The Game of Life

I sometimes like playing spider solitaire with multiple suits on my computer while I watch t.v. (I always need to do something else while I watch TV).
The funny thing about Spider Solitaire is that there's always a solution - always a way out, but it just requires that you keep trying without giving up, and are willing to undo your moves until you figure it out. Even when  you are stuck all the way with the last deck out, the game will ask you if you want to continue and retry, or give up. You can click retry, and then press ctrl-z to undo every single move until you get to a place where you think you messed up, even if it's all the way back to the the beginning.

For those who don't approve of using the undo button to make a win, the reality is that the game is not pure strategy - luck is also involved. When there are multiple options for opening up a covered card, you don't know which column to pick. There are ones that will lead you to eventually finish, and then there are ones that will for sure cost your game. But you have no way of knowing until you get to the end.

If you picked the wrong column, should you just gave up because your luck ran out?

I don't. In those cases, I make use of the undo quite liberally. I open up a column and see if the card is useful, if not I click undo and test the next column. Sometimes if the card is useful, I play a few moves to see where it takes me, and then I click undo and test another column. At the end of the day, as long as you are willing to use the undo button, you could never lose.

For the most part, getting stuck in Spider Solitaire is due to lack of focus and concentration. You either didn't plan the moves in the right order, or you failed to see a move and just clicked on a new deck, causing everything to get stuck. Sometimes I seem to get all the easy games and can finish all my games without getting stuck once, sometimes it seems like I get all the hard games and must keep using undo. When the latter happens, I eventually realize that it's not the games, it's me. I'm likely tired and am not seeing the right moves. Sometimes I even get stuck several times and must restart the game from the beginning more than once.  And then sometimes you come to a game where you keep getting stuck and you have no way out, at all. That's when I put the games on hold, walk away for a bit, come back, and then, somehow the game got easier and I can finish it without a problem.

Sometimes I wish there's an undo button for life.