Why Is It Called Klondike Solitaire? The Gold Rush Connection

Why Is It Called Klondike Solitaire?

When someone says “Solitaire,” they almost always mean Klondike — the version with 7 columns, a stock pile, and foundations built Ace to King. But why is the world’s most popular card game named after a remote region in northwestern Canada?

The answer involves gold, frozen winters, bored prospectors, and a name that stuck for over a century.

The Klondike Gold Rush (1896-1899)

In August 1896, gold was discovered at Bonanza Creek near Dawson City in Canada’s Klondike region — part of the Yukon Territory, just east of the Alaska border.

News of the discovery triggered one of history’s last great gold rushes. An estimated 100,000 people set out for the Klondike between 1897 and 1899, braving treacherous mountain passes, freezing rivers, and brutal winters for the chance to strike it rich.

Most didn’t.

The Klondike region is subarctic — winter temperatures regularly drop to -40°F (-40°C), daylight shrinks to just a few hours, and mining in frozen ground is nearly impossible. Prospectors were stuck in camps for months, with little to do but wait for spring.

They needed entertainment. And a deck of cards was small, light, cheap, and endlessly replayable.

The Card Game Connection

The exact moment someone first called this particular Patience variant “Klondike” is lost to history. But the most widely accepted theory is straightforward:

Prospectors in the Klondike camps played this card game so frequently that it became associated with the region.

Other theories include:

• Casino connection: Richard Canfield (a famous gambler) reportedly introduced a similar game in his New York gambling house around the same period, charging $52 to play and paying $5 per foundation card. The Canfield/Klondike naming is historically confused — what Americans call “Klondike” is sometimes called “Canfield” in other countries, and vice versa.
• Gold analogy: Some suggest the game’s theme of building foundations from nothing (Ace to King) mirrors the prospector’s dream of building wealth from bare ground.
• Publishing: Early card game books in the late 1800s and early 1900s published the rules under the “Klondike” name, codifying the association.

From Mining Camps to Microsoft

Klondike became the default Solitaire variant over time:

Microsoft’s fateful decision to name the game simply “Solitaire” (rather than “Klondike Solitaire”) meant that an entire generation grew up equating “Solitaire” with this specific variant, even though hundreds of other Solitaire games exist.

The Klondike/Canfield Name Swap

Here’s a quirk that confuses card game historians: the games known as “Klondike” and “Canfield” have their names swapped in some regions.

The confusion stems from the fact that Richard Canfield’s actual casino game (4 columns, reserve pile, random foundation start) was originally called “Canfield” — but when card game books reached different audiences, the names sometimes got mixed up.

Other Gold Rush-Named Solitaire Games

Klondike isn’t the only Solitaire variant with a northern/gold rush connection:

• Yukon — Named after Canada’s Yukon Territory (which contains the Klondike region)
• Gold Mine — A Klondike variant with modified dealing rules
• Prospector — A lesser-known variant where you “dig” through the stock pile

The gold rush era clearly had a lasting impact on card game naming.

The Klondike Region Today

The Klondike region still exists in Canada’s Yukon Territory. Dawson City — the gold rush boomtown — has a population of about 1,500. The region is now known more for tourism and its stunning Northern Lights than for gold mining.

But every time someone sits down to play the world’s most popular card game, they’re carrying on a tradition that started in those frozen mining camps over 125 years ago.

Ready to play the game that gold miners loved? Play Klondike Solitaire online — same game, warmer setting.