Windows 10's Solitaire will cost you if you want to play ad-free

Office workers and Solitaire lovers were delighted to hear that Solitaire would be included in Windows 10 from launch. But there’s a catch. The free-to-play version comes bundled with ads.

These are not banner ads though. Some of the ads will take over the full Solitaire window and stay there for between 15 and 30 seconds. PC Gamer found that they didn’t pop up too frequently, but once they did they couldn’t be aborted.

If you want to avoid ads, you’ll need to part with real money. Microsoft Solitaire Collection Premium Edition costs $1.50 a month or $10 for a full year. As well as removing ads, this edition gives players the chance to earn coins for “Daily Challenges.”

The irony hasn’t been lost on some players. As Twitter user Lawrence Sonntag noted, “Windows 10 is free and all and that's cool but a BUCK FIFTY FOR SOLITAIRE.”

The Windows 10 upgrade is now available. Hopefully Microsoft won’t add micro-transactions into every aspect of it to make up for it being free to download.