RANDOM FACT: Did you know that the first casual game was created in 1990?
A component of the Windows Operating System, it is known as the most used application in the world!
This game is Solitaire.
Popular games of the past leave their mark on gamers, and influence future generations.
What is Solitaire?
Just in case you have been living in a cave all this while, here’s a little summary of the all-time favorite card game:
The player has to stack cards in numeric order, with as few moves as possible. They can choose cards from a deck that deals out one or three cards (depending on the mode of game that is played) at random.
This game actually involves minor strategy and can become quite challenging! (Related Post: Games: Doctors' prescriptions?)
The Man Behind the Game
Solitaire was developed by an intern in 1989. Wes Cherry was a college student that spent his time writing the game instead of studying for his finals.
The purpose of the game was to help users to be familiarized with mouse function and operation of the computer system. Remember, this was the era when computers were still considered a luxury, and not everyone was completely comfortable with using that piece of technology. Solitaire aimed to ease people into the process.
While Solitaire went on to become a worldwide popular game that sometimes decreased work productivity, Mr Wes Cherry did not exactly reap the rewards of his work’s popularity. The intern did not receive any royalties for his work. However, he is widely recognized today as the mastermind behind this timeless computer game.
Games from the past, influencing the future
Although casual games have recently gotten much more coverage in the internet, they have quietly taken the world by storm since two decades ago. Much has happened since then and they have become ubiquitous among the majority of internet users today.
It still behooves us to look back at where it all started though, and as we learn more about the past and where our elders came from, we appreciate their visions of the future.
The next logical step is for us to exceed them.
