Video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

s have been included in versions of the

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

line of

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ...

s, starting from

Windows 1.0 Windows 1.0 is the first major release of Microsoft Windows, a family of graphical operating systems for personal computers developed by Microsoft. It was first released to manufacturing in the United States on November 20, 1985, while the E ...

, all published by

Microsoft Microsoft Corporation is an American multinational corporation and technology company, technology conglomerate headquartered in Redmond, Washington. Founded in 1975, the company became influential in the History of personal computers#The ear ...

. Some games that have appeared in ''

Microsoft Entertainment Pack ''Microsoft Entertainment Pack'', also known as ''Windows Entertainment Pack'' or simply ''WEP'', is a collection of 16-bit casual computer games for Windows. There were four Entertainment Packs released between 1990 and 1992. These games wer ...

'' and

Microsoft Plus! Microsoft Plus! is a discontinued commercial operating system enhancement product by Microsoft. The last edition is the Plus! SuperPack, which includes an assortment of screensavers, themes, and games, as well as multimedia applications. The Mic ...

have been included in subsequent versions of Windows as well. ''

Microsoft Solitaire ''Solitaire'' is a computer game included with Microsoft Windows, based on a card game of the same name, also known as Klondike. Its original version was programmed by Wes Cherry, and the cards were designed by Susan Kare. History Microsoft ...

'' has been included in every version of Windows since

Windows 3.0 Windows 3.0 is the third major release of Microsoft Windows, launched on May 22, 1990. It introduces a new graphical user interface (GUI) that represents applications as clickable icons, instead of the list of file names in its predecessors. ...

, except

Windows 8 Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012, made available for download via Microsoft ...

and 8.1. The latest version of Windows,

Windows 11 Windows 11 is a version of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system, released on October 5, 2021, as the successor to Windows 10 (2015). It is available as a free upgrade for devices running Windows 10 that meet the #System requirements, Windo ...

, includes ''

Microsoft Solitaire Collection ''Microsoft Solitaire Collection'' is a video game developed by Microsoft Casual Games and published by Xbox Game Studios for Microsoft Windows. It combines the Solitaire, FreeCell and Spider Solitaire titles that were included with previous v ...

'' and '' Surf''.

History

Microsoft planned to include games when developing

in 1983–1984. Pre-release versions of Windows 1.0 initially included another game, ''Puzzle'', but it was scrapped in favor of ''Reversi'', based on the board game of the same name. ''Reversi'' was included in Windows versions up to

Windows 3.1 Windows 3.1 is a major release of Microsoft Windows. It was released to manufacturing on April 6, 1992, as a successor to Windows 3.0. Like its predecessors, the Windows 3.1 series run as a shell on top of MS-DOS; it was the last Windows 1 ...

. ''

Solitaire Solitaire may refer to: Film and television *'' Le Solitaire'', a 1987 French film * ''Solitaire'' (1991 film), a Canadian drama film * ''Solitaire'' (2008 film), a drama film *''Solitaire'', 2016 Lebanese comedy film with Bassam Kousa *"Solit ...

'' was developed in 1988 by the

intern An internship is a period of work experience offered by an organization for a limited period of time. Once confined to medical graduates, internship is used to practice for a wide range of placements in businesses, non-profit organizations and g ...

Wes Cherry. The card deck itself was designed by

Susan Kare Susan Kare ( "care"; born February 5, 1954) is an American artist and graphic designer, who contributed graphical user interface, interface elements and typefaces for the first Apple Inc., Apple Macintosh 128k, Macintosh personal computer from ...

, who was known for her work on icon designs for the original

Macintosh Mac is a brand of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc., Apple since 1984. The name is short for Macintosh (its official name until 1999), a reference to the McIntosh (apple), McIntosh apple. The current product lineup inclu ...

. Microsoft intended ''Solitaire'' to "soothe people intimidated by the operating system," and at a time where many users were still unfamiliar with

graphical user interface A graphical user interface, or GUI, is a form of user interface that allows user (computing), users to human–computer interaction, interact with electronic devices through Graphics, graphical icon (computing), icons and visual indicators such ...

s, it proved useful in familiarizing them with the use of a

mouse A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus'' ...

, such as the

drag-and-drop In computer graphical user interfaces, drag and drop is a pointing device gesture in which the user selects a virtual object by "grabbing" it and dragging it to a different location or onto another virtual object. In general, it can be used to ...

technique required for moving cards. According to Microsoft

telemetry Telemetry is the in situ collection of measurements or other data at remote points and their automatic transmission to receiving equipment (telecommunication) for monitoring. The word is derived from the Greek roots ''tele'', 'far off', an ...

, ''Solitaire'' was among the three most-used Windows programs and ''

FreeCell FreeCell is a solitaire card game played using the standard 52-card deck. It is fundamentally different from most solitaire games in that very few deals are unsolvable, and all cards are dealt face-up from the beginning of the game. Microsoft h ...

'' was seventh, ahead of productivity-based applications such as

Microsoft Word Microsoft Word is a word processor program, word processing program developed by Microsoft. It was first released on October 25, 1983, under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platf ...

and Excel. Lost business productivity by employees playing ''Solitaire'' became a common concern since the game was included in Windows by default. ''FreeCell'' was introduced as a bundled game in Windows NT 3.1. The game was available for Windows 3.1, as it was included in installations of

Win32s Win32s is a 32-bit application runtime environment for the Microsoft Windows 3.1 and 3.11 operating systems. It allowed some 32-bit applications to run on the 16-bit operating system using call thunks. A beta version of Win32s was available in ...

for the purposes of verifying that the 32-bit

thunking In computer programming, a thunk is a subroutine used to inject a calculation into another subroutine. Thunks are primarily used to delay a calculation until its result is needed, or to insert operations at the beginning or end of the other subro ...

layer was installed correctly. '' The Microsoft Hearts Network'' was included with Windows for Workgroups 3.1, as a showcase of

NetDDE In computing, Dynamic Data Exchange (DDE) is a technology for interprocess communication used in early versions of Microsoft Windows and OS/2. DDE allows programs to manipulate objects provided by other programs, and respond to user actions affec ...

technology by enabling multiple players to play simultaneously across a

computer network A computer network is a collection of communicating computers and other devices, such as printers and smart phones. In order to communicate, the computers and devices must be connected by wired media like copper cables, optical fibers, or b ...

. This technology would lead to the inclusion of various online multiplayer titles under the ''Internet'' brand'','' which were included in

Windows Me Windows Me (Millennium Edition) is an operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of Microsoft Windows operating systems. It was the successor to Windows 98, and was released to manufacturing on June 19, 2000, and t ...

, XP and 7, alongside other

online multiplayer A multiplayer video game is a video game in which more than one person can play in the same game environment at the same time, either locally on the same computing system (couch co-op), on different computing systems via a local area network, or ...

-based titles. Support for ''Internet'' games for Windows Me and XP ended on July 31, 2019, and for Windows 7 on January 22, 2020. '' 3D Pinball for Windows – Space Cadet'' is a version of the "Space Cadet"

pinball Pinball games are a family of games in which a ball is propelled into a specially designed table where it bounces off various obstacles, scoring points either en route or when it comes to rest. Historically the board was studded with nails call ...

table from the 1995 video game ''

Full Tilt! Pinball ''Full Tilt! Pinball'', known as ''Pinball 95'' in Europe, is a 1995 pinball video game developed by Cinematronics and published by Maxis. It features pre-rendered 3D graphics and three tables: ''Space Cadet'', ''Skulduggery'', and ''Dragon's Kee ...

''. In ''

Minesweeper A minesweeper is a small warship designed to remove or detonate naval mines. Using various mechanisms intended to counter the threat posed by naval mines, minesweepers keep waterways clear for safe shipping. History The earliest known usage of ...

'' for

Windows Vista Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, released five years earlier, which was then the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft W ...

and 7, the game comes with an alternate "Flower Garden" style, alongside the default "Minesweeper" style. This is due to controversy over the original

land mine A land mine, or landmine, is an explosive weapon often concealed under or camouflaged on the ground, and designed to destroy or disable enemy targets as they pass over or near it. Land mines are divided into two types: anti-tank mines, wh ...

theme of the game being potentially insensitive, and the "Flower Garden" style was used as the default theme in "sensitive areas". Several third party games, such as ''

Candy Crush Saga ''Candy Crush Saga'' is a free-to-play tile-matching video game released by King on April 12, 2012, originally for Facebook; other versions for iOS, Android, Windows Phone, and Windows 10 followed. It is a variation of their browser game '' ...

'' and ''

Disney Magic Kingdoms ''Disney Magic Kingdoms'' is a 2016 city-building game developed and published by Gameloft for iOS, Android, and Windows. It is themed off the Disney Parks. The game was officially launched on March 17, 2016. Gameplay and story The game ta ...

'', have been included as advertisements on the Start menu in

Windows 10 Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. The successor to Windows 8.1, it was Software release cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on July 2 ...

, and may also be automatically installed by the operating system. Windows 11 includes the

Xbox Xbox is a video gaming brand that consists of four main home video game console lines, as well as application software, applications (games), the streaming media, streaming service Xbox Cloud Gaming, and online services such as the Xbox networ ...

app, which allows users to access the

PC Game Pass The Xbox Game Pass is a subscription service as part of Xbox and offered by Microsoft Gaming. Launched on June 1, 2017, the service allows users to download and play video games via video game consoles, Microsoft Windows, Android, iOS, iPadO ...

video game

subscription service The subscription business model is a business model in which a customer must pay a recurring price at regular intervals for access to a Product (business), product or Service (business), service. The model Publication by subscription, was pioneer ...

. Additionally, versions of the

Microsoft Edge Microsoft Edge is a Proprietary Software, proprietary cross-platform software, cross-platform web browser created by Microsoft and based on the Chromium (web browser), Chromium open-source project, superseding Edge Legacy. In Windows 11, Edge ...

browser from 2020 onwards (bundled with Windows 10 and 11) include the '' Surf'' game.

Microsoft Casual Games

Starting from 2012 onwards, with the release of

, updated versions of previously bundled games are now under the brand Microsoft Casual Games, in addition to several brand new games. With the exception of ''Solitaire Collection'' being included in Windows 10 and 11, these games are not included with Windows, and are instead available as ad-supported free

downloads In computer networks, download means to ''receive'' data from a remote system, typically a server such as a web server, an FTP server, an email server, or other similar systems. This contrasts with uploading, where data is ''sent to'' a remote s ...

Microsoft Store The Microsoft Store (formerly known as the Windows Store) is a digital distribution platform operated by Microsoft. It was created as an app store for Windows 8 as the primary means of distributing Universal Windows Platform apps. With ...

. Premium monthly and annual subscriptions are available, which removes advertisements and offers several gameplay benefits, a move that has been criticized by reviewers as a way to "nickel and dime" users, since previous versions of ''Solitaire'' and previously bundled games did not include any advertisements or paid subscriptions. There are five Windows games under the Microsoft Casual Games banner: * '' Solitaire Collection'' * ''

'' * ''

Mahjong Mahjong (English pronunciation: ; also transliterated as mah jongg, mah-jongg, and mahjongg) is a tile-based game that was developed in the 19th century in China and has spread throughout the world since the early 20th century. It is played ...

'' * '' Ultimate Word Games'' * ''Treasure Hunt'' * ''Sudoku'' * ''Jigsaw''

Included games

Notes

References

External links