Earlier this year, Zachtronics, the indie studio dedicated to making puzzle games that teach you programming languages or entire new ways of thinking, announced it was making its final new game. That game was Last Call BBS, an anthology that includes an excellent model-robot-assembly simulator and another of the Solitaire variants that have become the studio's hallmark. Although Zachtronics isn't backing down on the "no more new games" part of the deal, the studio always planned to follow Last Call BBS with a compilation of all its Solitaire variants as a kind of epilogue. It's now announced The Zachtronics Solitaire Collection will be released on Steam next week.
There's a trailer to accompany the announcement, embedded above, and it's the most thrilling trailer for Solitaire I've ever seen. It's probably the only trailer for Solitaire I've ever seen, but that's beside the point. "Inside you'll find all seven of our solitaire games," Zach Barth of Zachtronics says, "remastered with 4K graphics, in addition to a brand new Tarot-themed game that is my new favorite of them all." Helpfully, the YouTube algorithm has declared the trailer to be a video of the Microsoft Solitaire Collection.
The games included are:
- Shenzhen Solitaire: A FreeCell-inspired solitaire variant with a three-color deck based on mahjong tiles
- Sigmar's Garden: A tile-matching game using the alchemical symbols from Opus Magnum
- Proletariat's Patience: An asymmetric solitaire variant where some cards are grouped by suit while others are stacked by alternating colors
- Kabufuda Solitaire: A challenging Solitaire variant using Japanese kabufuda cards where additional free cells are unlocked by making sets
- Cluj Solitaire: An original Solitaire variant where you can "cheat" by placing cards wherever you want, so long as you're careful
- Cribbage Solitaire: A score-based solitaire variant using modified Cribbage rules and an actual Cold War aircraft recognition deck
- Sawayama Solitaire: A reimagined version of Klondike that is faster, more strategic, and more often winnable than the original
- Fortune's Foundation: A brand new and extra-challenging solitaire variant using a deck of Tarot cards that presents a fortune when you win
The Zachtronics Solitaire Collection will be available on Steam from September 6. Meanwhile, Last Call BBS quietly snuck out of Steam Early Access on August 3 and is now available on GOG and itch.io as well.
