Many may not associate solitaire as a multiplayer affair, but that hasn't stopped indie developer Zachtronics from combining your grandmother's favorite time killer with extra buddies. In a surprise release yesterday, the studio behind such titles as Infinifactory and Opus Magnum made Nerts! Online available for free on Steam for everyone to enjoy.
Taking the idea of something like Solitaire Shodown (which used to be included in MSN Messenger more than a decade ago) and upping the player count, Nerts! pits players against each other in a race to complete a game of solitaire. The fastest wins and the others have to slam their heads in disappointment as being beaten by an old woman.
The main reason this game is free is likely because Zachtronics didn't create the idea. As explained on the Steam store page, "Unlike the rest of our solitaire games, we did not invent Nerts. We learned about it from our artist Kyle, who has played it for years, and started playing it after lunch in the Zachtronics office. Over time we added more to it, including house rules, longer tournaments, and even a theme song."
The game isn't supported by microtransactions or anything scummy, but owning previous Zachtronics titles will unlock different card backings for play. That's some kind of incentive to pick up the other games by the studio, though it's hardly what you'd call a monetization method. Still, I'd happily pay $5 for a title like this. I've wanted to play Solitaire Showdown on PC again for ages and this looks to bridge the gap.
Source: Twitter