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USA Today
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- USA Today
35 years of Microsoft Solitaire: An illustrated history of the game's evolution
Over 500 million people have played Microsoft Solitaire since its 1990 release as an included game in the Windows 3.0 operating system. In 2019, it was inducted into the World Video Game Hall of Fame, marking it as one of the most influential video games of all time. Since its inception, it's been localized into 65 languages and played on every continent, including Antarctica. Though it doesn't come pre-installed in Windows computers anymore, users continue to download and play it on computers, tablets and phones 35 years later. USA TODAY's Ariana Torrey recounts her experience as a millennial growing up playing Microsoft Solitaire and how she evolved alongside the game: I was six-years-old when we got our first Windows PC. Before Windows 95, games were things I played on my Super Nintendo, sometimes my Gameboy, rarely our family Macintosh. But after being given my very own Windows login with a neon-colored icon as my profile picture, it only took me four clicks to find the 'Games' folder hidden in the START menu of the Windows taskbar. The games that came preinstalled on Windows 95 were FreeCell, Hearts, Minesweeper and Solitaire. The pickings were slim, but for a girl in the '90s, it amounted to hours of entertainment, and later, an obsession with solitaire-based card games that spanned well into adulthood. The Windows 95 version of Solitaire wasn't like the one I had seen my Nana play, meticulously laying out cards one-by-one into neat stacks, moving each row gingerly by hand. This version sported bright pixel art decks that you could change at will, and a mesmerizing animation of the cards cascading down and bouncing whenever you won a game. Originally included in Windows 3.0 in 1990, developers hoped Solitaire would help beginner computer users get familiar with the functionality of a mouse – a relatively new tool for people at the time. The computer did indeed make shuffling, ordering and restacking cards as simple as a single click. It also recorded your win percentages diligently, making it perfect ammo to hurl at your brother during arguments about who got to play next on the computer. As I aged and we upgraded to Windows 98 and then 2000, the gaming landscape was shifting before me with the release of the PlayStation 2, which pushed graphic capabilities as we knew it to places we had only dreamed of before. But these tried-and-true Windows games remained largely untouched. Always preinstalled, they changed very little with the turn of the millennium. They were simple. Reliable. Comforting. It became second nature to click into Solitaire while waiting around for my mom to get off the landline phone so I could log onto AOL messenger, or when patiently watching jpegs load, lines by blurry line, on 56k dial up. Along with millions of other Americans, I played Solitaire in the moments I was procrastinating, reflecting, bored, overwhelmed or needing a break. It required no commitment. No CD-Roms. No beefy hardware. Just your idle mind. With the launch of Windows XP in 2001, a whole new set of Internet-connected games were built into the operating system. Now with the ability to face opponents online, they included Internet Backgammon, Internet Checkers, Internet Hearts, Internet Reversi and Internet Spades. My beloved solo games were still available too, along with a brand new Solitaire mode – Spider Solitaire. All of the Internet games disappeared with later versions of Windows, but Spider Solitaire remained. It became a new staple in the pre-installed Windows zeitgeist for more than a decade, included with the four original games in the releases of Windows Vista in 2006 and Windows 7 in 2009. This strong quintuple of games remained with me all throughout high school and college with every upgrade we made on our family PC, and later, on my college laptop. I still played regularly, getting more competitive in my pursuit of better streaks and win percentages. I wasn't competing with anyone besides myself, but that is what I liked about it. When Windows 10 released in 2015, I had already started my career, and the world had grown up along with me; We all had less idle time, more distractions, an entire internet full of content to consume at any given moment. Solitaire couldn't compete with the dopamine hits of doom-scrolling social media or binge-watching Breaking Bad for the third time. Plus, there were just so many games now. Hundreds. Thousands. Some so addicting people were spending real life money on virtual, sparkly gems for games they would abandon six months later. Microsoft knew this. They had launched an entire empire of gaming with the Xbox console, and their operating system followed suit. Instead of coming pre-installed, Solitaire was now offered as an app you had to download from the Windows Store on your phone or PC in a suite of games called 'The Solitaire Collection.' It included the classics – Solitaire, FreeCell and Spider Solitaire, along with two other Solitaire modes – Pyramid and TriPeaks. All could be played as one-off games, but now there were also challenges, which gave you daily medals, which counted towards monthly achievements. Dopamine galore for any goal-oriented gamer. I greedily snatched them up. This is how Solitaire mostly remained until Windows started including ads between draws, some of them un-mutable and unskippable, which made the collection of games nearly unplayable in my eyes. But by this point, there were plenty of other options available for the Solitaire-obsessed. Do a quick search on the Google Play Store and you'll find thousands of hits for Solitaire from a myriad of developers, some with full story modes, eye-catching art, or other game mechanics woven in. There are a slew of card-based indie games, like the 2024 smash hit Balatro, which credits Solitaire as its inspiration. And with mega-giants like Microsoft-owned Activision cashing in with their release of Candy Crush Solitaire earlier this year, it's no surprise that this simple game has evolved just like we all have. The world demanded it. But for me, I'm a purist. Nothing will ever replace the simple pleasure of organizing randomized stacks of cards into ordered piles, whether by number, suit, or alternating back and forth. Sometimes I long for the days when everything felt that simple – back when I was young and the world was smaller, still contained to my home and bus stop and school. Back when I would play just to play, even with no one around to compete against. Just me. And a deck of cards. CONTRIBUTING Carlie Procell
USA Today
3 days ago
- Climate
- USA Today
Swifties rejoice, farewell AOL dial-up, and Kennedy Center's class of 2025: Week in review
Yes, the humidity has been off the charts 'It's not the heat, it's the humidity' is not just a time-worn cliche − this summer, it's been the reality. Air masses that have been just 'sitting and festering' have created record-high dew points for tens of millions of Americans in parts of the country, said Owen Shieh of the National Weather Service, pushing up heat indexes and making it harder to cool off, especially at night. Meanwhile, however, the 209th Farmers' Almanac is out, and its editor, Sandi Duncan, tells USA TODAY that before too long we can expect 'an old-fashioned winter' − or, as the almanac predicts: 'Chill, snow, repeat.' Dry vs. humid: Watch a video to see how both can be dangerous Trump giving marijuana another look In the uproar over President Donald Trump sending the National Guard to Washington, DC, to help fight crime in the capital, another law-enforcement-related headline may have fallen under the radar: Trump's announcement that he is considering reclassifying marijuana as a less dangerous drug. Despite loosening laws and attitudes over pot, the government still labels cannabis a Schedule 1 drug − dangerous, addictive and lacking any recognized medical application − a classification it has held since 1970. The debate over the drug is complicated, Trump said: 'Some people like it, some people hate it. Some people hate the whole concept of marijuana.' A decision could come in just a couple of weeks. After 40 years, AOL's dial-up is going silent AOL's old signature 'eeeeeeeeyaaah' will soon be no more. More than 40 years after its dial-up modem protocol became the calling card for internet newbies, the company announced it's shutting down the service. It will go the way of Skype on Sept. 30, the company said, after what it called a routine review of its products and services. In AOL's heyday in the '80s and '90s, connecting to the World Wide Web was just starting to click for regular folks, but would-be web surfers needed patience: A dial-up connection back then could handle up to 56 kilobits a second, if you were lucky. Today, we're talking megabits and gigabits. The man behind 'You've Got Mail': Elwood Edwards, the voice of AOL, dies at 74 Kennedy Center gala will sure look different This year's Kennedy Center Honors class is in − and the host is making headlines along with the honorees. The artist honorees: Sylvester Stallone, country singer George Strait, British stage actor Michael Crawford, disco star Gloria Gaynor, and glam rockers KISS. And presiding over the ceremony: not a singer, not an actor, not an artist, but President Donald Trump himself, who also happens to be performing arts center's self-appointed new chairman. Trump, who announced the nominees, said he personally rejected 'a couple of wokesters' on the list of prospects. The ceremony will air later this year on CBS. MLB umpire breaks the grass ceiling Another sports barrier has bitten the dust. Jen Pawol, 48, made baseball history by becoming the first woman to umpire a Major League game − twice − when she took the field as a first-base umpire and then, the next day, called balls and strikes at Truist Park in Atlanta as the Braves faced the Miami Marlins. And by all accounts, she did fine. Perhaps there'll come a time when a woman behind the plate is no big deal, as Marlins pitcher Cal Quantrill told 'I think she did a quality job. ... But yeah, just another day.' − Compiled and written by Robert Abitbol, USA TODAY copy chief
Hindustan Times
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Hindustan Times
Disney greenlights Coven Academy, a teen witch dramedy; cast and plot details revealed
Disney Branded Television has officially picked up Coven Academy, a new series that mixes supernatural elements with comedy and drama. The show centers on three teenage girls training to become witches, according to AOL report. Coven Academy is about three teenage witches training in New Orleans. They are chosen to protect the city from old, dangerous forces.(Instagram/ @malinawesissman, tiffanithiessen, @malachibarton) Ayo Davis, president of Disney Branded Television said, 'Coven Academy is an innovative format that blends supernatural intrigue with the friendships, challenges and self-discovery of the teenage experience." 'Under Tim Federle's creative leadership, this magical high school comes alive with a breakout cast, continuing our tradition of creating stories and stars that connect deeply with today's generation.' About Coven Academy Coven Academy is about three teenage witches training in New Orleans. They are chosen to protect the city from old, dangerous forces, according to Variety report The girls learn to control their magic, uncover secrets, and deal with rivals. At the same time, they face the challenges of growing up and forming close friendships. Coven Academy's cast The cast is led by Malina Pauli Weissman (Ick, A Series of Unfortunate Events) as Briar. Tiffani Thiessen (Alexa and Katie, White Collar, 90210) plays Miss Graves. Other main cast members include Malachi Barton (Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires) as Jake, Louis Thresher (Boarders) as Ollie, Jordan Leftwich (Family Switch) as Sasha, and Ora Duplass (Their Town) as Tegan. The recurring cast features Brendon Tremblay (Descendants: Wicked Wonderland) as Alexander, Swayam Bhatia (Zombies 4: Dawn of the Vampires) as McKenna, and Keegan Connor Tracy (Once Upon a Time) as Tamora. Federle wrote and directed the pilot episode. He also serves as executive producer alongside Kimberly McCullough and Bronwyn North-Reist, head of creative at Federle's Chorus Boy Productions, as reported by Deadline. Also Read: Is Hulu shutting down? Are prices spiking? New Disney+ merger explained amid massive shakeup Tim Federle's other projects Federle is also executive producing the live-action comedy Vampirina: Teenage Vampire for Disney Channel, which is based on the animated show and books by Anne Marie Pace and Leuyen Pham. The series features Kenzi Richardson as Vampirina 'Vee' Hauntley, Jiwon Lee as Sophie, her roommate, Shaun Dixon as Elijah, who is laid-back, Milo Maharlika as Demi, a ghost who is 600 years old, and Faith Hedley as Britney, a skilled legacy student.
Boston Globe
4 days ago
- General
- Boston Globe
A letter to my oldest son, before he starts high school
You will begin high school, you lucky boy. And so, instead of cornering you in the car on the way to basketball, I thought I'd write down my advice. For those of you with kids beginning a new school, a new job, a new chapter in life, maybe you can relate (and have something to add). Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Here goes. Advertisement Sign up for Parenting Unfiltered. Globe staff Study however you feel comfortable . For years, your grandparents insisted I do my homework in our home office, on a metal desk and swivel chair built during the Nixon administration. They believed that serious students worked at a desk, and they wanted their daughter to be a serious student. I hated it. I spent more time thinking about how uncomfortable I was than on AP French — but it appeared to them that I was focusing. (I was not. I was on a dial-up AOL chat room with my friend Katie talking to random strangers in Texas.) Once I hit college and was in control of my own study arrangements, I did my best work sitting on my bed. Since then, I have written hundreds of thousands of words and two books, either on my couch or on my bed. Great for my lower back? Probably not. Good for my own personal productivity? Yup. Work where it works for you. Advertisement Don't fight your natural organizational habits . I use this term loosely because right now, your organizational strategy appears to be shoving wrinkled papers into your backpack next to rotting bananas. Your suggested list of supplies might include color-coded binders and day planners; the requests will come in for spiral notebooks and file folders. That's all fine, if you use them. But you might not (doubt you will!), and I have zero desire to give Amazon Prime more money. Find a system that you can stick with, use it, and tune out the noise. Ever seen a doctor's office or a professor's desk? Yeah. You'll be OK. Don't stay anywhere you feel small: lunch tables, parties, friend groups . This is hard. The drive to be surrounded — to fit in — is stronger than words. I remember pining to be summoned to a superior lunch table, a rung-and-a-half higher on the cafeteria ladder, and finally snagging a seat only to go completely silent, dead mute, once I set down my tray of nuggets and Famous Amos cookies. I was afraid I wasn't funny (and I was funny; just maybe not to them, because they were not my people). I felt alien in my own body. I couldn't be myself. And when one of the girls started badmouthing a close friend, I joined in — grateful to have something, anything, to say. Advertisement The next day, someone who overheard me wrote a screed in black magic marker (brave!) on my French desk saying what a fraud I was. A fake. A climber. And she was dead right. I still haven't forgotten the date: November 1992, Madame Inman's class. I remember thinking even then that I'd prefer to be honestly average than falsely cool; I even wrote it in my journal in bubbly cursive, feeling profound. It didn't totally sink in then, of course; I wasn't mature enough to live it. It took me well into adulthood to realize that some people won't see you, ever, and that's their loss. But being comfortable in your own skin is the only true sanctuary, and when you forfeit that for the sake of blending in, you've got nothing. Don't ever shrink yourself to fit at a lunch table. It might feel safe in the moment, but it will hurt so much more in the long run. You won't have everything in common with your friends. And that's OK. If I based my friendships on who had the same exact combination of interests, I'd be a hermit, because I know nobody who loves 'Murder, She Wrote'; 1960s oldies; nachos; and Dominick Dunne. Enjoy the small overlaps; go where you feel seen. And remember: Nobody will be a perfect friend all the time. Look for patterns instead. Do these people usually show up for you? Do they fill a certain need: a person to ride to school with, to play basketball with, to swap inane memes with? I had very little in common besides a sense of humor with my high school friends. But, you know what? I just got back from one of their mom's 80th birthday parties. I'm having dinner with two others next week. Sometimes the bonds that connect you are more about chemistry and shared history than anything else, a sense of familiarity and consistency and goodness, and those bonds really are irreplaceable. Advertisement It's OK not to peak in high school . Some clichés are true. Life is long. Success takes many forms, and it also takes its own sweet time. You'll see. The most important lessons you learn in high school aren't measured by grades. Schoolwork seems like the official barometer of worth because knowledge is most easily measured in numbers, but these metrics don't reflect the lessons that shape who you are. Truly. Some perspective: I took five AP exams and was named something called an 'AP scholar.' This has had absolutely zero bearing on my life. In fact, I can no longer speak French. The one and only thing I remember from World History is that there are three types of Roman columns (ionic, doric, and Corinthian). I will never again read 'Beowulf.' In fact, I barely read it the first time. I missed the 3.5 National Honor Society cutoff by .02 points because of a bad math grade. Nobody has ever asked me, anywhere ever, whether I was in the National Honor Society. Speaking of math: I dropped out in 12th grade. I am still a productive member of society. My iPhone has a calculator, and that's good enough for me. Here's what I do remember: Mr. Seymour, who nicknamed me Sassy Baskin and encouraged me to do stand-up for Speech and Debate; the columns I wrote for the school paper making fun of the rancid cheese at the semi-formal; and the feeling of getting behind the wheel of my parents' Ford Taurus as a newly minted driver and realizing for the first time — soundtracked by WZLX 100.7 — that the world really was bigger than Acton, Massachusetts. (There was Concord, too!) Point being: Life experiences, real memories, don't get a letter grade. Advertisement A big world exists outside your phone. I know you're mad that I'm not letting you have screens during the week, but someday, when you know how to have a coherent conversation and think critically, you'll thank me. Don't take it personally when I yell at you. Oh, and I will. I will surely get mad if you flake out on your homework or have 10 missing assignments in PowerSchool. This is because I'm only human, too, and I want you to do well, to work hard, all the things that any parent wants for their kid. I want what's best for you, and this might make me sometimes act poorly and lose perspective. I'm still learning, too. I apologize in advance. (But seriously: Please do not have 10 missing assignments in PowerSchool.) Treat your teachers with respect. You have no idea how hard this job is. You are not entitled to delicate treatment because you're having a bad day; you don't get an extension because you forgot your day planner. You are special to me, but you are not special. Be kind. Be polite. Be respectful. Non-negotiable. Nothing is worth your mental health. Absolutely nothing. Take it from someone who learned this the very hardest way — in emergency rooms and therapists' offices. Too much homework? Too much stress? When you're healthy, you have lots of problems. If you're sick, you have one: getting better. So please: The minute you feel like it's all too much, if you're hopeless or stressed to the point of sickness, if you feel like nothing will ever get better because your problems at this moment are insurmountable, take those worries and give them to your parents. We may not know how to edit videos on TikTok. (You do edit videos on TikTok, right?) We do not know what the hell '67' means. Advertisement But we also have been through high school and lived to tell the tale. You will come out the other side, hopefully with lifelong friends, arcane trivia, and memories to sustain you — but most of all, a sense of self and the knowledge that you have flawed parents who will annoy you and badger you but who always love you and see you. Now shut off the video games and do your summer reading. Kara Baskin can be reached at
Fox News
6 days ago
- Business
- Fox News
The 'R' Word
As seen on Gutfeld!, AOL is shutting down its dial-up service. Also, the 'R' word rears its ugly head. Greg lets you know what that word is. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit
