Microsoft Solitaire Joins The Video Game Hall Of Fame

It doesn't tell a stirring tale, and it's not the type of game that would ever benefit from ray tracing. But Microsoft's Solitaire brought gaming to the personal computing masses. Now it's being honored for the role it played spreading gaming around during its long life.

PC Gamer reports that Microsoft Solitaire has been inducted into The Strong's World Video Game Hall of Fame, joining the likes of Super Mario Kart and Mortal Kombat as titles that had a major impact on the video game industry. And honestly, why not? It's the kind of game everyone has played at least once, yet few seem to count as one that had any kind of meaningful impact.

Fortunately, The Strong's Jeremy Saucier offered to explain why Solitaire is important.

"The game proved that sometimes analog games can be even more popular in the digital world," Saucier said, "and demonstrated that a market existed for games that appeal to people of all types."

Solitaire might not be the first video game that comes to mind when you think of the classics. But think long and hard about it: the game's been around in its PC form since Windows 3.0 dropped in 1990. Every personal computer running Windows after that contained some version of the game. It became the ultimate time waster: the game that countless corporate employees alt-tabbed to when their boss wasn't around.

And who didn't know a Solitaire savant? Someone who could sit down, size up the deck and force those cards to bounce around the screen in a matter of minutes?

Solitaire also did its part to teach personal computing basics. It's possible some developed an understanding of the drag-and-drop concept by sitting down in front of Solitaire for the very first time. And learning how to navigate around Windows in order to launch the game in the first place? It's a specific memory that might have faded for many, but it ultimately set them up to be proficient from that point forward.

We're always happy to see older games get some love, especially when these older games have largely been supplanted by newer, flashier titles. Microsoft Solitaire was nothing fancy, but it was everywhere, and it got everyone playing a video game. This is a Hall of Fame nod that is truly well deserved.