Solitaire
The History
I can’t be the only one who remembers how 90’s personal computers had a solitaire game on the desktop. Microsoft added this game along with minesweeper to its basic version of Windows 3.0 and it became iconic with drag and drop features. Little do most of us know that solitaire’s genealogy extends back to the 18th century. Also known, as one of several patience games in Europe; it’s earliest history was documented by a book published during 1778 in Germany. It detailed a collection of rules for various games. The book’s title translates to The new Royal l’Hombre and likely referenced a popular Spanish card game at this time. A chapter of the book, titled Patience, explains a single-player card game. Nevertheless, the history of card games in Europe were influenced by that game. Solitaire went on to surface from its murky origins again some odd 10 years later during the French Revolution. As the lore goes, a nobleman was playing solitaire; while he waited for his execution. It was an activity to help pass the time. Although the birth place of this card game is unconfirmed; scientists speculate that its historical roots stem from France, Germany or Scandinavia.