play free solitaire games?

A: Quick Answer Solitaire can be played for free on dozens of sites throughout the Internet. Three examples of sites that offer free solitaire games are FreeSolitaire.org, Solitaire-CardGame.com and AARP's website at Games.AARP.org. Full Answer Other examples of reputable, free online solitaire games include World of Solitaire, Solitr, Games.com, Play Solitaire and Classic Solitaire. Each of these sites presents virtually the same form of the game, with slight variations in layout, design and controls. Many sites with free solitaire games also feature links to other popular games. Solitaire is a card game that dates back to the mid-18th century and goes under several different names throughout the world. It is known as patience in England and parts of the United States. Solitaire typically involves drawing cards and attempting to play them into a certain arrangement. Players attempt to reorder the deck by rank and suit through a series of moves with predetermined restrictions. In the most common version of solitaire, players attempt to build four blocks of cards going from ace to king in each suit. A wide variety of different rule sets exist for solitaire games, with varying levels of complexity and difficulty.

Solitaire games can be played both cooperatively and competitively, typically as a head to head race. Solitaire Solitaire Solitaire 38 votes. 3.72 / 5 Solitaire Description : Solitaire is usually played with one, or two standard 52-card decks shuffled together. A few games use non-standard or cut decks. The objective of solitaire game is typically to sort the pack of cards into order in accordance with particular rules of play. Player wins if the sorting is successful. Solitaire – Card Game Rules | Bicycle Playing Cards SEARCH Club 808 Login Log in to Club 808 Rewards using the email and password you provided when you signed up. Forgot your Password? Signup Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipisicing elit. Eum maiores asperiores nihil vel dolorum esse, velit adipisci tempora omnis laudantium illum facilis ad hic, iste recusandae fugiat voluptatum dolore odit. Solitaire Solitaire is one of the most pleasurable pastimes for one person. Often called, "Patience," more than 150 Solitaire games have been devised. Spider Solitaire 10 !

– Games on Microsoft Store Screenshots Description Spider Solitaire is a popular variant of solitaire using two decks of cards. Spider Solitaire: rules and basics The object Remove all the cards from the table in the fewest number of moves. The table Spider Solitaire is played with two decks of cards. This app uses all four different suits. The cards are arranged in ten columns. The top card in each column is face up, the rest are face down. The remaining cards are piled in the top-leftcorner of the table. How to play To win, you must remove all the cards from the table by building columns organized in descending order, from king to ace, all with the same suit. When you succeed in building a sequentially-ordered column, it flies off the table. If you run out of moves, click the pile at the top left of the table and it dispatches a new row of cards. You aren't limited to moving just one card at a time. If a run of cards are all in the same suit, and arranged in numeric order, you can drag them around as if they were a single card. Hints and tips Clear space: Empty columns quickly and then start building new ones. This allows you to build the longest runs.

Uncover cards: Bring more cards into play by clearing columns and overturning cards deeper within the columns. The more cards in play, the more moves you have, and the lower your chances of stalled runs or being forced to draw from the deck. Don't block cards. At higher difficulty settings, avoid placing low cards on cards of a different suit. This blocks them from play until the lower cards are moved. Don't hesitate to undo: use the undo button on top right -- Solitaire or patience is a genre of tabletop games, consisting of card games that can be played by a single player. The purpose of solitaire generally involves manipulating a layout of cards with a goal of sorting them in some manner. However it is possible to play the same games competitively (often a head to head race) and cooperatively. solitaire games typically involve dealing cards from a shuffled deck into a prescribed arrangement on a tabletop, from which the player attempts to reorder the deck by suit and rank through a series of moves transferring cards from one place to another under prescribed restrictions. Some games allow for the reshuffling of the deck(s), and/or the placement of cards into new or "empty" locations.

In the most familiar, general form of solitaire, the object of the game is to build up four blocks of cards going from ace to king in each suit, taking cards from the layout if they appear on the table. There is a vast array of variations on the solitaire theme, using either one or more decks of cards, with rules of varying complexity and skill levels. Many of these have been converted to electronic form and are available as computer games. Examples of variants on the familiar solitaire theme that may be played with an ordinary packet of cards include Bisley and Prince Albert More Josh Levin is Slate’s executive editor. Advertisement A long time ago, before the invention of the microprocessor, people played solitaire with real cards. The game, known as "patience" by the Brits, has been around for more than 200 years . It is thought to be French in origin, but it's a matter of dispute whether Napoleon played while in exile on St. Helena.

(Some say he preferred whist, a trick-taking game that would have perhaps better sated the tyrant's taste for conquest.) Though solitaire always had its followers, the necessity of shuffling the deck after every hand could make the game a real drag and certainly a nonoptimal entertainment for anyone with access to books, the radio, or any form of human contact. (You could understand the appeal for Napoleon.) The shuffling problem eventually brought solitaire to the digital world and to its present glory. In the late 1960s, 10-year-old Paul Alfille invented a new solitaire variant—there are hundreds, by the way—called FreeCell. Alfille loved his new game, but he really, really hated shuffling. By 1979, he'd coded up a version for the computer network at the University of Illinois, PLATO , which supported up to 1,000 users at a time on terminals connected to a central mainframe. (Alfille was in medical school at the time; he is now an anesthesiologist.) FreeCell soon went viral, joining the text-based role-playing game Avatar among the early online community's most-used programs.

Along with shuffling the cards automatically, the program kept track of players' statistics; it was soon recording winning streaks as long as 5,000 consecutive games. FreeCell caught fire in the early days of networked computing, Alfille says, because it was easy to figure out how to play. In those days, computers were new and intimidating; solitaire was a reassuring presence. For anyone who had played the real-world game—and that's most of the grandmother-having population—there was no learning curve with the computer version. And once you mastered the computerized card game, doing some more serious-minded task on the machine didn't seem so daunting. As the university mainframes of the 1970s gave way to the personal computer, solitaire once again paved the way for a tech revolution. According to a 1994 Washington Post article, Microsoft executives wanted Windows Solitaire (a rendering of the game's popular Klondike variant) "to soothe people intimidated by the operating system." Solitaire proved particularly useful in teaching neophytes how to use the mouse.

When Microsoft first preloaded solitaire as part of 1990's Windows 3.0 , clicking and pointing weren't yet second nature. By dragging and dropping cards, newbies developed the mousing fluency required to use every other Windows program. (The game's pedagogical elements were also a handy cover story. When a Minnesota state legislator got caught playing during a 1995 debate on education funding, she claimed she was merely doing "homework to improve her mouse dexterity.") Advertisement Solitaire helped acquaint users with Windows, and it introduced the world to Microsoft's special brand of business ethics. Paul Alfille says that FreeCell's inclusion in Windows 95, and every subsequent version of the OS, was "nothing I did and nothing I condoned." Now an avid Linux user, Alfille says he sold the rights to his version of the game to the University of Illinois, but Microsoft never paid the university a dime in royalties.

Just as Microsoft froze out Netscape , making Internet Explorer the world's dominant Web browser, the three versions of solitaire that are now preinstalled on every Windows PC—Spider Solitaire, Klondike Solitaire, and FreeCell—have ascended to the pinnacle of the world's computer-game hierarchy. In the pre-Internet era, much of solitaire's allure came because it was the only game in town. Moving a black two onto a red three may not have seemed particularly enticing on its own terms, but compared with the visual stimuli provided by an Excel spreadsheet, a post-victory card cascade was an unimaginably rousing spectacle. It's more surprising that these Windows solitaires, with their primitive delights, remain hugely popular despite now competing for our affections with e-mail, the Web, and thousands of online games. According to Microsoft developer-blogger Raymond Chen, the company's usability research crew discovered that the three most-played computer games (solitaire or something else, Microsoft or otherwise, preloaded or user-installed) are, in order … Spider Solitaire, Klondike Solitaire, and FreeCell.

The game's continued pre-eminence is a remarkable feat—it's something akin to living in a universe in which Pong were the most-popular title for PlayStation 3. One reason solitaire endures is its predictability. The gameplay and aesthetic have remained remarkably stable; a visitor from the year 1990 could play the latest Windows version without a glitch, at least if he could figure out how to use the Start menu. It also remains one of the very few computer programs, game or nongame, that old people can predictably navigate. Brad Fregger, the developer of Solitaire Royale , the first commercial solitaire game for the Macintosh and the PC, told me that his 89-year-old mother still calls regularly to brag about her high scores. The game has also maintained a strong foothold in the modern-day cubicle. Despite the easy availability of other cheap amusements, five minutes of dragging cards around on the screen remains a speedy route to mental health and a mild form of workplace disobedience.

(Just don't do it when Mayor Bloomberg is around .) Since solitaire doesn't take up the whole screen, it's easy to click over and play a hand or two when you get tired of data entry, then quickly toggle back over to your database program when your manager happens to walk by. This sort of multitasking, the ability to minimize and hide applications, is the most essential feature of the Windows OS. And solitaire taught us how to use it. Advertisement The ability to screw around while staring at one's computer—a posture once exclusively associated with doing work—added new friction to the boss-employee dynamic. While people screwed around at work before computers—what did they do exactly, those poor souls?—the advent of PC-based leisure pursuits launched a national conversation about how much screwing around is too much. By the early 1990s, companies like Coca-Cola, Sears, and Boeing either removed Windows' preinstalled games or enacted bans on engaging with them.

In 1993, a travel agency executive educated Business Week on the prevailing wisdom: "If you let people play games on [office computers], you may as well let them insert a TV-reception board so they can watch The Beverly Hillbillies." (For his sake, I hope this guy retired before they invented YouTube.) Despite all of these upper-management freakouts—and despite regular, bogus productivity studies that estimated solitaire and its ilk draining $800 trillion dollars a year from the economy—you could make the case that the card game has actually been good for business. Before e-mail and the Web, solitaire introduced the idea of being chained to your desk. Consider that the rise of FreeCell coincided with the erosion of coffee breaks, cigarette breaks, and lunch breaks. Why leave the office when you can just eat at your desk and entertain yourself? For the goal-oriented solitaire player, the entertainment value comes in pushing for the game's outer limits: a new high score in Klondike, a record FreeCell winning streak. It's this sort of private record-keeping that brings on the game's addictive properties. Dr.

Maressa Hecht Orzack, an assistant professor at Harvard Medical School, opened the first clinic for computer addiction in 1996. Her inspiration: becoming obsessed with beating her personal solitaire scoring record. "I kept playing solitaire more and more," she wrote in a 2006 Washington Post chat, "my late husband would find me asleep at the computer. I was missing deadlines. I knew something had to be done." More than a decade on, Orzack's game-junky treatment facility now mostly sees World of Warcraft and EverQuest fiends. Is this a sign that computer solitaire's impressive run might soon come to an end? In the age where everything's networked, and every game is massively multiplayer, solitaire is the ultimate anti-social experience. Eric Zimmerman , the author of The Game Design Reader, suggests that office workers who grew up with PCs and Super Nintendo might no longer have any need to play computer games, like solitaire, with real-world referents. After all, they're probably just as familiar with Tetris and Mortal Kombat as they are with FreeCell. Still, I don't think solitaire will go extinct. It is the cockroach of gaming, remarkably flexible and adaptable.

You can occupy yourself with an easy variant or one that's almost impossible to win, stare at the screen for five minutes or five hours, and play with an eye toward strategy or with your brain turned off. The game also has a way of colonizing new technology: There are implementations for your cell phone, your PDA, your iPod and iPhone. (As a vanguard digital pastime, its only competition is pornography.) And if there's one certainty in this world, it's that office workers will always need a distraction. Solitaire is safe, then, at least until Microsoft starts loading Windows with rock-paper-scissors. Solitaire | Deckipedia | Fandom powered by Wikia This page uses Creative Commons Licensed content from Wikipedia ( view authors) . Klondike is the best-known form of solitaire to the point of being a synecdoche . It is a staple of computer operating systems, here shown as KPatience on the KDE desktop environment. Solitaire, also called patience, often refers to single-player card games involving a layout of cards with a goal of sorting them in some manner. However it is possible to play the same games competitively (often a head to head race) and cooperatively.

The term solitaire is also used for single-player games of concentration and skill using a set layout of tiles , pegs or stones rather than cards. These games include Peg solitaire and Shanghai solitaire . These games typically involve dealing cards from a shuffled deck into a prescribed arrangement on a tabletop, from which the player attempts to reorder the deck by suit and rank through a series of moves transferring cards from one place to another under prescribed restrictions. Some games allow for the reshuffling of the deck(s), and/or the placement of cards into new or "empty" locations. Solitaire has its own terminology; see solitaire terminology . There are many different solitaire games, but the term "solitaire" is often used to refer specifically to the most well-known form, called " Klondike ". Klondike and some other solitaire games have been adapted into two-player competitive games. See List of solitaire card games for more. There is a vast array of variations on the solitaire/patience theme, using either one or more decks of cards, with rules of varying complexity and skill levels. Many of these have been converted to electronic form and are available as computer games .

Basic forms of Klondike solitaire and FreeCell come with every current installation of Microsoft Windows . Many software solitaire collections can be downloaded from the internet at no charge. Contents Edit Like the origin of playing cards , the origin of patience is uncertain. The game is most likely German or Scandinavian in origin. It became popular in France in the early 19th Century reaching England and America in the latter half. Patience was first mentioned in literature shortly after cartomantic layouts were developed circa 1765. The earliest known recording of a game of patience occurred in 1783 in the German game anthology Das neue Königliche L'Hombre-Spiel. Before this, there was no literary mentions in large game compendiums such as Charles Cotton 's The Compleat Gamester (1674) and Abbé Bellecour's Academie des Jeux (1674). There is an old tradition in the German or Scandinavian countries to use "patience" as a guide to what the near future has to offer, a kind of "luck" meter. This belief assumes that a person’s "luck" will vary from time to time and important matters should not be initiated or conducted when the cards are not favorable.

If there are no winnings in the game for a number of tries it spells caution in what you do. If a win at the first try times are good and “luck” smiles at you, thus the immediate future can be used for important decisions. Timing the game is a further indicator of the strength of the outcome. Napoleon was said to have "played patience" during his exile, however from written accounts he played Vingt-Un, Piquet, and Whist but not Patience. The story is thought to have arisen from a misinterpretation. Many solitaire games were named after him, such as Napoleon at St. Helena , Napoleon's Square , etc. The first collection of solitaire card games in the English language is attributed to Lady Adelaide Cadogan through her Illustrated Games of Patience, published in about 1870 and reprinted several times. Other collections quickly followed such as Patience by E. D. Cheney, Amusements for Invalids by Annie B. Henshaw (1870), and later Dick's Games of Patience, published by Dick and Fitzgerald . Other books about solitaire written towards the end of the 19th century were by H. E.

Jones (a.k.a. Cavendish), Angelo Lewis (a.k.a. Professor Hoffman), Basil Dalton, Ernest Bergholt, and Mary Whitmore Jones. Solitaire Implementations Solitaire How to Play | Online Solitaire | Rules, Tips & Strategy New Slots Solitaire - How to Play The game Solitaire – which means lonely or solitary in French – is played and enjoyed by millions of people around the world. In fact, Solitaire (known as Patience in England nowadays), is the generic name for a multitude of variations of the same card game played by oneself. Nobody knows when Solitaire was invented but it is generally accepted that some version of the game was developed as soon as playing card games became popular around the time of the Middle Ages. The most widely accepted idea is that the French were responsible for developing the more popular versions of Solitaire, with some historians even going so far as to say that the Little General, Napoleon Bonaparte invented the game while in exile in on the island of St. Helena. Many forms of Solitaire of that time period relate to Napoleon. Other historians claim that Solitaire originated from Eastern Europe, based on early books found on the subject.

The rules of Solitaire appeared in game books from around the 18 th and 19 th centuries and since then, many new variations of the game have evolved, including the very popular Spider Solitaire – made famous by United States President Roosevelt. Click for details on solitaire history The Deck of Cards in Solitaire As mentioned, there are many forms of Solitaire, each with their own formats and regulations. The standard game of Solitaire is played with a deck of 52 cards on a flat surface such as a table or even the floor. A deck of cards consists of the following: four suits of thirteen cards each (hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs). Each of these suits consists of four face cards – an Ace, a Jack, a Queen and a King. Finally, each suit also consists of the numbers ranging from two (also known as a Deuce) and up to (including) ten. Setting up the Solitaire Playing Board The player shuffles the deck of cards very well so that they are well mixed within the pack. One card is dealt face up. This is placed at the beginning of an imaginary line and six other cards are dealt face down across that line, next to the first (face up) card.

The player then goes to the second card in the row and places another card face up on top of it. Cards are thereafter placed faced down across the line on top of cards three until six. This process is continued by placing a face up card on the third card in the row, with facedowns on the fourth to sixth cards. The process is completed when the player is faced with a row of seven cards facing up. This is known as the playing board. Playing the Game of Solitaire The object of Solitaire is to use up all the cards in the deck by playing them. After the player has created a row of seven face-up cards as described in the above section, the rest of the deck of cards is held in the player’s hand face down. The first three cards are dealt off the top and turned over so that the player can only see the face of the third card that was dealt off the deck. To play the cards, the player needs to place each of the remaining cards on a pile on the playing board in numerical order (highest to lowest) and in alternative colors. Essentially, this means that the player needs to place a black card on a red card (or vice versa) and a five on the number six.

If we take this as an example, we see that if the face card is a red six, the player needs to play a black five on it. Aces have a special task on the Solitaire playing board: Every time a player pulls an Ace, it is placed above the row of seven cards and is built on from highest to lowest. Therefore, a two is placed on the ace, and then a three and so forth. Another thing to remember is that piles of cards can be moved from stack to stack. An example would be as follows: The player has a pile of cards with a black eight, a red seven, a black six and a red five. In theory, this pile could be moved to another pile that starts with a black nine. Thereafter, the player turns over the top card of the pile of cards that were moved to the other stack and starts to play on that pile. The object of Solitaire is to continue until there are no cards left. Of course, this is not always possible because a player might reach a point where there are no more moves to make (ie.

no more piles to move, no option to build on aces and no more spots to place cards that are left), yet there are still cards left to play. In this case, the game of Solitaire cannot be won. Solitaire Tips and Strategies As with every game – especially card games – there are always tips and strategies that can go a long way in helping the player win in the long run. Although Solitaire is dependent on the ‘luck of the draw’, a player’s skill still plays an important part in the outcome of the game and can definitely determine whether he or she will win or lose. Players are advised not to draw from their deck of cards until they are absolutely sure that there are no more possible moves on the Solitaire playing board. It is generally advised not to put cards in foundation piles unless they are not needed to ‘anchor’ lower cards from the playing board or deck of cards. Cards should not be moved unless players can recognize instant gain and benefits. Players should try not to play all three cards that are drawn from the stockpile. If only one or even two are played, the player will be able to pull ‘fresh’ cards next time around.

Playing all three cards means that the rest of the cards in the pile stay in the same order. In the case of a card that that cannot be played on the playing board, but can be played in a foundation, the player should opt for the latter in all events. Aces and deuces should always be played immediately. Cards should only be moved from column to column if they free a down-facing card. Other than that, they should not be moved. Building a foundation should be done only in the following circumstances: a down-facing card will be freed from another pile when that column space becomes available; a King will fill a spot that is cleared; the next card will remain protected and a down-facing card will be freed. When you have to choose between stacks that contain multiple cards in order to free a down-facing card, you should generally play the card that is in the stack with the largest number of cards. Playing Online Solitaire Since the first computer software programs began making an appearance – even before the advent of the internet – Solitaire has been a very popular pastime for players. When the internet burst onto the scene in the late 1990s, it was only natural that Solitaire would find its way to online sites.

The game can either be played as a purely social pastime or it can be found at online gambling sites. In general, when playing online Solitaire, there are three main areas on the screen: the building stacks, the deck and the game play. The building stacks are shown on the bottom half of the screen and the extreme left stack has one card and all the following stacks having one additional card. If the player removes the top card from a pile, the next card will automatically be turned over. The deck can be found in the top right hand corner of the screen. It displays all the cards that are not found in the source stacks. Suit stacks are found in the upper right hand corner of the screen and are not occupied in the beginning. Winning at online solitaire is dependent on the version being played and other factors. In general, it depends on how many cards a player can successfully put in the suit ranks by the end of the game of Solitaire. A player starts to see a profit in an initial stake after he or she has managed to place 11 cards in the suit stacks. Between 12 and 52 cards can be considered pure profit for the player.

Solitaire can be found a variety of sites on the internet and their variations and quality obviously differ from casino to casino. Players should look out for online sites that are powered by good software companies to ensure top quality graphics. With so many different sites available offering the game, there is no reason for players to compromise on quality. Another exciting form of internet entertainment related to the game comes in the form of Solitaire tournaments. These events essentially allow players to play the game and if they get a high score, they stand in line to win cash prizes. These tournaments are becoming enormously popular in the online gaming industry. Summary Solitaire has been popular in one form or another for literally hundreds of years. Where once it was dependent on a player having access to a deck of cards, it has evolved into a pastime that can be easily be played from literally any location in the world, and at any time of the day or night. Online gaming has taken Solitaire one step further and provides players the opportunity to take part in exciting tournaments and feel part of a wider gambling community. Solitaire is a game that may initially seem complicated to play but with a little practice, the player is soon hooked.

It is not for nothing that one for sit for literal hours playing this game – whether with a traditional deck of cards or on the internet. Posted by CCJ Team

Question: Solitaire is typically for how many players?
Answer: One