{"type":"rich","version":"1.0","provider_name":"Transistor","provider_url":"https://transistor.fm","author_name":"Dead Internet Almanac","title":"July 31: A Start Menu Game Needed a Server","html":"<iframe width=\"100%\" height=\"180\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https://share.transistor.fm/e/98de09fe\"></iframe>","width":"100%","height":180,"duration":471,"description":"Microsoft’s Internet Games were small enough to feel permanent: Backgammon, Checkers, Spades, Hearts, and Reversi tucked into Windows like household fixtures. But when Microsoft shut down the servers for Windows XP and ME in 2019, and Windows 7 in 2020, those familiar tables revealed what they had always been: quiet online services dependent on distant infrastructure.\n\nThis episode looks back at a gentler era of internet play, when multiplayer could mean opening the Start Menu and being paired with a stranger for ten minutes of cards or checkers. With preset chat phrases, built-in manners, and no need for gamer knowledge, these games made online connection feel ordinary — which is why their disappearance feels less like a dramatic collapse than a small room in the internet quietly going dark.\n\nRead the original article: https://medium.com/@dia_91230/july-31-a-start-menu-game-needed-a-server-84263b3e2065\n\nSubscribe to The Dead Internet Almanac: https://buttondown.com/dead-internet-almanac","thumbnail_url":"https://img.transistorcdn.com/0T0Z9X69zNfYqQ8Z8xV4SB06Vk-a5Z4I4iH6CPQMsiQ/rs:fill:0:0:1/w:400/h:400/q:60/mb:500000/aHR0cHM6Ly9pbWct/dXBsb2FkLXByb2R1/Y3Rpb24udHJhbnNp/c3Rvci5mbS8yYmJj/OTNlYmM2M2UxYmZl/MDBjZTRiMDlhZTRm/MjI4NC5qcGc.webp","thumbnail_width":300,"thumbnail_height":300}