The free games that have been included with the various versions of Windows over the years occupy a unique position in the video game landscape.
No one would include them on a list of the best or most influential games of all time, and it’s unlikely any of them have ever acted as a “system seller” to influence someone’s choice of OS.
Yet over the past decade, games like Microsoft’s Solitaire, Minesweeper, and Mahjong may be the most widely played video games on any platform (though the Angry Birds games have probably come close to beating them).
From bored hardcore gamers messing around on a borrowed laptop to bored secretaries on an extended coffee break to bored grandmas clicking away at their grandchildren’s hand-me-down Windows 98 tower, you’re unlikely to find a PC user that hasn’t at least tried these titles at one point or another.
