Microsoft Solitaire, probably the game responsible for more lost productivity than any other, is celebrating its thirtieth birthday today.
Microsoft’s digital adaptation launched as part of Windows 3.0 on 22nd May 1990, and its inclusion was intended, in part, to provide a familiar touchstone in what was, for many at the time, an unfamiliar and potentially intimidating computer environment.
It was created by bored intern Wes Cherry, who joined the company in 1988. However, despite the game’s continued ubiquity – Microsoft claims half a billion people have played in the past decade, with 100 million hands played daily around the globe – Cherry told Great Big Story in 2017 that he “was not paid a single cent” for his programming efforts.
Since then, the game has expanded to become Microsoft Solitaire Collection, gathering together Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, and TriPeaks, alongside the original Klondike, and has spread its wings to mobile too. Here, it’s caught up with the modern age to include pointless currencies, XP, ads, micro-transactions, even a monthly subscription option. Yay, progress!