Solitaire is a type of card game that can only be played by one person, and there are numerous solitaire games available. They can use a single deck or multiple decks. Some of them also require the jokers, bringing the deck total to 54. They can be based on chance, skill, or a combination of the two. Some are fast-paced or played as a diversion. The card layout, known as the tableau, can take up a lot of space or very little.
Klondike, also known as Canfield, is a one-player card game and the most well-known and popular version of the patience or solitaire family, something that "defies explanation" because it has one of the lowest success rates of any such game.
As a result, it has spawned a slew of variants, including Batsford, Easthaven, King Albert, Thumb and Pouch, Somerset or Usk and Whitehead, as well as the American variants, Agnes and Westcliff. The triangular layout of the tableau, building in ascending sequence and packing in descending order, distinguishes all variants.
It is so well known in the United States and Canada that, in the absence of qualifiers, the term "Solitaire" typically refers to Klondike and is considered its other name.
Similarly, in the United Kingdom, it is frequently referred to as "Patience." The game is also known as American Patience in other countries.
In the past, Klondike solitaire was also known as Canfield in America, possibly because it was a casino game at the Canfield Casino in Saratoga Springs, New York, and this is how it became known in England. Today, however, Canfield is more commonly used as the American name for the patience game known as "Demon" in England, which is a completely different game. Similarly, rumor has it that this other game was invented by Richard Canfield, despite the fact that Canfield himself called his game "Klondike."
