Games for Life
I have always enjoyed playing cards. When growing up, card games were frequent in my family and quite serious in the sense that you did not joke around. You seriously and studiously did your best to win. I play cards every day, now online. In this post, I consider how card games can help us to lead a cognitively rich life.
Of course, the first question must be, “How can card games contribute to cognitive health?” Here are the five games I play every day and their characteristics that seem to relate to cognitive life skills. First of all, consider the characteristics these games seem to have in common:
- Competition against other players and random chance
- Uncertainty about who has what cards and what cards remain hidden
- Uncertainty about competitors’ strategies and plans for winning
- Managing knowledge of what has happened and what is still possible
These seem to be skills we would like to sustain in general. Now, let’s look at the specific games that I play each day.
Bridge: You have a partner and two competitors. Hands are played until there is a winner. Someone always wins. Hands are likely to win when: 1) Points in hands support bids, 2) There is “transportation” between hands, and 3) You have stoppers for No Trump bids.
Cribbage: You have a competitor. Hands are played until there is a winner. Someone always wins. Hands are likely to win when: 1) You have double runs (8-16 points), 2) You have three 15s & 3 of kind (12-16), and 3) You avoid your opponent pegging 3 & 4 of a kind.
Gin Rummy: You have a competitor. Hands are played until there is a winner. Someone always wins. Hands are likely to win when: 1) You are dealt runs or 2–3 of a kind from the outset, 2) You draw low rather than high cards unless completing a run or 3 of a kind, and 3) You discard high cards early so your opponent does not catch you with points.
Hearts: You have three competitors. Hands are played until there is a winner. Someone always wins. Hands are likely to win when: 1) You have Clubs & Diamonds stoppers, 2) You have no low Hearts unless you have many Hearts, and 3) Your opponents discard high hearts.
Solitaire: You have no competitors other than chance. One hand is played. There are no “Foundation Piles” where you can move aces, twos, etc. You will seldom win without Foundation Piles. Hands are likely to win when: 1) There is balance across values – no three Kings and four aces, 2) There is balance across black and red cards, 3) You can manage uncovering right columns, and 4) Your Kings are not trapped.
Overall Strategies
Three strategies work for all five card games:
- Know what has been played
- Know what competitors have drawn
- Know what is no longer available
Observations
Several insights can guide how you proceed:
- Potential winnability of hand is often readily apparent; restart if winning is impossible
- When game involves multiple hands, losing a hand is not fatal
- Switching from one game to another can require a cognitive reset
The last point is particularly relevant to older folks like me. Brain games, I think, are more helpful when they force you to switch gears and not just rely on well-learned patterns. For example, in cribbage, cards that add to 15 are important but irrelevant in bridge. When first switching from cribbage to bridge, I look at my hand and see the 15s. I immediately need to do a cognitive reset because 15s are no longer relevant. The speed of my reset often amazes me.
I think, but have no real evidence, that this improves my cognitive health. Frequently having to switch gears between one game format to another keeps me, I think, being cognitively limber, sort of like cognitive stretching. My one mile plus walk each day is supposed to help my physical stretching, but I am not as enthusiastic about this challenge. The competitive nature of the walking challenge is not as much fun!
