Monday, November 08, 2021

Solitaire and the valuable life lessons I learned from it.

Reminiscing my childhood days is always a great way to relax on days when things are going downhill for me at work or at home (hello endless house chores!) One of the best memories I have is my bonding moments with my mom. I can totally remember being fascinated with numbers and shapes so she thought it was a great idea to introduce me to card games.

The first card game I ever learned was Solitaire! I love how the game can be simple yet challenging at the same time. I love how it stimulates a player's mind and improves focus. It's also perfect for developing a strategic approach at anything in life. Best of all, Solitaire is for everyone, young and old! Imagine, I learned playing this when I was 6 years old!

I recently discovered a site where you could play Solitaire and other variations of it. One time, I was experiencing a mental block while I was trying to finish and article. I had to find ways to gain my focus back and keep my creative juices flowing. Recalling good times or what they say thinking of happy thoughts help a lot, so that's exactly what I did. Then I remembered my mom, my childhood, and Solitaire. Gladly I stumbled upon https://www.solitaire.org/

I've played this during resting time or when my head is out of the window and I needed some mentally challenging distraction. It feels so good to be able to finish this game with the right strategies in place. Other times, I don't get to complete the game but you can always start over.

In this Solitaire game, you could do the following:

Restart the game if you don't like the deal or like me, stuck in a game and can't find any more ways to finish it.
Time your game if you're competitive like that and want to better your already bests.
See the stats of your wins and losses.
Click the undo button of you didn't like your latest move or if you made a mistake.
Control the sounds.

After playing the classic Solitaire game, I tried the other variations of Solitaire available on the site.

SPIDER SOLITAIRE

It was the first time I ever tried Spider and I was a bit perplexed as to how to complete all 13 cards of the same suit given its complexity. By the way you could choose between 1 to 3 suits. Since I'm a beginner, I chose only 1 suit.

It's basically same concept as the classic Solitaire but a bit challenging for me because you have to be more strategic when it comes to piling the cards in sequence continuously. Otherwise, you'd need to draw new set of cards, then cut the sequencing of all the cards. I think I've managed to complete this just once. I like it because it challenges me and makes me think more strategically. It helps me focus.

How To Play Spider Solitaire:

Assemble thirteen cards of a suit, in descending sequence from King to Ace.
Once a full suit of thirteen cards is assembled, it is discarded.
The goal of the game is to stack cards into sequences. These sequences are based on suits and rank. For example, the cards will be stacked K, Q, J, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, A with no mixed suits.
You move cards around the game space following a set of rules. It's possible to follow all the rules and still get blocked if you lack strategy and some luck. Blocking yourself in means you lose the game.

Overall I think this is a game that should be played for longer time. You need to think more than when you play the classic Solitaire.

PYRAMID SOLITAIRE

Solitaire really can get me hooked because I love mind-stimulating or strategic games! After discovering Solitaire.Org and other varieties of Solitaire, it really got me pretty excited trying one solitaire game after the other.

The third Solitaire variation I tried is called Pyramid.

How to play it:

The defining feature of this version of the game is the pyramid layout.
Deal cards to form a pyramid, starting with a row of one card, followed by a row of two cards, and so on, down to a final row of seven cards. The pyramid will consist of twenty eight cards in total shown face-up. Each row should overlap the previous one.
The remaining cards are set down at the bottom of the pyramid. This is the draw pile. These cards are arranged face-down. There is also a waste pile for cards that are passed from the draw pile.
Pyramid Solitaire is “open” in that the cards are dealt face up at the start of the game.
The object of the game is to remove all cards from the pyramid. Cards are removed in pairs and these pairs must add up to thirteen. For example, a ten and a three can be removed together, as they add up to a total of thirteen.

You've gotta be good in math to be able to play and finish Pyramid quickly, well that's for me! You need to get yourself familiarized with adding up two cards to make 13. It's like another card game called pairing. You have to be strategic as well in order to pair all 52 cards and finish the game. It's gets pretty exciting when you're slowly pairing the cards all the way to the top. I had one experience when I had only two cards left but still lost the game! Hahaha! It was fun because I overestimated myself, I forgot to strategize in the end. But it taught me a lesson not to be complacent even when you already think you're winning. Always see it through until the end.

Ooops! My breaktime from work is almost over! But to tell you honestly, I'm glad I discovered this site where I could relive the moments I played Solitaire with my mom and at the same time learn other varieties of the game.

If there are life lessons that can be picked up from playing Solitaire they would be:

Develop more focus on whatever I am doing like work or being a wife and mom.
become more strategic in everything I do to save time and be successful.
Be more patient, because it's indeed a virtue.
Always have clear plans for the future
Set SMART goals.
Lastly, if I don't win, then I could always start over and keep on trying, never lose hope.

Have you played Solitaire before? If you did, then I'm sure you won't regret hanging around a bit the Solitaire.org site for some needed break to help you refocus. If you haven't then it's time to learn how to play it and discover how much fun it is and how it can teach you valuable lessons as well!

Comment below what you think of it once you've tried it too!

Louise Antonette

Hi, I'm Louise Fandiño Santos, a wife, a mom of all boys and a campaigns strategist by profession. My family, singing, flowers, chocolates, coffee, and traveling make me happy. I passionately blog about pretty and practical things and choices concerning motherhood, relationships, food, travel, events, and shopping. MORE?