A better solitaire

I've never understood the fascination people have with playing solitaire on computers. It's a ridiculously simple game that requires little in the way of cleverness. A much more interesting (and addictive) card game is Freecell.

Yes, that Freecell. The game that comes packaged with every copy of Windows, yet inexplicably few people actually play. The game requires quite a bit of forethought, ordering of objectives, and prearranging of card locations. One must carefully think out *each* move, so you don't end up one space short of being able to win the game.

I used to be decent, but not really good at Freecell. A year or two ago, though, I decided to make a concerted effort to play the game well. As a result, my win percentages have gone up rather nicely. One trap I've fallen into, though, is fatigue. After a few games of Freecell, my brain gets lazy, and I stop rigorously checking every move to make sure it will work. Eventually, this catches up with me and I lose a game. Hence, my modest-yet-still-decent 85% win record.

More importantly, this fatigue factor limits the number of Freecell games I play. I know that people can play Solitaire indefinitely, wasting away large chunks of time. Freecell's fatigue factor makes it an ideal "blow off fifteen minutes to play a few games", but not a black hole that will suck up hours of time.