Technically, Microsoft Klondike Solitaire.
I didn’t know its history; Vox says (here) it’s been around since 1990, is likely the most popular computer game of all time, and “Microsoft took the original design … from an intern who has never made a cent off the game,” which I didn’t know, either.
Vox explains its popularity as “a quick and easy break for bored office workers, procrastinating students, and insomniacs staring at the computer until all hours of the night.” That I’m familiar with. I play it myself, for that precise reason, although I’m not an office worker or student anymore. Insomniac, yes.
The Vox article points out, “You also could just find a deck of cards and play a game yourself.” This is, after all, ordinary solitaire play according to the standard rules. (If you don’t know the rules, get this book, available on Amazon with used copies starting at $1.25 + shipping.)
“A program makes setting a hand of solitaire up much easier, but you can dig out a deck of cards and play pretty much anywhere you’d like, even in corners of the world with bad wifi. Another bonus of playing with physical cards: It’s so much easier to cheat when you get stuck.”
Well, I don’t cheat. And the Microsoft version does something else: It scores you on your time. So I do play at the “Easy” level to goose my time. I also have a fairly fast computer, which helps too. The Vox article suggests the game “can be played in five to 10 minutes.” It doesn’t mention what the record is, or if there is one, but I doubt anybody nobody has any idea of how fast a game has been won.
It doesn’t take me that long; I’m always under 2 minutes, get a fair number of results in the 1:20s and 1:30s, and my personal best is 1:03 (1 minute, 3 seconds). How fast I can do it depends pretty heavily on the layout; some layouts simply can’t be played rapidly, while others go like a breeze.
How about you? What’s your best time? (This is a rhetorical question; note, reader comments aren’t posting because the editor is dead.)
Photo: I can’t tell whether this layout will produce a fast game. That depends on the buried cards. The red 9 in the stack, and a red king, could break this game open. Games typically start slow and then pick up speed.
