Solitaire Trivia: Little Known Facts About Your Favorite Card Game

  • The rules of solitaire card games were not written down until the 19th century.
  • The earliest known playing of the game of solitaire (called patience at that time),was by Napoleon Bonaparte in the early 1800's.
  • What was probably the first book listing solitaire games was published in 1870 by Lady Adelaide Cadogan called the Illustrated Games of Patience.
  • Playing solitaire card games for money was likely started by a Mr. Canfield (and hence the name of a popular solitaire game - Canfield). Mr. Canfield "sold" players a deck for $50, and paid them back $5 for each card placed into the foundation. Many computer solitaire games, like Armchair Solitaire, use similar methods of keeping score. Try this and see if you win any money over time!
  • Popular names for solitaire are Klondike, Patience and Canfield.