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Bill Gates thought Windows Solitaire was too hard to win

Wes Cherry was a bored intern at Microsoft when he wrote Windows Solitaire, he tells the Great Big Story video network.

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Patrick Holland has been a phone reviewer for CNET since 2016. He is a former theater director who occasionally makes short films. Patrick has an eye for photography and a passion for everything mobile. He is a colorful raconteur who will guide you through the ever-changing, fast-paced world of phones, especially the iPhone and iOS. He used to co-host CNET's I'm So Obsessed podcast and interviewed guests like Jeff Goldblum, Alfre Woodard, Stephen Merchant, Sam Jay, Edgar Wright and Roy Wood Jr.
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The year was 1988. A Microsoft intern named Wes Cherry invented a game that would forever alter office productivity everywhere: Windows Solitaire.

In a post and video on Great Big Story, Cherry opens up about how he created the game out of boredom saying that "there weren't many games right at the time so we had to make them." Microsoft got behind the game immediately as a way of teaching people how to use the mouse. Remember, this was in the late '80s.

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates' reaction to playing the game? He thought it was too hard to win. Watch the full interview with Cherry above.

Microsoft didn't immediately respond for a request to comment.