Text 2117, 56 rader
Skriven 2006-06-14 23:26:54 av DAVE SACERDOTE (1:123/140)
     Kommentar till en text av MICHAEL LOO
Ärende: talking to oneself 801
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The hour grows late; I've just finished watching Kurosawa's 
"Kagemusha" (subbed, not dubbed) for perhaps the 3rd time and I 
still don't think I understand it all.  The last few minutes of
an awful Hope/Crosby "Road" movie are droning off in the background.
I'm waiting for "Larceny Inc." with Edward G Robinson to start,
and reading your interesting stream-of-consciousness post here.

How's the noggin?

ML> Questions about Spider solitaire.

ML> 1. Why the name? My guess is that, as with many other
ML> things, it sucks you in gradually, and "once tasted, always
ML> wanted." And then you're hooked.

The way the sequences grow in the game (built on the layout
instead of from foundation cards) must have reminded someone
of the way a spider builds it's web.  Here's a cite:

   "The game is usually known as Spider, a name which I 
    have rejected because a number of variations are known 
    by the same name; in fact,   Spider  is not so much the 
    name of any one game but the generic name for any game 
    of patience in which the foundation-cards are not played 
    to the centre, but in which sequences are built within 
    the lay-out itself. I have suggested the alternative 
    name of Roosevelt's Favourite because it is mentioned 
    in the Redbook Magazine as being the favourite patience 
    game of Franklin D. Roosevelt."   (Hervey, George.  The
    Illustrated Book of Card Games for One.  Secaucus NJ:
    Chartwell Books. 1977, p.129)

ML> 2. Does it get harder as you play? I was doing Medium,
ML> and once I got the hang of it, my success rate went from
ML> nil to 33% and then took a plunge to 25-ish. I had a run
ML> of about a dozen losses, which got frustrating, until I
ML> started analyzing the hands. . . But will perhaps
ML> give it a go again for a game or ten this evening.

You seem to have worked out the numbers pretty well.  Even
25% is pretty good for patience.  I went through a minor
obsession a few years ago during which all I wanted to do 
was play standard solitaire; I found that although I had 
winning streaks and dry spells, the overall average was 15%
wins (tracking <7500 games.)

The thing to keep in mind is that computer based card games
cheat like a married crack whore in search of a fix.  You'll
never get a fair shake from them.



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Minutus cantorum, minutus balorum, 
minutus carborata descendum pantorum
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