The story of Solitaire as a feature of Microsoft Windows is an interesting one.
The first two versions of Windows included a Reversi game, but it was 1990’s Windows 3.0 that featured the infamous card game. It was written by Wes Cherry, then an intern at Microsoft. His girlfriend, Leslie Kooy, drew some of the card backs, and designer Susan Kare doing the rest of the card art.
Originally it was just a thing to make to get used to writing for Windows, but one of the program managers at Microsoft realised that it had potential for other things.
Windows prior to 3.0 supported mice, but it wasn’t exactly standard in the 1980s. Windows 3.0 intended to make the mouse the primary method of driving Windows, and the program manager realised it was a nice way to introduce people to using a mouse, to dragging and dropping, and having a fun way to practice. As a later interview would put it, the executives hoped it would “soothe people intimidated by the operating system.”