Impact0220

During the early 1990s
I worked for the Civil
Service and we started to
see the arrival of personal
computers in our offices.
At first we shared but later we
each had our own on the desk,
all singing and dancing with email
and the internet and even TV
news channels.
When PCs were first introduced,
each had the game Solitaire
loaded. Yes, we were encouraged
to play Solitaire at work! This
was so that we could get used
to using the mouse and clicking
and dragging etc. Solitaire is the
name given in the USA to the card
game which in Europe is referred
to as Patience. In some countries
Solitaire refers to a game involving
pegs and holes on a board. All of
these games are usually played
by a single player.
Patience typically involves
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. In the most
familiar, general form of patience,
the object of the game is to build
up four blocks of cards going from
ace to king in each suit.
There is a vast array of
variations on the patience theme,
using either one or more decks
of cards, with rules of varying
complexity and skill levels. Many
of these have been converted to
electronic form and are available
as computer games. Over
one hundred different forms of
Patience (or Solitaire) can be
played including Mahjong solitaire.
The game is most likely German
or Scandinavian in origin and
became popular in France in
the early 19th century, reaching
Britain and America in the
latter half. The earliest known
recording of a game of patience
occurred in 1788 in the German
game anthology Das neue
Königliche L’Hombre-Spiel. The
first collection of patience card
games in the English language
is attributed to Lady Adelaide
Cadogan through her Illustrated
Games of Patience, published in
about 1870 and reprinted several
times.
As to why it was called Patience
it can only be presumed that this
is because one has to be patient
to be able to find the right cards
and finish. As to the Americans
calling it Solitaire this makes some
sense as it is, usually, a solitary
game.
I used to associate the playing
of Patience with old ladies in
drawing rooms with plenty of time
on their hands or with people
being very bored and needing
something mildy stimulating. Very
much an upper and middle class
occupation. However, it would
appear that people suffering from
depression and other mental
health problems are encouraged
to play such games, it being seen
as very therapeutic.
David Manning
Playing Patience
St Chad’s Church, Linden Avenue, Woodseats
Church Office: Linden Avenue, Sheffield S8 0GA
Tel: (0114) 274 5086
Page 21
email: office@stchads.org
website: www.stchads.org