Patience (Europe), card solitaire or solitaire (US/Canada), is a genre of card games whose common feature is that the aim is to arrange the cards in some systematic order or, in a few cases, to pair them off in order to discard them. Most are intended for play by a single player, but there are also "excellent games of patience for two or more players". Name 'Patience' is the earliest recorded name for this type of card game in both British and American sources. The word is French in origin, these games being "regarded as an exercise in patience." Although the name solitaire became common in North America for this type of game during the 20th century, British games scholar David Parlett notes that there are good reasons for preferring the name 'patience'. Firstly, a patience is a card game, whereas a solitaire is any one-player game, including those played with dominoes or peg and board games. Secondly, any game of patience may be played competitively by two or more players. American games authors Wood and Goddard state that "Patience is any game played with playing cards in which the object is to arrange the cards... in some systematic order." They note that "there are excellent games of Patience for two or more players; but most... are designed for one player" and that "Solitaire...properly applies to any game that one player can play alone." In practice, in North America the name 'solitaire' is often used totum pro parte to refer to single-player card games, although sometimes the term 'card solitaire' is used for clarity. Meanwhile, in other countries 'solitaire' specifically refers to one-player board and table games, especially peg solitaire. Both solitaire and patience are sometimes used loosely to refer to the game of Klondike. Authors writing internationally tend to include both "patience" and "solitaire" in the title, but sometimes the phrase "card games for one" is used instead. Card size and format Patience or solitaire cards are normally smaller than standard cards measuring about 67 x 42 mm. However, packs labelled 'Patience' have also been produced in standard size (c. 88 x 58 mm) and are also marketed as miniature cards measuring about 45 x 32 mm. They are frequently sold as twin packs in a single box, since many patiences and solitaires require two full decks of cards. The two packs may have different back designs which, however,