35 Years And Millions Of Players Say Solitaire Games Aren’t Going Anywhere

I still remember the old days, when the Internet wasn’t common (and wasn’t all that good, either). I would take a break from playing the same 2 games I had on my PC, couldn’t decide what to do next, and end up starting Microsoft Solitaire to arrange those cards. It was simple and straightforward, but I just couldn’t put it down. More often than not, I would just play solitaire for the rest of my evening.

Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who did this, because how else can you explain Microsoft Solitaire going strong for 35 years, countless similar games popping up over time, and many solitaire apps and games still reporting millions of players? In a time of photorealistic visuals and complex game design, we still return to the nostalgic fondness of stacking those cards together for some reason, and that speaks volumes about this crazy addictive genre.

The Impact Of Microsoft Solitaire

Now, the game of solitaire, or more specifically Klondike, the one we probably encounter the most, has existed long before digital media became a thing. It was fun when played with physical cards back in the early 1900s, and it’s still fun today on our phones and laptops. But when it comes to gaming, we owe a lot of this popularity to Microsoft Solitaire taking the plunge back in 1990.

Solitaire was an interesting game to pass the time, and it wasn’t particularly hard to develop, either. When Microsoft included it as a built-in game for Windows, it had no idea just how much the game would blow up. What began as a simple curiosity and a need to unwind in the pre-Internet era soon became an obsession. I only started playing Microsoft Solitaire myself while browsing Windows XP one day, and decided to give it a try when I had nothing else to do. Boy, am I thankful I did that.

Microsoft Solitaire got me hooked on this genre; I’ve spent more hours in it than I’d like to admit. And that was just the beginning. After Klondike, along came Spider Solitaire, Freecell, and much, much more. Modern games have even added unique animations and additional mechanics – like reward incentives, account progression, and a currency system – on top of the formula, and that’s interesting, but the good old solitaire underneath is still the same. Better stay on the lookout for some solitaire free coins so you don’t run out.

Completion 56: Microsoft Solitaire Collection, good game to play when doing other things
byu/HakaishinChampa inxboxachievements

Simple, Challenging, And Nostalgic

The question is, if solitaire, the game was designed for a time before the Internet, why is it still so popular? Well, it indeed began as a simple single-player game to pass the time, but this simplicity and accessibility boosted it beyond the original goal.

I hit lvl 600 in Microsoft Solitaire
byu/Mr_Failman ingaming

What made solitaire so amazing back then was that it was a humble game you could pick up at any time and give your brain a little exercise. It was always there, in the Windows’ games folder, and came to your rescue when you were bored. Easy to pick up, and when you did, it had a surprising amount of depth and mental challenge. It took skill to separate, sort, combine, discard, and manipulate the pairings to finally form the full collection. This step-by-step process started slow, but pulled you in and kept you there. And finally, that winning animation of the cards sliding across the screen and eventually filling it up was just so cathartic.

And this was just Klondike. I’ve had a ton of fun playing Freecell; it’s still one of my favorite game modes. Anyway, the point is, all this is still true, but now, you have the factor of nostalgia attached to this game; I don’t need to tell you how powerful that can be. Although a lot more games are available today, we just can’t put solitaire down because of what it makes us feel and reminisce about. It’s still simple and fun, but above all, a reminder of the glory days. And that is exactly why I say that solitaire games are here to stay.