gaming

TinySol — a 3 KB monochrome Klondike solitaire that can load from a QR code

TinySol is a 3-kilobyte Klondike solitaire game created by vintage-computer developer Classic Bits and in development since 2021. A physical 5.25-inch floppy copy surfaced at VCF Southwest and was shown by YouTuber LGR Blerbs; the program is compact enough to be embedded in a QR code and decoded with code printed on the packaging. The game runs simple three-card Klondike in black-and-white at 640x400 resolution, offers a mini low-resolution QR version with limited features, and will gain a one-card draw mode in an upcoming release. TinySol is free to download from Classic Bits, runs in DOSBox by dragging its executable onto the app, and Classic Bits also provides 640 guaranteed-winnable save files because many three-card deals are unwinnable.

• File size: TinySol’s executable is 3 kilobytes, small enough to fit inside a QR code and to be distributed on a 5.25-inch floppy disk.
• Gameplay: It implements three-card Klondike with monochrome, dot-matrix style graphics at 640x400; a mini low-resolution QR version has reduced features and a one-card draw mode is planned for a future release.
• Distribution and use: TinySol is free on the Classic Bits website and can be run in DOSBox by dragging the TinySol executable onto the DOSBox application.
• Winnable deals: Because many three-card Klondike deals are unwinnable, Classic Bits provides a set of 640 winnable save files for players to load.