An Interview with the creator of Solitaire

Wes Cherry. You may have never heard of this man, but he is responsible for more things than you can guess. He single-handedly caused a national recession, destroyed countless hours of productivity and invented a game that would become what is probably the most-played video game of all time – Solitaire.

Hit the jump to know more about this mysterious personality.

In an interview conducted by B3TA, Wes Cherry discusses a number of topics, most of them pertaining to his flagship product, Solitaire, but sometimes diverging to crime, desert islands, animals, and of course, the goddamn weird Vegas Mode.

Some darn fine select questions:

I would like to compensate you for your fabulous game since Bill Gates won’t. How much money do you want?
(Artamnesia)
One penny per copy. If everybody pitches in, I promise to throw you all a big party.

Exactly how much time and money has been wasted globally as a result of office workers playing Solitaire?
(shavedchimp)
There was a global recession in 1991/1992, just after Solitaire was released. Thank you very much. Oh, and you can’t have your time back.

Is there a way to change the speed of the card trail thing at the end? I’ve found it at different speeds on different OS’.
(DogsBollocks)
Yes, upgrade to a IBM 286 running at 16mHz. That should slow it down right good. Or install Norton Antivirus. I’ll leave it to Mr. Moore and his law to make things faster.

Actually at the time I wrote Sol, I went through all kinds of hoops to get that final cascade as fast as possible. Oh, and at one point, a computer magazine proposed a SolMark computer speed test: The faster the cascade, the faster your computer.

The Vegas scoring mode:
1) How does it work exactly?
2) Why is it so dang difficult?
3) Why was it included?
4) Do you know of anyone who actually plays Solitaire in Vegas mode?
(PhilWal)
I’m pulling this out of my bottom, which is pretty difficult because there’s this big ol’ world stuck there.
1) You pay $1 for each card ($52 to deal) and get $5 for each card placed up on the ace piles. Also, you only get 3 runs thru the deck if playing draw 3 or 1 run if playing draw 1.
2) You ever seen those casinos in Vegas? Bloody expensive!
3) I dunno, featuritis.
4) Me, I just did. First time in about 10 years.

Freecell keeps a handy record of playing statistics Why doesn’t Solitaire? I’d like one.
(Mullet Over)
Answer 1: Freecell Freecell Freecell, I’m sick of hearing about how much cooler Freecell is…
Answer 2: Because your boss would fire you if he saw those statistics.

What’s the best card to leave at a crime scene, you know, to taunt the detectives?
(que)
A card saying “He went that-away ?” pointing the opposite way I went! Hooo hooo heee hooo haw!

There are many more awesome ones out there. Go check the interview!