For all computer equipment I have sitting on my room, for all the programming I do, and for the way I talk about technology, you would think that I'd be a major gamer. You would expect me to be playing World of Warcraft, Grand Theft Auto, and Halo into the wee hours of the morning. And while I'm occasionally up until those wee hours, I'm not playing video games - I'm usually programming. In fact, I really don't play video games much any more. On the occasion that I do, it's usually Halo 3 or Call of Duty 4. Most times, though, I play Solitaire.
Solitaire?! I can hear you screaming it right now in disgust.
Solitaire is my drug of choice. However, unlike real video games which I might play when I get bored, I use Solitaire as a purposeful distraction; a break from the previous 20 minutes of hard-core coding I just completed, a way to clear my mind.
It's not that I hate playing video games, because I don't! Promise. It's just that I don't have the attention span to sit for hours playing video games. Typically, I can't play a video game for more than 30 or 45 minutes before getting bored. Then I have to go do something else. But with Solitaire, that's okay. A game lasts, what, maybe 10 minutes, maximum...if it's really long? Perfect. I can play my game and then go back to my work, no problem.
Solitaire is also universal, and comes with every major operating system today...except Apple's OS X. There's also countless versions you can download online for free...or just play online without having to download anything. And what if the power goes out? No problem, just grab a deck of cards and begrudgingly play an old fashioned version.
Point being though, I can be at work, or at home, or at a friends house, or on my laptop, or my other laptop, and they all have Solitaire! Sitting right there, waiting for me to take a break and play a round or two. It's quick, it's easy. There are no complicated rules and you don't have to worry about cheaters.
And that, friends, is why I play Solitaire.
N.B. This post is part of the 20 Something Bloggers Blog Swap. The guest writer, Andrew Ferguson, can regularly be read on his own blog at Andrew Ferguson dot NET.
