Solitaire refers to a family of single-player card games of a generally similar character, but varying greatly in detail. (The term "Patience" is more commonly used in British English; while Solitaire means peg solitaire.)

These games typically involve dealing cards from a shuffled deck into a prescribed arrangement on a tabletop, from which the player attempts to reorder the deck by suit and rank through a series of moves transferring cards from one place to another under prescribed restrictions.

Solitaire has its own terminology; see solitaire terminology.

There are many different solitaire games, but the term "Solitaire" is often used to refer specifically to the most well-known form of the game, properly called "Klondike". Klondike and some other solitaire games have been adapted into two-player competitive games.

There are a vast array of variations on the solitaire/patience theme, using either one or two decks of cards, and with rules of varying complexity and skill levels. Many of these games have been converted to electronic form and are available as computer games. A basic form of Klondike solitaire comes with every installation of Microsoft Windows, for example. A two-deck electronic example is Arachnid Solitaire.

The term 'solitaire' is also used for single-player games of concentration and skill using a set layout of tiles, pegs or stones rather than cards. These games include:

Examples of solitaire card games:

  • 8 x 8
  • Abacus
  • Aces Up
  • Achtmal Acht
  • Agnes Bernauer
  • Agnes Sorel
  • Alaska
  • Alhambra
  • American Toad
  • Auld Lang Syne
  • Baby Spiderette
  • Baker's Dozen
  • Baker's Game
  • Batsford
  • Beleaguered Castle
  • Belvedere
  • Betsy Ross
  • Big Harp
  • Black Hole
  • Black Widow
  • Blind Alleys
  • Blockade
  • Blondes and Brunettes
  • Blue Moon
  • Braid
  • Brigade
  • Bristol
  • Brunswick
  • Busy Aces
  • Calculation
  • Canfield
  • Canister
  • Carlton
  • Carpet
  • Casino Klondike
  • Castles in Spain
  • Chameleon
  • Chessboard
  • Chinese Discipline
  • Chinese Solitaire
  • Citadel
  • Congress
  • Corona
  • Courtyard
  • Cruel
  • Dead King Golf
  • Der Katzenschwanz
  • Der freie Napoleon
  • Der kleine Napoleon
  • Der letzte Monarch
  • Deuces
  • Die Königsbergerin
  • Die Russische
  • Die Schlange
  • Die böse Sieben
  • Diplomat
  • Double Canfield
  • Double Klondike
  • Double Klondike by Threes
  • Double Rail
  • Doublets
  • Eagle Wing
  • Eastcliff
  • Easthaven
  • Eiffel Tower
  • Eight Off
  • Elevator
  • Falling Star
  • Fan
  • Flower Garden
  • ForeCell
  • Fortress
  • Fortunes
  • Forty Thieves
  • Forty and Eight
  • Fourteen
  • Free Napoleon
  • FreeCell
  • Gargantua
  • General's Patience
  • Giant
  • Golf
  • Good Measure
  • Grandfather's Clock
  • Grandmother's Game
  • Griffon
  • Ground for a Divorce
  • Gypsy
  • Hopscotch
  • Indian
  • Intelligence
  • Interregnum
  • Irmgard
  • Jane
  • King Albert
  • King Only Baker's Game
  • Kingdom
  • Klondike
  • Klondike by Threes
  • La Belle Lucie
  • Lady Betty
  • Lady Palk
  • Lexington Harp
  • Limited
  • Little Forty
  • Long Braid
  • Lucas
  • Maria
  • Martha
  • Matriarchy
  • Maze
  • Midshipman
  • Milligan Cell
  • Milligan Harp
  • Miss Milligan
  • Mississippi
  • Monaco
  • Montana
  • Monte Carlo
  • Napoleon
  • Napoleon's Exile
  • Neighbour
  • Nestor
  • Nomad
  • Number Ten
  • Numerica
  • Odd and Even
  • Odessa
  • Osmosis
  • Pas Seul
  • Pas de Deux
  • Peek
  • Penguin
  • Perpetual Motion
  • Picture Gallery
  • PileOn
  • Poker Shuffle
  • Poker Square
  • Pyramid
  • Quadrangle
  • Queenie
  • Rachel
  • Raglan
  • Rainbow
  • Rainfall
  • Rank and File
  • Red Moon
  • Red and Black
  • Relaxed FreeCell
  • Relaxed Golf
  • Relaxed Pyramid
  • Relaxed Seahaven Towers
  • Relaxed Spider
  • Rouge et Noir
  • Royal Cotillion
  • Royal East
  • Rushdike
  • Russian Aces
  • Russian Point
  • Russian Solitaire
  • Scorpion
  • Scotch Patience
  • Seahaven Towers
  • Shamrocks
  • Sieben bis As
  • Simple Carlo
  • Simple Pairs
  • Simple Simon
  • Single Rail
  • Small Harp
  • Somerset
  • Spaces
  • Spanish Patience
  • Spider
  • Spiderette
  • Stalactites
  • Steps
  • Stonewall
  • Storehouse
  • Strategy
  • Streets
  • Streets and Alleys
  • Strict Eiffel Tower
  • Sultan
  • Super Flower Garden
  • Superior Canfield
  • Tam O'Shanter
  • Terrace
  • Thirteen
  • Three Shuffles and a Draw
  • Thumb and Pouch
  • Trefoil
  • Tri Peaks
  • Triple Line
  • Union Square
  • Variegated Canfield
  • Vegas Klondike
  • Waning Moon
  • Wasp
  • Weddings
  • Westcliff
  • Westhaven
  • Whitehead
  • Will o' the Wisp
  • Windmill
  • Yukon
  • Zebra

(A list of 206 games was extracted from PySol version 4.80).


A solitaire is a extinct bird of the Raphidae family .

A solitaire is one of a group of New World birds related to the thrusheses.