Much to the disappointment of many Windows casual gamers, Windows 8 entirely removed all classic games from the OS and expected everyone to migrate to the Store versions. The Store versions lack many features and customizations of the classic Windows versions but are still playable, especially with the upcoming Windows 8.1 Update 1 which will show these on the Taskbar so they are not full screen. Here are 40 free games in the Windows Store, some of them classics.
Note that these are not all developed by Microsoft. Some of them are developed by third parties but published by Microsoft. Some of them are recreations of classic games and published by third parties. Regardless, you will realize that the Windows Runtime in Windows 8 is a great platform for games. We tried to pick what we think are the best looking and familiar games to long time Windows users.
Microsoft Solitaire Collection
This is a collection of five solitaire games in one: the regular Klondike variety and FreeCell, Spider, TriPeaks, and Pyramid.
Klondike is the timeless classic that many people just call "Solitaire." Try to clear all the cards from the table using one or three-card draw, while using traditional scoring or the Vegas scoring system.
Spider Solitaire has eight columns of cards await your attempts to clear them with the fewest moves possible. Start out playing with a single suit until you’re comfortable, and then see how you fare when using two or even all four suits in a game. This game was part of the Plus! pack and then Windows for many years.
FreeCell is also a Windows game for long time. Use four extra cells to move cards around as you try to clear all cards from the table. More strategic than the Klondike version, FreeCell rewards players who think several moves ahead.
TriPeaks was part of the Microsoft Entertainment Pack. You select cards in a sequence, either up or down, to earn points and clear the board. Clear as many boards as you can before you run out of deals
Pyramid was also included as 'Tut's Tomb' in the Microsoft Entertainment Pack. You pair two cards that add up to 13 in order to remove them from the board. Try to reach the top of the pyramid. See how many boards you can clear and how high you can score in this highly addictive card game!
Play the classic puzzle game that has been a part of Windows for more than 20 years. It has adjustable difficulty, classic Minesweeper gameplay, and a brand new Adventure mode.
Mahjong is the classic matching game with beautiful imagery, relaxing sounds with multiple themes, four levels of difficulty, dynamic Undo system and daily new challenges.
Bingo is another classic game where you place bets on specific numbers on the Power Card prior to matches. Match your daubs to your Power Card picks during a round to get a Power Bingo.
Find pairs of tiles to complete puzzles in this matching game. When you can’t find a match, just rotate the 3D puzzle to view the other side! Taptiles includes three game modes, countless puzzles, and Daily Challenges.
Hover is the classic game of capture-the-flag which was included on the Windows 95 CD-ROM. It has been modernized with 3D graphics and touch gameplay.
This is another classic included in the Windows 95 Plus! pack. Now it has been modernized with great graphics and sounds ,customizable controls, 16 Missions, Achievement badges and high-score leaderboards.
Wordament is a real-time continuous word tournament. Players compete on the same board with everyone at once. Rounds offer challenges such as two- and three-letter tiles, themed words, speed rounds and more. You can be a champion in many ways: find the most words possible, earn the best score, find the longest words, best your Frenemies, or beat your top score.
Word Search is the classic puzzle game of finding words with dynamic puzzle creation, over 150 different categories, featuring 3 unique game modes and 4 challenging difficulties.
Hexic (Region: Trinidad and Tobago)
Hexic is a tile-matching puzzle video game where the player tries to rotate hexagonal tiles to create certain patterns. Spin and match hexes through 100 levels in this puzzle adventure game. Hexic has been on MSN Games for years but is now free in the Windows Store. (Note: You must change your Location to Trinidad and Tobago from the Windows Region Control Panel -> Location tab to install this version of Hexic. You can change your region back to USA after installing it.)
Solve crossword puzzles with friends or random opponents. Team Crossword has online and offline play with 3 Game modes (Casual, Standard and Pro), plenty of teamwork, power-ups and free daily puzzles.
Throne Together (Region: Canada)
Place blocks to build castles for your royal clients and please the Castle Inspector in this addicting block-based puzzle game. Build wisely or risk being 'overthrone' as the kingdom's premiere architect! With your dragon assistant Fidget, place doors, windows, gargoyles and more as per your royal client's specifications! But be careful – clumsy positioning and uneven weight will make your masterful castle crumble to the ground! (Note: You must change your Location to Canada from the Windows Region Control Panel -> Location tab to install this game. You can change your region back to USA after installing it.)
Play the classic game of Spades against new computer AI opponents in this fun, fast loading game. Enjoy both normal and suicide modes as well as two difficulty settings. Keep track of your progress with in game statistics, and even rename your opponents.
Checkers, also known as Draughts, is a board game where two players compete to immobilize or ‘eat’ all the opponent pieces. The board pieces can move forward or jump to eat an opponent piece. If a piece reaches the opposite end of the board, it becomes a “king” and can move in any direction.
Backgammon is a board game where two players compete to get all their 15 pieces off the board before the opponent. Board pieces move based on dice throws. This is a game of skill. A single game can be decided by luck, but the more one plays, the more the skill is important. After ~30 games the true skill emerges. Even a beginner can beat an expert through luck of draw in a single game, but after several games the skill prevails.
Hearts is a trick taking game where players try to go for the lowest score possible by avoiding any Hearts and especially the Queen of Spades. This deluxe version has great controls and graphics, difficulty settings for the AI players, and two additional game modes: Hooligans Mode and Omnibus Mode. You will not be able to put down the versatile version of this fun card classic!
Play correspondence chess with real people! Challenge your friends to friendly games or play ranked matches against random opponents of similar skill levels. Play as many simultaneous games as you want! Chess By Post keeps track of your skill level and always matches you against players of similar ability to your own.
Enjoy the simple pleasures of this classic game in 3 classic game modes (Muggins, Block, and Draw) against a clever computer opponent. Custom themes and backgrounds round out this game.
Play standard 9x9 grid Sudoku puzzles. Exercise your visual scanning and processing powers and strengthen your brain. This version of Sudoku has a random puzzle generator, 4 difficulty levels, Undo, Redo, Lock and Pencil buttons, Timer, Statistics, Live Tiles, and Hints.
Go is an ancient Chinese/Japanese board game. Players alternate placing black and white stones, with the goal to surround and capture their opponent's pieces and territory. Unlike chess, the number of potential moves is so great that even modern computers cannot beat most professional human players.
Reversi (also known as Othello) is a very challenging board game that begins with each player having two stones. The players alternate turns, each adding an additional stone to the board. A valid move must capture at least one of the opponent's stones by surrounding it to make your opponent's stones yours. Reversi was included in Windows 1,0, 2,0 and 3.0.
Mega Poker is a unique Texas Hold'em multiplayer card game that lets you play live poker with live players across the internet. It supports several sit and go poker types included (No-Limit, Pot-Limit and Fixed-Limit). You can connect with your friends and family to go against thousands of other players around the world. Watch the pros, or join and play with them if you think you are good enough.
4 in a Row (also known as Connect 4) is a very challenging board game for all ages. It is very easy to learn, but hard to master. Each player in his turn drops one of his pieces down any of the slots in the top of the grid. The play alternates until one of the players gets four pieces of his color in a row horizontally, vertically, or diagonally. The first player to get four in a row wins.
The famous family card game now in online multiplayer mode and customizable backgrounds, card deck designs & special effects.
Burntcard Blackjack offers authentic and configurable casino gameplay with fun extras such as a bankroll history, achievements and detailed statistics. Free bonus cash at regular intervals helps keep you in the game while achievement bonuses help top up your bankroll. The included table editor allows you to customize your Blackjack experience so that you can play the same rules as your local casino or you can just play at one of the 4 different built-in tables.
Play the classic game of Cribbage against the computer in 3 difficulty levels. With customizable settings that can help you to learn the best move for your situation and offer assistance if it notices that you are making a sub-optimal play, you can sharpen your Cribbage playing skills. Or just play in fast mode where all counting is done for you and you get to simply focus on discarding and pegging.
Group as many cards into sets and runs as you can! When your deadwood, or value of ungrouped cards drops below 10, knock to end the round!
Klotski is a sliding block puzzle. The object of game is to move the largest block to the bottom middle location. Tap the block to slide it horizontally or vertically to empty space.
Every level has a solution of minimal slides, the par. The best score of each level is recorded, you may view or clear the scores at "Level" setting in "Options". This version of Klotski has more than 400 levels!
Blocked In is a sliding puzzle game where the goal is to get the red block out of the board by moving other blocks to make way. Play 3600 unique puzzles in 5 level packs.
Remove pegs on the board by skipping them over each other, leave the last peg in the center of the board for a perfect game.
This Tetris variant has customizable backgrounds and the blocks change colors as you change backgrounds. Play in classic mode or in advanced mode with pieces in different formats which increases the challenge even more.
Dots is a classic pen and paper game where two opponents take turns connecting dots through lines to form 4-sided boxes. Each player who completes the fourth side of a 1x1 box earns one point and takes another turn. The opponent with more boxes at the end of the game wins.
Play the classic word game of Scrabble with real people! Challenge your friends to friendly games or play ranked matches against random opponents of similar skill levels.
Play Pacman, the classic game from 1980 for free. Pacman was a landmark in arcade games, it created mass media coverage and became a huge success.
Flow Free is a simple yet addictive puzzle game. Connect matching colors with pipe to create a flow. Pair all colors, and cover the entire board to solve each puzzle. But watch out, pipes will break if they cross or overlap! Free play through hundreds of levels, or race against the clock in Time Trial mode. Gameplay ranges from simple and relaxed, to challenging and frenetic, and everywhere in between.
Master Word Hunter is based on the famous word game called 'Boggle', in which up to 4 players attempt to find words in sequences of adjacent letters in the fixed time frame.
Sokoban is a puzzle game of Japanese origin, in which players pushes boxes or crates around in a warehouse, trying to get them to storage locations. The boxes can only be pushed, never pulled, so you have to be careful not to push them into a corner where you can't get them out again. You can only push one box at the time. This version has hundreds of level packs and over ten thousands levels in total.
Bubble Star is a classic bubble shooting game. Match three bubbles of the same color to pop them, and win by removing all of the bubbles from the board. Have hours of fun playing through all of the levels, using powerful bonus bubbles, and collecting all of the stars!
Tangram is a Chinese puzzle made by cutting a square of wood into five triangles, a square, and a rhomboid. The tangram pieces are named tans and can be arranged on a plane in a virtually infinite number of configurations to create any object. In puzzle mode, the objective of game is to construct the specific pattern by using all seven pieces. Tap the pieces and move them around. Use the buttons below to rotate or mirror a piece. In preview mode, you may sit back and enjoy the wonderful patterns. There are over 2000 Tangram patterns in this game.
Suit up with a selection of the coolest jetpacks ever made and take to the skies as Barry Steakfries, the lovable hero on a one-way trip to adventure! Join Barry as he breaks in to a secret laboratory to commandeer the experimental jetpacks from the clutches of science evildoers. Rain bullets, bubbles, rainbows and lasers downwards as you fly towards higher and higher scores! Along the way you’ll collect coins, vehicles, powerups and more, all of which can be upgraded and customized in the Stash.
Well that's all. I hope you discovered some new ones here. Do share with us in the comments which games you downloaded from the Windows Store.
Even though you can copy the classic Windows 7 or XP versions of games to Windows 8, or download the original games online somewhere, these Modern versions are interesting, touch-friendly and have rich graphics. Windows RT users can also play these.
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wow great list of games. I didn’t know they had so many good looking ones. thanks for finding them
Thanks a lot :)
I hope they are free from ads :D
Some of them have ads. However else will the developer make money? :)
Thanks for sharing! I discovered many awesome games from this blog.
You guys rock! What a fantastic compilation. I am going to try all of them :D
If one looks, there are installers available to put Windows 7 games on Windows 8, and 8.1, both x86 and x64 editions.
Yes certainly. The old classic games are irreplaceable. :) Even if you download the Modern versions, it is worth keeping the classic ones as they are small, fast, can be played in a window and have plenty of adjustable settings. Some games such as InkBall, Purble Place, Tinker, Internet Reversi etc have no alternatives. I even keep the XP versions of classic games. As long as you have a valid licensed copy of older versions of Windows, you can play them.
I HAVE WINDOWS 10 AND MY WINDOWS 7 GAME MAHJONG TITANS WAS TA,ENJOY OFF. AND GAVE ME THEIR VERSION OF IT,,DON’T LIKE IT AT ALL…..HOW CAN I GET BACK MY OLD GAME FROM WINDOWS 7.OR 8
Is Throne Together only for Canada?
Yes but if you change the Region to Windows Control Panel to Canada and click Apply you can install it for any region. After installing, change the Region back to USA or whatever your region was.
almost all the classic games are there thanx
Are these all available for Surface RT also?
Every app’s page has a Supported Processors section. If it says ARM under it, then it means it’s for Windows RT/Surface RT too.
Nice collection of games! I have installed them all :)
Great list. It includes my all-time favorites :P
How can I download thats
I HAVE WINDOWS 10 AND MY WINDOWS 7 GAME MAHJONG TITANS WAS TAken OFF. AND GAVE ME THEIR VERSION OF IT,,DON’T LIKE IT AT ALL…..HOW CAN I GET BACK MY OLD GAME FROM WINDOWS 7.OR 8
love internet checkers from windows 7 can I get it on windows 8 cheers
hello
any chance to run microsoft tinker on windows 10 ?
it’s for vista ultimate and work fine on windows 7
Never tried.
How can anyone download those 40 free game apps if you’re not using Windows 10?
By using Windows 8 :)
Hey these are all awesome games. I didn’t know these were in the Store! Thank you!!
Enjoy your new games :)
How about Modern Combat 5: Blackout
Its a awesome FPS game and my favorite weapon on the game is the KRUBE-37
PLEASE HELP ME GET MY WINDOWS 7 GAME MAHJONG TITANS BACK..I HAVE WINDOWS 10AND DON’T LIKE THEIR VERSION OF IT, THANKS
Stop using CAPS, it looks terrible.
Here you go: Windows 7 Games for Windows 10 Creators Update
Hi winaero,
I’m Jennifer, come from Miami. Specially many many thanks for your awesome article share . I’m a gamer and personally love to action games. That’s why I’m looking some offline action games in 2018, can you personally suggest me which is the best for my gaming life ?
Thanks
Try the new Doom game :-)
Wonderful lists of games. All of the games are awesome. Keep updating.
links fallens.
Wish i had taken it sooner, all seems dead by now
if someone made a backup pack of all that
archive.org maybe but i doubt, it’s not really mainstream
but casual so…