History of Solitaire

The history of Solitaire goes back to the 18th century. It is in a German text that the game is for the first time mentioned in the book Das neue Königliche L'Hombre-Spiel from 1797. Nowadays, it can be found under a number of different names, the best known of which is probably Solitaire. The object of the game is simple: to clear all the cards from the table. The positioning of the cards is said to be derived from the tarot cards that were used for fortune-telling.

Books on solitaire began to appear at the end of the 19th century, with Lady Adelaide Cadogan writing the first book on the rules of solitary patience. The book is entitled « Illustrated Games of Patience ». Written shortly after the Civil War in 1870, it contained 25 rules of solitaire. Then, in 1870, Annie B. Henshaw wrote a book with the rather amusing title « Amusements for Invalids »

History in France

The game was first mentioned in Northern Europe in the late 18th century and appeared in France in the early 19th century.

It is even said that Napoleon Bonaparte enjoyed playing solitaire during his exile on St. Helena in 1816. After years of working on his Civil Code project, the great man had to leave his post as First Consul and become an exile. It was never easy to live away from France, and the Emperor spent those years missing his country. Like any self-respecting Frenchman, he loved card games, and Solitaire was one of them.

In fact, there is even a variant of this game called "Solitaire St. Helena." And the first books on the games were often published from France.

The history of computer solitaire games

The first developer of Solitaire games in the world for the computer was Brad Fregger and marketed under the name "Solitaire Royale" by Spectrum Holobyte in 1987. The game had 8 different variants and was played with a mouse. At the time, the game was presented as an improved edition of the card game, designed to be easy to use on a keyboard and to fit the simplest computers.

There were variants that included cards of many colors, graphics and also variants where players could win money. The card game of solitaire is a simple game based on patience, strategy and the ability to observe.

Microsoft introduced its first edition of the Classic Solitaire game to the market with Windows 3.0 in 1990. Then 1995 was the year Windows 95 took off and was launched with a game called Freecell. Freecell is a game in which a card is removed and placed on the stack, and then the cards are sorted by suit.

Freecell quickly became extremely popular, and many alternative shareware versions of the game followed. Spider Solitaire finally appeared in Microsoft XP, spawning imitations and improved versions of this variant. The object of the game is to knock down all the cards by stacking them on individual piles.

Of course, the hobby game became popular among the French, and then the game went on to conquer the rest of the world. Today, the famous board game is still a favorite pastime for many people. It can be played in the classic way (by hand) or on a computer, and is a game that relaxes and develops the mind. Moreover the game has never been as popular as it is today !

The game is now available on almost every platform, including tablets and smartphones. No matter what your goal is, you can always have a variant of Solitaire on hand and enjoy it in a relaxing and fun way !