Windows 10: users asked to pay subscription fee for Microsoft Solitaire
Everyone’s favourite time-killer now costs $1.49 a month, or $9.99 a year
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Your support makes all the difference.Windows 10 makes people pay for Microsoft Solitaire, the much-loved card game, if they want to have ads taken off.
The game comes bundled with the new operating system, and can be played for free. But users are heavily encouraged to upgrade to “Microsoft Solitaire Collection Premium” — paying $1.49 a month or $9.99 a year to get extra features as well as hiding advertisements.
As well as hiding ads, the Premium version of the game gives “more coins” — the currency that is won in the game — “for completing Daily Challenges”, and gives players a boost in the special games Tripeaks and Pyramid.
Windows 8, the previous version of the operating system, also asked people to pay a similar charge for playing Solitaire. But in that version it wasn’t one of the built-in apps and there were fewer charges.
The Windows 10 version brings new features like leaderboards and extra game modes.
The new PC operating system brings largely useful changes, including fixing some old problems. As well as the Microsoft Solitaire update, it brings a run of new gaming features including the option to stream Xbox games to PCs.
Solitaire is Microsoft’s version of Klondike, which is also known as Patience. The game has been part of Windows since version 3.0, which was released in 1990, and was designed by an internet who didn’t get any pay for doing so.
Since it was released, the game has become a famous way of killing time at the office, with employees evening being fired for having it on their computers. The game celebrated its 25th anniversary earlier this year, with special tournaments.
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