At first glance, Windows Solitaire appears to be a time-waster built into early PCs. But according to Dr. Ian Bogost, a Distinguished Professor at Washington University in St. Louis and award-winning game designer, Solitaire played a bigger role than many realize.
On Wednesday, Oct. 2, Bogost will deliver his keynote talk, “Idle Hands: How Windows Solitaire Invented Contemporary Computing” at the Rozsa Center. The evening begins at 4:30 p.m. with appetizers in the lobby, followed by research demonstrations presented by MTU students and faculty. Bogost’s lecture ends the night at 6 p.m.
Bogost is no stranger to making people think differently about games. He is a founding partner of Persuasive Games LLC and has designed internationally recognized titles, including Cow Clicker and A Slow Year. He is also a longtime contributing writer for The Atlantic.
In his talk, Bogost will trace Solitaire’s history, from its roots in medieval tarot and Victorian card games to its place on office computers in the 1990s. What might sound like a simple digital pastime, he argues, actually shaped the way we interact with computers. By normalizing the idea that the act of “using” a computer could be an end in itself, Solitaire helped pave the way for today’s screen-centered lifestyles.
For students, the event provides an opportunity to see how a seemingly ordinary game is connected to much larger cultural and technological trends. It also highlights the value of studying computing through different lenses—not just as code or hardware, but as part of everyday life.
The talk is free and open to the public, but attendees are encouraged to register through the MTU Events website.
