Games of patience, or (card) solitaires as they are usually called in North America, have their own 'language' of specialised terms such as "building down", "packing", "foundations", "talon" and "tableau". Once learnt they are helpful in describing, succinctly and accurately, how the games are played. Patience games are usually for a single player, although a small number have been designed for two and, in rare cases, three or even four players. They are games of skill or chance or a combination of the two. There are three classes of patience grouped by object.
Pyramid is a patience or solitaire game of the Simple Addition family, where the object is to get all the cards from the pyramid to the foundation.
Clock or Sundial is a luck-based patience or solitaire card game with the cards laid out to represent the face of a clock. It is closely related to Travellers.
Monte Carlo is a pair-matching patience card game where the object is to remove pairs from the tableau. Despite its name, it has no relation to the city with the same name nor to any casino-related game. Alternative names for this game include Good Neighbors and Weddings.
Canfield (US) or Demon (UK) is a patience or solitaire card game with a very low probability of winning. It was an English game first called Demon Patience and described as "the best game for one pack that has yet been invented", but was popularised in the United States at the turn of the 20th century by casino owner Richard A. Canfield, who turned it into a casino game. As a result it became known as Canfield in the United States, while continuing to be called Demon Patience in the United Kingdom and elsewhere. It is closely related to Klondike, and is one of the most popular games of its type.
Nestor is a patience or solitaire card game played with a single deck of standard playing cards. The object is the removal of pairs of cards with the same value from a layout of six rows of eight face-up cards and four additional face-up cards.
Quadrille is the name of two loosely related card games of the Patience or solitaire type which are often confused. Both use a pack of 52 playing cards. The earlier one was also known as La Française or Royal Quadrille, the slightly later one as Captive Queens. The name is derived from the desired end result of the earlier game in which the four Kings and Queens are arranged in a square formation as in the European dance of quadrille that was fashionable in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Baroness is a patience or card solitaire that is played with a single deck of 52 playing cards. It is similar to other members of the Simple Addition family and is also distantly related to Aces Up.
Patience (Europe), card solitaire or solitaire (US/Canada), is a genre of card games whose common feature is that the aim is to arrange the cards in some systematic order or, in a few cases, to pair them off in order to discard them. Most are intended for play by a single player, but there are also "excellent games of patience for two or more players".
Gaigel is a card game from the Württemberg region of Germany and is traditionally played with Württemberg suited cards. It is a Swabian variant of Sechsundsechzig and may be played with 2, 3, 4 or 6 players. However, a significant difference from Sechsundsechzig and other related games like Bauernschnapsen is the use of a double card deck. The four-player game is usually called Kreuzgaigel. The game emerged in the early 19th century.
German Rummy or Rommé is the most popular form of the worldwide game, Rummy, played in Austria and Germany. It is a game for 2 to 6 players and is played with two packs of French playing cards, each comprising 52 cards and 3 jokers. There are no partnerships, every player plays for him- or herself. In Germany, the Germany Rummy Association is the umbrella organisation for local rummy clubs and organises national competitions. The game is often just known as Rommé in Germany and Rummy in Austria.
Viennese Rummy is a matching card game of the Rummy family for 2-6 people played in continental Europe.
Binokel is a card game for two to eight players that originated in Switzerland as Binocle, but spread to the German state of Württemberg, where it is typically played with a Württemberg pattern pack. It is still popular in Württemberg, where it is usually played in groups of three or four as a family game rather than in the pubs. In three-hand games, each player competes for himself, while in four-hand games, known as Cross Binokel (Kreuzbinokel), two teams are formed with partners sitting opposite one another. The game was introduced to America by German immigrants in the first half of the 20th century, where it developed into the similar game of Pinochle. Binocle was still played in Switzerland in 1994. In south Germany, the game is sometimes called by its Swabian name, Benoggl.
Hope Deferred is a simple game of patience, played with a French-suited Piquet pack of 32 cards. The aim of the game is to get rid of all the Clubs from the pack.
Quadrat ("Square") or Viereck ("Rectangle") is a simple, German patience game, which is played with a French pack of 32 or 52 cards. Zudecken ("Covering") is a very similar patience with slightly altered rules.
Birthday is a simple, German patience game, which is played with a French pack of 52 cards.
Eight Cards is a simple, German patience game for one player, that is played with a French pack of 52 cards.
Mauscheln, also Maus or Vierblatt, is a gambling card game that resembles Tippen, which is commonly played in Germany and the countries of the old Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Little Lots is a patience game and one of the most popular and widespread card games in the world.
Counting Patience is a simple patience game that can be played with a French Skat pack of 32 cards or a standard French pack of 52 cards.
