re: Feedback on solitaire

["mwillett1960" <mwillett@...>]

Thanks for the feedback -- I knew the game existed but didn't know it
was "Accordion." I had examined the "Tower of Babel" game that's
already posted, but didn't find it exactly the same in its mechanics.

This is a can of worms as old as games themselves, but aren't we also
talking about the old chance vs. skill question? One post seemed to
indicate that anything with 100% chance wasn't a "game," which parses
the language beyond common usage, even among published piecepack games
(especially ones designed for children and/or solitaire).

I have noticed in myself (and friends I piecepack with) that sometimes
I'll take half a page of "luck" directions over 15 pages of "skill"
and "choice" directions when all I/we want is a short diversion. If
that means we're not playing "games," so be it.

I think the reviews in Games mag are very instructional, with the
little spectrums between "chance" and "skill," etc. Maybe their
occasional inclusion in the piecepack rulesets would be helpful as well.

PS to Eric (just curious): what is someone with 3 game encyclopedias
majoring in?