Develop Your Critical Thinking Skills and Win More Games by Mastering the Best Solitaire Strategies

The origins of Solitaire as a video game with cards are still up for debate. Some attribute it to North Europe, where records of persistence games date back to the late 18th century, while others attribute it to France, where the game first surfaced in the early 1800s under the name “perseverance.” In contrast to many traditional card games that need a large number of players, Solitaire was a reflection game.

As card decks became commonplace in families, the video game gradually permeated daily life. Solitaire had become the ubiquitous video game that people played during downtime by the turn of the 20th century. The type of game that created this silent ubiquity required little explanation.

It ceased to be only a card game for idlers and instead became a shorthand for sloth, office boredom, and wasted leisure time. Almost many office workers from the 1990s can recall playing a covert game of solitaire while their supervisor wasn’t watching. The fact that this game was ready to play and didn’t require any setup allowed it to become a within joke, a familiar experience of office disobedience.

The Klondike version of the video game, which many of us now refer to as “the” version, was also standardized in the very early Microsoft version of Solitaire. That visual minute was ingrained in gamers’ brains, turning a simple advantage into a dopamine rush that prompted them to play more video games and then some more.

It’s amazing how successfully Solitaire adapted to each new development in contemporary technology. The journey began with Solitaire, much as personal computers led to laptops, which in turn led to smartphones. It fit right in with early mobile gaming in the 2000s, usually included in devices or available as one of the very first downloadable apps. It was perfect for small screens and little technology because of its simplicity. Solitaire expanded on its simplicity, whereas other video games demanded processing power, complex visuals, or internet connections. The deck never changed and the rules never altered, but it was still thoughtfully designed to always feel new. As a result of its adaptability, it became a digital survivor while several other early games were abandoned.