Solitaire, I played a lot as a kid with a deck of cards (going back 30 years ago) - although we called it ‘Patience’ back then. Then later on in life we embraced and enjoyed Windows Solitaire (dragging and dropping those cards on a screen with the mouse....…. that takes me right back) - the perfect game to kill time.

Fast forward to now, and there are many different ways to access and play Solitaire, from phone apps, to websites like solitaire.org/.

As a hard core procrastinator, or wanting to engage in something to pass sometime, I now play on Solitaire.org website, and it is free. I can play on my own (as there is zero need to engage with other players), and the website also has an array of different versions of the game, you can literally spend hours discovering and playing all the different types of Solitaire games. Classic Solitaire is my favourite, it’s the one I always return back to play. Also there are no pesky distracting ads that cause the web page to jump around, or cut in while you play. It’s undivided and simple game-time.

For me it is the perfect quick game that simulates the brain and kills the time. Just like reading a book or listening to the radio, it can be a great way to kill time.

My new favourite version is Pyramid Solitaire (although you can’t beat Classic Solitaire, Pyramid Solitaire is a great alternative) - What is Pyramid Solitaire?

Well, you start with a ‘pyramid’ of 28 cards, with the rest of the cards left on the deck. Your objective is to clear the entire pyramid by matching pairs of cards where the value adds up to 13. e.g, a five and an eight, from any suit, totals 13 and will match. Kings have a value of 13, Queens value is 12, Jacks are 11, and Aces 1.

As you play through the pyramid and as you expect with Solitaire’s base rules, you can only match the exposed cards. As the layout of the cards is that of a pyramid shape (instead of the classic straight row layout), two cards have to be removed to reveal one behind.

Back in the day Solitaire was probably everyone's favourite time-waster - pretty much every household owned a deck of cards, and then when it became accessible on Windows PC, people got to experience the game in electronic version; playing it work, at college/school or if you were lucky enough to have a PC at home.