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.
Klondike, also known as Canfield, is a card game for one player and the best known and most popular version of the patience or solitaire family, something which "defies explanation" as it has one of the lowest rates of success of any such game. Partly because of that, it has spawned numerous variants including Batsford, Easthaven, King Albert, Thumb and Pouch, Somerset or Usk and Whitehead, as well as the American variants of the games, Agnes and Westcliff. The distinguishing feature of all variants is a triangular layout of the tableau, building in ascending sequence and packing in descending order.
Spit is a card game of the shedding family for two players. The game is played until all of a player's cards are gone. It has a close variant known as Speed. Spit appears to have originated in the UK in the 1980s.
Cheat is a card game where the players aim to get rid of all of their cards. It is a game of deception, with cards being played face-down and players being permitted to lie about the cards they have played. A challenge is usually made by players calling out the name of the game, and the loser of a challenge has to pick up every card played so far. Cheat is classed as a party game. As with many card games, cheat has an oral tradition and so people are taught the game under different names.
Slapjack, also known as Slaps, is a card game of the matching family, generally played among children. It can often be a child's first introduction to playing cards. The game is a cross between Beggar-My-Neighbour and Egyptian Ratscrew and is also sometimes known as Heart Attack. It is also related to the simpler 'slap' card games often called Snap.
Spite and Malice, also known as Cat and Mouse, is a relatively modern American card game for two or more players. It is a reworking of the late 19th century Continental game Crapette, also known as Russian Bank, and is a form of competitive solitaire, with a number of variations that can be played with two or three regular decks of cards.
Ligretto is a card game for two to twelve players. The goal of the game is to get rid of all your cards faster than all the other players by discarding them in the middle of the table. Instead of taking turns, all players play simultaneously. The game in its present form was published in 1988 by Germany's Rosengarten Spiele, designed by Michael Michaels. An earlier version of the game was published at the start of the 1960s. Since the year 2000, the game has been published by Schmidt-Spiele from Berlin, Germany, while Playroom Entertainment has published the game for North America and other English-speaking countries.
Perpetual Motion is a Patience game which has the objective of discarding playing cards from the tableau. The name relates to the time-consuming process of the game. It is also called Idiot's Delight or Narcotic.
Gargantua is a patience or solitaire card game that is a version of Klondike using two decks. It is also known as Double Klondike and as Jumbo.
Speed is a game for two players of the shedding family of card games, in which players try to get rid of all of their cards first. It is a form of competitive patience similar to Spit.
Kings in the Corner, or King's Corners is a multi-player patience or solitaire-style card game for two to four players using a standard 52-card pack with the aim of each player to get rid of all the cards in their hand.
Domino, also known as Card Dominoes, Spoof, Sevens, Fan Tan (US) or Parliament (UK), is a card game of the Layout Group of matching card games for 3–8 players in which players aim to shed cards by matching the preceding ones or, if unable, must draw from the stock. Cards are played out to form a layout of sequences going up and down in suit from the agreed starting card. The game is won by the player who is first to empty their hand. The game is a cross between dominoes and patience and is suitable for children who have learnt the various card values.
Duchess of Luynes is a patience or card solitaire game played with two packs of playing cards. It is a two deck game in the Sir Tommy family. A unique feature of this game is the building of the reserve, which is not used until the entire stock runs out.
Chinchón is a matching card game played in Spain, Uruguay, Argentina, Cape Verde and other places. It is a close variant of gin rummy, with which it shares the same objective: making sets, groups or runs, of matching cards.
Go Fish or Fish is a card game usually played by two to five players, although it can be played with up to 10 players. It can be played in about 5 to 15 minutes.
Irish Switch, also called Two-four Jacks, Lives or Black Jack, is a version of the card game Switch popular in Ireland. It is very similar to the original with a few rule changes. Switch is a shedding-type card game for two or more players that is popular in the United Kingdom, and as alternative incarnations in other regions. The sole aim of switch is to discard all of the cards in one's hand; the first player to play the final held card, and ergo have no cards left, wins the game. Switch is very similar to the games Uno and Mau Mau, both belonging to the larger Crazy Eights family of shedding games.
James Bond is a matching card game where players compete to see who can assemble piles of four-of-a-kind the fastest.
Travellers is a card game of the patience or card solitaire genre which uses a single card pack of either 52 or 32 playing cards. It is an interesting game based on "an entirely new principle" which Parlett describes as a "rhythmical feature that might be called 'shuttling'", as in the game of Weavers. It should not be confused with the twin-pack patience game, also called Travellers.
Schrum-Schrum or Alte Jungfer is a simple, domino-like, card game from Germany which is suitable for children.
Bettelmann or Tod und Leben is a simple, trick-taking card game for 2 players that is suitable for children. Bettelmann is of German origin and is mentioned as early as 1841. It closely resembles Battle.
