Retro Thunderdome – Windows 3.1 Solitaire vs Minesweeper

This article originally appeared on skirmishfrogs.com. Both games have been replayed and re-evaluated for TWRM.

Back in 1992, personal computing irrevocably changed. Windows 3.1, a more stable and user-friendly version of Windows 3.0, was released to the world. It could handle multimedia, had customization options, and supported drag and drop. It made the PC a viable user-centered operating system, and created a direct competitor to the already easy to use Mac.

It also had two legendary time-wasters packaged with it: Solitaire and Minesweeper. Easy to learn, tough to master, these seemingly simple programs did more than distract office workers. They taught people how to click, drag and interact with computers in brand new ways.

And now they face off in the digital octagon. No need for introductions. These salty dogs are in their respective corners and itching to do battle. LET’S GET IT ON!

It’s Solitaire vs Minesweeper!

NOTE: This contest pits the Windows 3.1 versions against each other. Solitaire is for the Klondike version ONLY. Seriously, who plays Freecell?

OTHER NOTE: This match assumes a basic knowledge of both games. If you don’t know how to play either, check out “How to Play Solitaire” and “How to Play Minesweeper.” Sorry in advance for the instantaneous loss in productivity.

Accessibility

The first punch of this fight is a Hadouken to the face of Minesweeper. Solitaire is easy to pick up and figure out. Alternating colors, descending numbers and stacking Aces is fun and simple to grasp. If you’re my age (aka old), you’ve spent many a rainy day with a deck of cards and not much else to do playing Solitaire. As such, most people in the early 90’s already knew the game thanks to their grandma’s sage teachings.

Minesweeper, on the other hand, is a mystery. Most people stared at the grid of blocks and randomly clicked about. Five clicks in and KABOOM. You’ve hit a mine. Both games feature a help menu, but Minesweeper has a steep learning curve. Chances are, 47% of those reading this still doesn’t know how it works.

For pure “out of the box” playability, the round goes to Solitaire.

Variety

Solitaire jumps out of the gate with tons of variety. Not only can players change the card back graphic (robot, always robot), you can turn off points (yes, points), the timer (yes, a timer) and the scoring style. Solitaire offers players a “Vegas” mode, which turns the points into cash money. Back in ’95, I spent many an evening pretending I was in the World Series of Solitaire.

Minesweeper offers less customization. You can turn off the marking function and make the game black and white (why would you?). While there’s one major change you can make (that we’ll cover in the next section), what you see it what you get.

Just the ability to change the cards from fish to seashells gives Solitaire the edge. Plus, who doesn’t love the card explosion when you win? Minesweeper displays a text box. Lame.

Challenge

Feel like Minesweeper is getting slapped? Here’s where it gets interesting. Solitaire’s simplicity also undercuts its difficulty. Winning a game requires little skill, and is often done by pure chance. You can make the game easier by pulling one card from the deck as opposed to three, but that’s almost cheating. Git gud, dammit.

Minesweeper is tough, but highly rewarding. Even the default beginner setting requires some work. Step it up to Expert, and you can be there for hours. The one bomb and you’re dead rule is ruthless. Occasionally you’ll need to take a leap of faith, but wins and losses feel deserved. Losing in Solitaire mean you caught a bad run of cards. Losing in Minesweeper, the round’s winner, means you messed up.

Time-Waste-ability

But let’s be honest. Nobody plays these games for their complexity, story and brilliant game design. Most do so as a break from Excel sheets and quarterly reports. Solitaire is quick and painless. Games can take less than five minutes, and can be easily shut off if the boss swings by.

Minesweeper is more involved. Being quick with the minimize button helps keep your gaming session hidden, but if you’ve cleared 80% of the board, you’re not quitting. Minesweeper also requires focus and math, requiring focus and intense distraction. A benefit if you’re alone, a huge hindrance if you need to keep an eye out for John Q. Supervisor.

Since it’s easier to burn hours with Solitaire, it wins this round. But Minesweeper is a damn close second.

Lasting Impact

For the first time in Retro Thunderdome, the winner has been decided before the final round. So, let’s start with the loser. Out of the four launch games on Windows 3.1 (the other two being Freecell and Hearts), Minesweeper is the most innovative. As a pure game, it’s better. If Solitaire is checkers, Minesweeper is chess.

But Solitaire created the casual gaming genre. Simple, playable and visually rewarding, it taught a new generation of PC users that computers are more than fancy word processors. They can be a source of entertainment all while teaching them a fancy drag and drop feature Mac geeks had been doing for years.

As a result, Solitaire wins the round and the match. Are you a hardcore Minesweeper addict? Hit up the comments and let me know all the reasons I’m wrong on this one. You’ll be greeted with a Minesweeper smiley face.

Read more from the Retro Thunderdome series

Writer, gamer, and beer geek, The Thunder Mage conjures words from the ether for a number of sites and publications. He currently serves as Lead Blogger and Music Writer for https://www.theaustinot.com (Austin culture) and has written for Texas Highways magazine, the Entertainment Weekly blogging community, and various film review sites. When he’s not mixing literary alchemy, he enjoys chasing his three-year-old around and advocating for video game accessibility on Twitter to the git gud sect.

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