Microsoft Solitaire’s Video Game Hall of Fame Induction Acknowledges a Humble Icon

The Microsoft Solitaire video game, an ever-present default video game in Windows operating systems, has now been inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame. The ceremonious induction marks a key acknowledgement, for Solitaire has contributed more to society and the computer-driven world than what most might even imagine.

With this induction, the humble Solitaire joins the likes of Doom, World of Warcraft, Halo and Tetris in the Video Game Hall of Fame, which has been rolling out the honours since 2015. The Hall of Fame comprises iconic games that have defined and built entire genres of gaming, while evolving into pop culture iconic over time. The Solitaire, on this note, may seem of little significance and importance.

However, when Microsoft initially rolled out Windows 3.0 in 1990, the world lived in an entirely analogue era, with pagers and calculators being the most digitally advanced products around. As a result, the personal computer as we know today needed to set precedent for users to get used to the format of usage. This meant sitting at a console with a boxy monitor, while using both hands to control a chunky keyboard and an unthinkably rudimentary mouse pointer. Then came the graphic interface, with 8-bit graphics that, despite the boxy layout, still looked incredibly advanced for its time.

It is Solitaire that was used by Microsoft to get people accustomed to the habit of using a computer. It presented a game that was already within the purview of users, while building natural hand-eye coordination of using a desktop PC — an event that has actually become second nature to us now. In many ways, hence, this can even be referred to as to forefather of using a PC for playing video games.

Paul Jensen, studio manager for Microsoft Casual Games, wrote in a blog post acknowledging the induction, “It’s incredible to think that one of the most played video games in the world got its start in 1990 as a way for Microsoft to teach users how to use a mouse. We are humbly honored to have the opportunity to work on a game that has such broad appeal, is localized into 65 languages, and played in over 200 markets around the world, including Antarctica.”

With an incredibly humble game that actually has had such epic repercussions, it is hardly a surprise that the induction has been met with enthusiasm from the technology community across the world.