Solitaire records and win rates: compare the same game

The name alone can mislead

The Guinness page titled ‘Fastest Game of Solitaire’ explicitly concerns the board game, not card solitaire. We therefore do not reuse its time as a Klondike record.

Sources & further reading: Guinness World Records — Fastest Game of Solitaire (board game) ↗

Solvability is not your win rate

Research on ‘thoughtful’ Klondike assumes knowledge of every card. Its solvability result is not a normal hidden-card player's win rate.

Sources & further reading: Blake & Gent — The Winnability of Klondike Solitaire (2024) ↗

Make a record that teaches you something

Use a notebook or spreadsheet with one row per attempt. Record losses and abandoned deals too; keeping only wins makes a session look more successful than it was. If you replay a familiar deal, mark it separately from a first attempt.

1. Rules: variant, draw count and stock passes.
2. Attempt: fresh deal or replay; win, loss or abandoned.
3. Time and moves: use the same app and timing convention.
4. Assistance: undo, hints and automatic completion.
5. Lesson: one decision worth revisiting.

A small, honest calculation

If you win 6 of 10 recorded attempts, the observed win rate for that set is 60%. It is a description of ten attempts under those conditions, not a promise for your next deal or an estimate of every player's skill.

For a speed comparison, keep the same rules and distinguish a memorised deal from an unfamiliar one. For learning, you might prefer tracking fewer accidental moves or better explanations of a choice. Those goals need not compete with enjoying the game.

Small Break stores progress locally and does not provide an official global leaderboard. This article's log is a practice tool, not a claim that the app certifies world records.