A Look at Windows Vista Installed Games

Hearts

Pass hearts to other players and avoid the queen of spades at all costs. Be careful when you attempt to shoot the moon (gather all the hearts and the queen of spades)--the undo menu option isn't available in this game. Microsoft is working with casual-game developers to help them produce high-quality games that users will expect to see on the Vista platform. Hearts has a polished look and, like the other Vista games, offers robust saved-game options and advanced game statistics.

Minesweeper

Minesweeper is largely the same, but the new animations add some excitement to the desktop classic. Now when you accidentally uncover a mine, the game reveals all the remaining bombs and detonates them sequentially starting with the closest mines. The whole explosion sequence is much more dramatic than the simple unhappy face we get in Windows XP.

Chess Titans

Chess Titans, a 3D version of the classic board game, joins Solitaire, FreeCell, Minesweeper, and Hearts to form the core of Windows Vista's casual game collection. The game's 3D display angles show off the beautifully rendered chess pieces. You can play against a human opponent, or the computer, which can be set to 10 different levels of difficulty. Chess Titans is a great game, but it has one major catch: It doesn't come in the Home Basic version of Windows Vista. You'll have to pony up the extra bucks to get a Home Premium, Business, Enterprise, or Ultimate edition of Windows Vista to get Chess Titans.

Prev: Solitaire, FreeCell, and Spider Solitaire Next: Mahjong Titans, Purble Place, and InkBall

Discuss: What's your favorite built-in Windows game? What games are you looking forward to the most in Vista? What's your best Minesweeper time at intermediate?

484 Comments

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Agulf
Posted Mar 20, 2008 1:30 pm PT

Thanks for the vista buisness tip. Shame we don't get texas hold 'em though
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SMR-Venom
Posted Feb 17, 2008 11:10 am PT

all the classics are here, cept pinball, but you can just copy and paste from XP on a Flash Drive and get pinball on Vista, I did that D:
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dabbster465
Posted Jan 5, 2008 9:00 pm PT

They forgot to add Inkball in this
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dabbster465
Posted Jan 5, 2008 8:59 pm PT

Vista has Minesweeper, i guess they just forgot it in the list
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BACCA82
Posted Aug 31, 2007 12:53 pm PT

On Business Edition just go into:
control panel -> Turn Windows features on or off and turn on the games
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Wh1sp3r
Posted Aug 17, 2007 5:20 pm PT

With business edition, the games are not installed by default, so you have to add them via the Turn Windows Features On or Off I think.
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360gamerz
Posted Aug 8, 2007 11:56 am PT

NO I GOT THE BUISNESS EDITION AND IT DOESNT HAVE ANY OF THESE GAMING WILL NEVER BE THE SAME AGAIN!!
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mmogoon
Posted Jul 20, 2007 11:04 am PT

buh..buh..teh minesweeper
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Fireboy78
Posted Jun 29, 2007 7:05 pm PT

Huh? No Mine sweeper?! Damn, if vista have new look mine sweeper would be nice.
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noctu3
Posted Mar 27, 2007 7:12 am PT

ok it looks purdy but how many hard core gamers use this os? its the most over hyped unfinished product out there, so they improves the looks of the ui and some generic windows games and the windows games they hype dont look any better then what you can play on the net in a web browser for free lol
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ahyumifan
Posted Feb 6, 2007 11:40 pm PT

I'm still playing pinball when im bored.
I get the good feeling for the day once i reach 10 million.
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oblivion1012
Posted Feb 5, 2007 3:46 pm PT

Fun given the fact they are free
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helluvagood
Posted Jan 30, 2007 6:04 pm PT

lol, theses games suck, pinball was the best on xp
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levdavid
Posted Jan 3, 2007 6:52 pm PT

Bad!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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g3n3r41xan
Posted Nov 19, 2006 4:32 am PT

i personally liked the backgammon, and the minesweeper is good too but the minesweeper on Fedora linux OS is better in my openion. the chess game looks pretty cool, but i dont get why pinball is not included or maybe they might include it in the final release of home premium version
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ShadowJinx
Posted Oct 24, 2006 5:39 pm PT

oh comeon no pinball, thats retarded, pinball's like the best game out of the XP casual games.

And mabye this topic isn't worth a huge feature like this, but I still think its kinda neat to see what the Vista versions look like, why are you people complaining so much about it, not that big of a deal.
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AdMordem
Posted Oct 11, 2006 9:09 am PT

i seem to get addicted to minsweeper every year all over again

btw switchblade966 - i agree its prob not worth the 3 page spread but my gf was interested in seeing what the games lloked like on vista. 2ndly Mahjong Titans is bound to be a great addition to time wasting (especially at work)
And thirdly it might be a MS push for a Vista Live Arcade type thing going on.
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johnarthur2
Posted Aug 24, 2006 5:02 pm PT

sh3
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switchblade966
Posted Aug 23, 2006 5:01 pm PT

ok first. vista is not being made just because microsoft wants their built-in games to look better. half you people crying about how useless this is don't get the point of vista. or this article. vista is going to have a nicer-looking interface, so they're just improving the look of their games as well. I've never seen these games mentioned as a huge selling point or any kind of selling point for any version of windows. So stop acting like that's what Microsoft is doing. I've never heard them say something like: "Windows Vista! Improved security! Faster! And the games look a lot nicer too!" No. They probably don't give a crap about what people think of the games. Microsoft had nothing to do with this article. Gamespot talks about games. And that's what they're doing here. Taking the games from the new version of windows and talking about them. Although I do think it is extremely lame. Since when did Gamespot have some multi-page in-depth review of the older versions of minesweeper, hearts, freecell and solitaire? Hmmm.. maybe Microsoft had something to do with this article after all...

If anything you guys should be blasting Gamespot for making such a huge deal about these little games, rather than Microsoft.
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mydasx
Posted Aug 16, 2006 9:57 am PT

actually its direct x that allows you to make use of 3d, and directx has been around a lot longer then areo. areo just uses direct x.
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vaejas
Posted Aug 10, 2006 3:28 pm PT

Solitaire.... in THREEEE-DEEEEE!! Each of the 52 cards is on its own LAYER! Only with the power of Aero can you manipulate two dimensional objects in three dimensional space.
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SgtJcoo
Posted Aug 10, 2006 2:26 pm PT

My favorite game is Minesweeper.
Best times:
Beg. - 8 Seconds
Int. - 60 Seconds
Exp. - 231 Seconds
Im not that good yet.
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bboyart
Posted Aug 10, 2006 1:32 am PT

The free games don't make an Operatin System, it just the candy of it. Much focus should be done on other things in Vista than free games.
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cwl157
Posted Aug 9, 2006 3:11 pm PT

spider solitaire... 'Nuff said
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OpIvy420
Posted Aug 8, 2006 12:20 pm PT

Solitare's good for those times when I'm like listening to music and talking to someone online and want something to do with my hands while that's going on. And it's cool that Microsoft finally updated these games, Solitare and Minesweeper have looked exactly the same since like Windows 3.1. And I really have no idea how this devolved into a Mac vs. PC debate.
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R2Droid
Posted Aug 6, 2006 11:13 am PT

The best games on Vista are Mahjong, Chess Titans and Minesweeper, but after 5 mins you notice the reason they were shipped with Vista is to keep you from noticing that you can’t do anything with it. It’s just eye candy. My advice for those people eagerly waiting for vista is to format there drive and use it for a paperweight after they get tired of that I suggest loading Linux. BTW my fastest minesweeper score is 10 seconds on expert and 3 1/2 on intermediate.
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pranavjani
Posted Aug 5, 2006 6:51 am PT

please microsoft please add some new games other than stupid card games like pinball or pockets tanks
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onealrl
Posted Aug 5, 2006 3:28 am PT

Bring on some pinball baby!
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erikos45
Posted Aug 4, 2006 1:40 pm PT

Purble place crashed
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rokkuman09
Posted Aug 4, 2006 9:16 am PT

Mac is better what are you talking about....Linux is the best
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bvhinferno
Posted Aug 3, 2006 4:07 pm PT

vista rulez. When they 're gonna shoot our pc? November Maybe??
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ruttness
Posted Aug 3, 2006 2:26 pm PT

MACS ARE BETTER!
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CarlosMind
Posted Aug 3, 2006 2:09 pm PT

Wow! lets play InkBall... is really hardcore!

Americas Army is a free game.
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TruSake1
Posted Aug 3, 2006 10:22 am PT

OH YEAH, SOLITAIRE!! WOO-HOO!!
Oh wait... I can play BF2 with others... Well, guess these games are worthless to me.
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og8440
Posted Aug 3, 2006 7:33 am PT

Solitaire ftw...
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Celine_Aensland
Posted Aug 3, 2006 6:11 am PT

Agreed. Those complaining about the bundled games are retarded - these are for quick distractions. If you get a job - maybe - you might realise how even Solitaire eats up lots of office time. If you put in "commercial grade" games (like, I don't know, that crap Halo thing you fanboys are always moaning about) you won't have time to get any work done.
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Gruesome__Toast
Posted Aug 3, 2006 5:58 am PT

Where's Pinball???! They better have kept that in there!
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xcube2402
Posted Aug 3, 2006 2:28 am PT

They really have improved.
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_Half_Life_
Posted Aug 2, 2006 8:32 pm PT

Vista's definatly going to be the way to go...
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-Murdock-
Posted Aug 2, 2006 5:45 pm PT

The only game I want to play in Vista is Spore. Freecell can eat me.
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mydasx
Posted Aug 2, 2006 4:25 pm PT

"whats with the 'pay more to get the chess game' thing, are microsoft really that desperate for money?"

the different versions of vista all have benifits. Chess, IS NOT a reason to upgrade but more of a perk. If you buy your OS simply for the bundled games, you may want to think about investing in say, a comodore 64, they are like 12 bucks, and still run games on them. The reason to upgrade to better versions of the OS can be found at the following link:

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsvista/getready/editions/default.mspx

i would suggest selecting your OS for reasons like, i want to use RDP etc.
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spoogan
Posted Aug 2, 2006 1:45 pm PT

i like mine sweeper.
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MegaManX9101
Posted Aug 2, 2006 1:22 pm PT

@ cikame
That Chess game has some really well done Models involved, and was probobly one of the more complicated games to create, so its understandable that they would only include it in more premium versions of Vista.

And now for my comment on the actual article. Personally I've never really cared for these Windows games much, but these new renditions of the older cardgames do look really nice. I wonder if they will make fancy card animations so they actually flip and have realistic animations instead of just moving about the screen.
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cikame
Posted Aug 2, 2006 12:53 pm PT

whats with the 'pay more to get the chess game' thing, are microsoft really that desperate for money?
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ledzepmo
Posted Aug 2, 2006 10:09 am PT

ok...
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Krusher222
Posted Aug 2, 2006 9:21 am PT

Wow! All the negative hoopla over the upgrade is strange. The reality is that just like chess and checkers the MS game suite has become a main stay for gaming. I second the motion that just because they are old and outdated doesn’t mean they don’t serve a purpose. Sometimes it’s nice to just kick back and play a game of solitaire. Do I think and upgrade or better selection would be nice, sure but please don’t get rid of the old stuff. With that said, I’m really looking forward to the new Chess Titans and Mahjong Titans. Thanks MS for the upgrade!
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manapsal
Posted Aug 2, 2006 8:33 am PT

I want bejeweled on it, but i play the games to take a break...especially hearts
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Lazy_Boy88
Posted Aug 1, 2006 10:49 pm PT

Why did GS post anything about this...
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azrealhk
Posted Aug 1, 2006 10:45 pm PT

Spider was the best, then minesweeper. Free cell was a joke.
Nice to see the Mahjong game. Chess, I dunno, but I guess I saw it coming.
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nramsey34
Posted Aug 1, 2006 9:22 pm PT

Holy crap people, calm down...
You should be happy microsoft includes any games at all! No one is going to buy/not buy windows based on the prepackaged games anyway!
But in any case, I think Windows games are great for what they're made for, wasting time. Card games, Minesweeper, and now Mahjong...those are great for a 5-10 minute break from work or writing papers. What makes a great game is not graphics, it's the amount of fun you can get out of it and for these games, that's a heck of a lot. And for those of you who don't believe me, trade in your xbox 360 and go buy a super nintendo, nes or atari...ah the good ol' days!
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