On June 5^th Microsoft will pit its best Solitaire players (staff players) against the rest of the world to celebrate the 25^th anniversary of the Windows game, and anyone can join the tournament. Before challenging public aficionados of the game Microsoft will first hold an internal competition to find the company’s top solitaire whizzes (already in motion), and then in June Redmond’s finest players – maybe even its biggest slackers! – will take on the public. Contenders are able to play in their chosen game mode from the Solitaire Collection, including Klondike (Classic version), FreeCell (use four extra cells to move cards around), Spider (clearing eight columns with the fewest moves), and two new modes, TriPeaks and Pyramid. If you don’t have the Solitaire Collection already it can be downloaded for free for Windows and Windows Phone.

The card game (known at ‘Patience in Europe) is thought to have originated in Europe in the 1700s – apparently Napolean Bonaparte was a big fan while spending his time in exile in the early 19^th century. Solitaire for computers started as a relatively simple game using text mode for Microsoft PCs, but soon had graphics, and later contained varied kinds of modes. The first collection was Solitaire Royale, published in 1987 by Spectrum Holobyte, that ran on Microsoft PCs and the Macintosh. These days of course solitaire is available across various platforms, and will be available for the Windows 10 OS when it comes out later this summer.

While the company is urging people to meet the challenge – “You’ll be challenged to bring your best to defeat our best” – Microsoft hasn’t mentioned anything about a prize. Windows wouldn’t be Windows without Solitaire, and whatever you might think about the stalwart game, it’s currently the number one free Windows Store dalliance.

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