how addicted are you ~ Freecell Obsession !

In a Cricket crazy Nation, the word obsession may not need any lengthy elaboration. I do not have an answer for the Q is the obsession for Cinema is more !

Unbeaten half-centuries from Virat Kohli and Ajinkya Rahane helped India take firm control of the first Test against West Indies in North Sound. By the end of the third day, India were 185 for 3, Kohli batting on 51 and Rahane on 53 with the overall lead swelling to 260. The two had joined hands just before tea and continued their association till stumps, adding 104 for the fourth wicket. Earlier in the day, West Indies were bowled out for 222, 75 behind India's first-innings total of 297.

Away at Leeds, in the Ashes England 67 and 156 for 3 (Root 75*, Denly 50) trail Australia 179 and 246 (Labuschagne 80) by 202 runs.  Joe Root and Joe Denly - two England batsmen needing big scores as much as any - had dug in and turned the match on its head, a recurring theme in a series that has seen momentum swings , twists and turns throughout. The pair put on a 126-run partnership, Denly reaching his second Test fifty, and Root unbeaten on 75 at the close. The 67 all out England coughed up in their first innings had heaped more pressure on England's batting line-up and these two hadn't escaped - far from it.

The adjective ‘obsessed’  would mean :  unable to stop thinking about something; too interested in or worried about something.  A diamond solitaire refers to any piece of jewelry with a single diamond. Diamond solitaires can be a ring, necklace, earring or even men's jewelry. This is not on diamond solitaire, but my obsession on a Card game Solitaire –‘freecell’.

Be it a marriage, function, cinema hall, cricket match, office, lecture room, class room or what .. .. people are obsessively involved in touching their mobile screens – checking for social media and playing games ! ~ I claim that I can live without mobile for a day or two – though me too have great obsession for social media.  We also see, people madly playing various computer games, especially on their smart phones -   their impulse control isn’t as strong.   It’s rather humiliating, since I’ve always been someone who adapted well to a disciplined schedule.  Me too am addicted to one particular game ‘Freecell’ – I played almost all the time I open my Computer at home and when I close it ! ~ for sure, have never played it on office machine or on office laptop.   The card games are no doubt interesting and challenging too !

While Cards offer various probabilities – here it is 52! (i.e., 52 factorial), or approximately 8×1067, distinct deals. However, some games are effectively identical to others because suits assigned to cards are arbitrary or columns can be swapped. After taking these factors into account, there are approximately 1.75×1064 distinct games, is how the challenge is described.

For those uninitiated it is Freecell game that one standard 52 card deck – there are 4 open cells and 4 open foundations – there are some alternates too.  Cards are dealt face-up into eight cascades, four of which comprise seven cards each and four of which comprise six cards each.

The lure of FreeCell, a highly strategic solitaire game that can be summoned with just a click or two on the desktop is very seductive challenging you to win the deck.  It is winnable but could be challenging.  To me, the challenge is one last single click that arranges all the remaining cards – so of the 52 at what stage do you get that single click possibility is the fantasizing Q.  Today I got it at 45 i.e., only 7 cards – 45 cards remaining and putting 8 clubs into 7 possible places, is going to end the game on a victory note !. 

            FreeCell can be traced back to the mid-1970's, when a version was written by Paul Alfille in Tutor, a programming language designed for the University of Illinois's computer system. A variation of Baker's Game, another solitaire game, FreeCell traces its origins to an older game called Eight Off, and possibly as far back as 1945 to a game called Napoleon in St. Helena.      FreeCell was introduced to the mainstream in the early 1990's as part of Microsoft's Entertainment Pack Volume 2. But until it was included with Windows 95 as a game accessory within the operating system, it remained relatively obscure. Now it is an integral part of Microsoft operating system.

Microsoft has included a FreeCell computer game with every release of the Windows operating system since 1995, greatly contributing to the game's popularity. Nearly every FreeCell game can be won. Only one of the 32,000 deals in the Microsoft Windows version has been deemed impossible: No.11,982 is one bad trip.  Using the basic deal numbering system that virtually all FreeCell games use, game #11982 is the first unwinnable game of FreeCell. ... After that only the games #146692, #186216, #455889, #495505, #512118, #517776, and #781948 are unsolvable out of the first million games. Therefore, unsolvable games of FreeCell are literally eight out of a million.

So how obsessed are you ? after my  #metoo confession !  .. .. Obsession is a 1976 psychological thriller film directed by Brian De Palma, starring Cliff Robertson, Geneviève Bujold.   The story is about a New Orleans businessman who is haunted by guilt following the death of his wife and daughter during a kidnapping-rescue attempt. Years after the tragedy, he meets and falls in love with a young woman who is the exact look-alike of his long dead wife.

Obsessed is a 2009 American thriller film directed by Steve Shill. Obsessed tells the story of Lisa (Larter), an office temp, who develops romantic feelings for her boss, Derek Charles (Elba), and repeatedly attempts to seduce him. Derek's wife, Sharon (Beyoncé), learns of Lisa's obsessive behavior, and suspects an affair. Obsessed received generally negative reviews from critics, many of whom were disappointed in the absence of an explanation for Lisa's obsession with Derek. Others noted that the potential theme of interracial conflict between the Charles family, who are black, and Lisa, who is white, was unexplored. The storyline of Obsessed has been compared with that of Fatal Attraction (1987) - a recollection in which Elba and Beyoncé have the Michael Douglas and Anne Archer roles, respectively, while Larter is in Glenn Close's - although film critics disliked the fact that Derek did not yield to Lisa's seduction. The fight scene finale between Sharon and Lisa, however, was commended by reviewers, and won the MTV Movie Award for Best Fight.

Obsession ~ Freecell and .. .. ..

With regards – S. Sampathkumar

25^th Aug 2019.