Game of the Week: Solitaire

 

Solitaire is a family of card games that, as its name suggests, are to be played by one person alone.  I tend to forego all the varieties and stick with the standard version, as pictured above using a deck of cards I got from the Hampton Inn (see the picture on their back).  After shuffling the cards, they are dealt in rows, first card turned up, with each succeeding row beginning one card shorter from the above one...until the last row is a single upturned card. The object is to fill each suit with cards, going in order from Ace to King, before the game's rules prohibit any advancement in play.  I've played it so many times, going back to childhood, and still play it on my phone app...which of course is much more convenient without cards to shuffle or a needed surface to play on.  Since I don't "win" most games, I keep score by playing games until I lose five, counting the number of cards "on top" for each one...since it's Solitaire, everyone can play it the way they like.  Like most card games, there is a mixture of luck and strategy in it...my strategy is so automatic now that I spend almost no time between moves.  I tend to play it more on my work breaks or when I'm tired...very little intellectual or physical effort required here...