Solitaire is a card game designed to pass the time. They are simple and complex: the outcome of the first depends solely on luck, and solving complex ones requires calculation and attention. Legends date the origin of the first solitaire games to the time of the reign of the French king Charles IV.
Theories of the origin of solitaire
The word "solitaire" itself came into Russian from French (patience) and is translated as "patience". This is due to the fact that its unfolding requires a lot of time, as well as attention and concentration. As is often the case with card games, it is impossible to establish the exact time and place of occurrence of solitaire games. Some legends tell about the reign of Charles IV, others - about the French mathematician Pelisson, allegedly he invented them for the amusement of King Louis XIV. There is also an interesting version, claiming that solitaire games were invented by the nobles imprisoned in the Bastille.
Be that as it may, at the end of the 16th century, a huge variety of card games began to appear, and the first documented mentions of solitaire refer to this period. To this day, historians argue about the homeland of solitaire, because the French name does not mean that the game originated in France. Many speculate about her Swedish or Germanic origin. There is, however, an alternative point of view that the forerunner of solitaire should be considered a card game that arose in the 13th century in East Asia. Board game researcher David Parlett believes that solitaire was originally a game for two players, each with their own deck of cards.
The most famous old solitaire game is called "La Belle Lucie"
Distribution of solitaire games
The all-encompassing fashion for solitaire emerged under Napoleon. It was then that the nobles got carried away by laying out cards of cards, began to come up with various combinations and call the layouts they created by their names. At the same time, solitaire began to be used for fortune telling. Solitaire came to Russia after the invasion of Napoleon. The first Russian-language collection of solitaire games was published in Moscow in 1826. The book was titled A Collection of Card Layouts Known as Grand Solitaire.
Layouts that require two decks are called Grand Solitaire.
In the XX century, solitaire games again gained wild popularity in the 80s, and with the spread of computers and mobile devices,
enthusiasm for them has become widespread. So, Solitaire Solitaire, Solitaire and Spider are included in the set of standard games of the Windows operating system, they are also present on smartphones and tablets, and even more numerous layouts can be downloaded from any site that offers games for portable gadgets.
