Solitaire Whizz (and patience) FAQ

This section answers various common questions regarding the games included in Solitaire Whizz patience compendium for iPad and macOS. It also covers some aspects of patience/solitaire games in general.

What is the difference between 'Solitaire' and 'Patience'?

Generally speaking, the two words are synonyms. The name patience is generally more common in everyday usage in the UK, whereas solitaire is more familiar in the US. However, things are not so clear-cut: since solitaire is often used in computer versions, it is generally familiar to UK speakers. And at one time, patience does appear to have been a more common term in the US.

Occasionally, the term solitaire is used to refer specifically to 1-player patience games (whereas, slightly paradoxically, multiple-player games still classed as "patience" do exist). However, for the purposes of this web site, they are interchangeable. Although the app is called Solitaire Whizz, the term patience is also used in an attempt to strike a balance for UK readers!

Game types

Which are the best solitaire games to play?

Of course, this depends on personal taste. All of the games included in Solitaire Whizz have been chosen because they are popular or have particular traits that make them addictive or 'interesting'. If you are not a seasoned patience player, then you may like to take a look at the page on Which solitaire game should I play?.

What is the solitaire game with 4 rows of cards?

There are a few different games where the cards are laid out in 4 rows of cards. On a separate page, we illustrate various solitaire games with 4 rows of cards. There are also various solitaire games with 4 "rows" of cards but where the cards are actually manipulated as columns. A common example is Baker's Dozen solitaire.

Questions specific to Solitaire Whizz

The cards are a bit small: how do I zoom in?

The games included in Solitaire Whizz are designed so that you can typically see the whole game layout comfortably on the iPad screen.

However, if you need to zoom in or out, pinch the green background in the usual way. (To avoid confusion with movement and zoom gestures, pinching a card does not zoom.)

From the options dialog, you may also like to try turning on auto-zoom, which will automatically zoom in and out appropriately to make sure that the entire layout is always in view.

Does Solitaire Whizz support the Retina display?

Yes, absolutely! The card graphics in Solitaire Whizz are all high resolution and so designed to use the retina display of the newer iPads to the full.

Is Solitaire Whizz available for Android/ZX Spectrum/other platforms?

At present, Solitaire Whizz is available for iPad and macOS.

Is the game FreeCell written 'FreeCell', 'Freecell' or 'Free Cell'?

All three variants are found. The variant FreeCell appears to be common in modern versions of the game. However, the original version developed by Paul Alfille in 1978 used the spelling Free Cell.

In Version 1.0 of Solitaire Whizz, the spelling Freecell was used. As of Version 1.2, the variant Free Cell will generally be adopted, to respect the orthography of the original.

Where are the card graphics from? Can I copy them and use them in my own applications?

The card graphics used in Solitaire Whizz are included under licence from a professional image bank. If you wish to use them in another application, then you will have to purchase your own licence. This is of course completely independent of the Solitaire Whizz application or its author!