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One of the first PC games I got addicted to was Solitaire on Windows 3.0. My actual first was Ultima 5, but my love affair with that open-world RPG hasn't lasted as long as my enduring bond with Klondike Solitaire. I'd boot Windows just to play it, and sit for hours in search of a win and those marvellous cascading piles of triumph. Since then, it's been a constant companion - Solitaire is the first game I install on any new phone, and the only game that stays on it until I get an upgrade. Other games have come and gone, but I've been playing Solitaire more or less constantly for 20 years. It's a game more intimately integrated into my life than any other. Digital Solitaire has an uncanny grip. As a physical card game, Solitaire takes just a touch too long to lay out the cards for another run. In its digital form, it's instant. When hammering restart in Trials or Hotline Miami, I'm always reminded of Solitaire, of knowing when to give up and start afresh. Through a modern lens, Solitaire is actually a roguelike. Or are roguelikes actually Solitaire?
Each run is unique, one of over 7,000 trillion possible games. Your path is clear, but your choices have uncertain consequences. Disaster can strike at any moment, with all progress lost. Foolish choices are punished, but the skill is in working out which choices are the wise ones. Crucially, the peril is seemingly random. All can be going swimmingly, and then suddenly all you need is a red six. You'd give anything for a red six. There's a black five blocking a pile, and a black seven just sitting there, waiting. All the pieces are in place for a glorious victory, save for that one single card.
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