I can't stop playing solitaire. Help.

The_Scarab

earlier, I was watching an episode of the West Wing. And there was this shot where donna was standing in front of josh doing some paperwork, i dunno what she does, anyway she was wearing a red dress and he was wearing a black suit and i smiled because ive been playing too much solitaire that it felt good to see the cards stacked like that except they were people, not card.s

then, about an hour ago i was tidying up a bookcase and there was a vintage (not old, its a brand) copy of brave new world, and it had a red spine. and there was a copy of dracula, with a black spine. perhaps you can see where this is going. anyways, when i had finished stacking the books neatly i stood back and oh shit, all the books on the shelf went red spine, black spine, red spine black spine.

it's like every spare second, every possible free nano-moment between typing or browsing the internet or anything else on the computer i immediately open solitaire and start clicking away. furiously. i always go for fastest time, unscored, because you can tell after about ten slots whether or not your're going to beat your're time so you can start over real quick. my fastest time is now 32 seconds, which has been attained from nearly six thousand games of solitaire. you can tell i go for speed because i only have a 32 per cent win record which i try really hard to keep because of the nice symmetry with my best time. often i just quit and start over and over again until i get a good start, which is usually a couple of aces and some empty card spots for kings.

its like, im starting to stack things on my desk in rows. im wearing one red sock and one black sock right now. im not even kidding. how can i stop playing solitaire? this is becoming a very serious problem.

should i try chess titans maybe?

Scosglen

I would talk to a doctor about this honestly because it sounds like you have a raging case of OCD.

joshofalltrades

Don't download Dungeon Raid.

This doesn't sound like too bad of a case of OCD, insofar that you are still functioning, yes? If it really is bothering you, see a counselor.

Zombiemambo

It isn't a problem unless you think it is.

Coming from someone with OCD, it's nothing that needs to be fixed unless it's actually harming you and your life.

ruzkin

This sounds exactly like me, in the weeks after I first bought Lumines. Reading books was impossible because I would hallucinate rows of word falling to fill in the gaps between paragraphs. Seeing cars of similar colours lined up in parking lots would give me a spike of adrenaline. I, too, rearranged my books and DVDs by spine colour.

The solution is to stop playing.

OnTheLastCastle

The_Scarab wrote: »

earlier, I was watching an episode of the West Wing. And there was this shot where donna was standing in front of josh doing some paperwork, i dunno what she does, anyway she was wearing a red dress and he was wearing a black suit and i smiled because ive been playing too much solitaire that it felt good to see the cards stacked like that except they were people, not card.s

then, about an hour ago i was tidying up a bookcase and there was a vintage (not old, its a brand) copy of brave new world, and it had a red spine. and there was a copy of dracula, with a black spine. perhaps you can see where this is going. anyways, when i had finished stacking the books neatly i stood back and oh shit, all the books on the shelf went red spine, black spine, red spine black spine.

it's like every spare second, every possible free nano-moment between typing or browsing the internet or anything else on the computer i immediately open solitaire and start clicking away. furiously. i always go for fastest time, unscored, because you can tell after about ten slots whether or not your're going to beat your're time so you can start over real quick. my fastest time is now 32 seconds, which has been attained from nearly six thousand games of solitaire. you can tell i go for speed because i only have a 32 per cent win record which i try really hard to keep because of the nice symmetry with my best time. often i just quit and start over and over again until i get a good start, which is usually a couple of aces and some empty card spots for kings.

its like, im starting to stack things on my desk in rows. im wearing one red sock and one black sock right now. im not even kidding. how can i stop playing solitaire? this is becoming a very serious problem.

should i try chess titans maybe?

To the people asking/saying if this is a problem, please see the red part above.

Go to a therapist. There are plenty of community mental health centers that can help you out, but yeah, that's pretty classic OCD or perhaps some other obsessive personality disorder. Those traits are normal in moderation with all humans, we are trained instinctually to see patterns to save time/live but they can get out of control.

Yours has because you believe it has.

oldsak

Have you tried removing solitaire from your computer?

Alternatively, you could try other games.

Mmmm... Cocks...

oldsak wrote: »

Have you tried removing solitaire from your computer?

Alternatively, you could try other games.

Indeed, remove it from your life. You'd have to go through the hassle of finding it again. Whenever I encounter something like that I make a short list of shit that needs done. When I think about doing whatever the evil thing is, I do something productive from my list.
Even if it's dumb stuff like crunches or push ups. :P

Keep busy for a week or so like this and eventually the urge will be gone. Works for me.

Killgrimage

Hey thanks for reminding me to install solitaire on my Linux machine

To answer your question, uninstall solitaire and try to distract yourself like Mmmm...Cocks said.

Lorek

How to remove games in Windows XP...
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/307768


And Windows 7...
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Turn-Windows-features-on-or-off

RadicalTurnip

I actually did this with assassins's creed:Brotherhood. My wife and I were going through Veronica Mars (TV show) at the time, and anytime they did a hallway scene, I would automatically pick out the "groups" of people that could be hidden in. Anytime I saw someone sitting on a bench, I would think "Blend Spot". It was weird.

But seriously, uninstall the game, and if you have a hankerin' for Solitaire, just pull out the cards and play real solitaire. You'll probably stop liking it pretty quickly, because real solitaire is a hella' messy game that gets all confused and is annoying as crap.

At least, that's been my experience with it.

InAmberClad

It's crazy how this happens. I got obsessed with Condemned 2 for a while in a depressive episode once. I finally decided to take a break from the game when i was walking along behind the movie theatre and saw a pile of bricks. I actually had one in my hand before my brother appeared in front of me with a "dude wtf are you doing" face. Things just become second nature i guess... better grab a brick whilst they're there, never know when a raging drug addict might jump you.

just uninstall it if you can't force yourself to stop.

AlyceInWonderland

I used to do this with tetris. I played it so fucking much, and got so good at it that if I was walking down a hallway, or if I was in a room that had square tiles, I'd instantly see the shapes falling. I've had dreams...about tetris, and now I can fit any number of items in a small suitcase (that one is useful :P )

I stopped playing it when I lost the game, and finally stopped seeing the T shape everywhere.

Delete solitaire from your life!

Skoal Cat

Been there with Puzzle Quest and stop lights. You can do it, buddy.

big l

I had this with minesweeper. Uninstall is your answer. Then if you really want to play it for a good reason, you can google "solitaire flash game" and get a taste, but it won't be one click away anymore. That extra little inconvenience will cut down on the "Oh, I've got two extra minutes, I'll play a game or two..." that ends up happening too often and eating up too much time.

Terrendos

As someone who is not OCD but has occasionally wondered if perhaps he should make a quicksave on his life before he does something...

Just uninstall the game.

143999

If you can't kick the habit, turn your life into Vegas mode and pay money into a penalty jar every time you can't successfully finish a "round" of "solitaire".

At the end of the year, use the money to go on a trip.

Cojones

The_Scarab wrote: »

earlier, I was watching an episode of the West Wing. And there was this shot where donna was standing in front of josh doing some paperwork, i dunno what she does, anyway she was wearing a red dress and he was wearing a black suit and i smiled because ive been playing too much solitaire that it felt good to see the cards stacked like that except they were people, not card.s

then, about an hour ago i was tidying up a bookcase and there was a vintage (not old, its a brand) copy of brave new world, and it had a red spine. and there was a copy of dracula, with a black spine. perhaps you can see where this is going. anyways, when i had finished stacking the books neatly i stood back and oh shit, all the books on the shelf went red spine, black spine, red spine black spine.

it's like every spare second, every possible free nano-moment between typing or browsing the internet or anything else on the computer i immediately open solitaire and start clicking away. furiously. i always go for fastest time, unscored, because you can tell after about ten slots whether or not your're going to beat your're time so you can start over real quick. my fastest time is now 32 seconds, which has been attained from nearly six thousand games of solitaire. you can tell i go for speed because i only have a 32 per cent win record which i try really hard to keep because of the nice symmetry with my best time. often i just quit and start over and over again until i get a good start, which is usually a couple of aces and some empty card spots for kings.

its like, im starting to stack things on my desk in rows. im wearing one red sock and one black sock right now. im not even kidding. how can i stop playing solitaire? this is becoming a very serious problem.

should i try chess titans maybe?

Wow, your score lays waste to mine.

The question is, do you feel that playing solitaire prevents you from doing things that you want to do, or might enjoy more? If not, then I don't feel that there's real cause for concern.

DekuStick

32% wins is fucking crazy. I'm frozen at 17%. You could try changing the color of the background and the deck type you're using. I can't play solitaire without the red felt background. Deleting it is probably your best option though.

I also really like 143999's idea of buying in on each game you play.

exis

143999 wrote: »

If you can't kick the habit, turn your life into Vegas mode and pay money into a penalty jar every time you can't successfully finish a "round" of "solitaire".

At the end of the year, use the money to go on a trip.

So turn his OCD into a gambling addiction?

I would not recommend this method.

DekuStick

I misread 143999's suggestion earlier. Treat Solitaire like swearing. You put a quarter in the swear jar every time you let one slip. Well you put a quarter in the Solitaire jar every game you play.

acidlacedpenguin

just when you take that trip, for the love of god, don't take it to Vegas.

I got that way at work with Sudoku on my phone. I got this app that's got like 100,000 puzzles and it counts them down once you complete them so I'd be sneaking away to do some sudoku whenever I got a chance. Recently they updated the app and deprecated the version I'm on and because of the deprecation the icon gets deleted from my "desktop" every time the phone boots so now there's more than one click in between me and my sweet sweet sudoku seductress and somehow now that extra effort is enough to stop me from over indulging.

so yes, I second the motion to delete the solitaire game and use a flash game whenever you get the hankering. . . just don't bookmark the link because it'd be about the same effort.

Norgoth

What your describing is this. Basically it happens to everyone and it's nothing to worry about. If it's bothering you then there at lots of ideas for stopping playing solitaire in this thread, when you do stop it'll fade in time.

Zilla360

Solution = Replace Solitaire (shortcuts etc) with QWOP using a stand-alone flash player. :rotate:

samurai6966

I get this all the time.

It first started with RTS (C&C: Red Alert). I was dreaming of the health bars and was playing the game in my head. Then I got StarCraft and it got so bad that I finally when "Ok, I have to do something about this" and made both on paper and on game a 40 mission campaign were you play what's left of the Confederate Forces on Mar Sara who take control of a Zerg cerebrate and mutant him and it's brood to become Brain Bugs, a Zerg off-breed that can take over the minds of other creatures and control them. Nearly 400+ hours later, I finished it. However, it's where I decided on becoming a video game creator.

Lately, it's been Minecraft. I saw a bridge being built and wondered why to was taking them so long to gather the cobblestone needed to finish it!

Cargo Culture

joshofalltrades wrote: »

Don't download Dungeon Raid.

I got it on my iPhone this morning. I have done literally no work today.

olanmills

I am having a similar problem right now. I have been on this board for three hours reading topics, and I keep thinking, "why am I doing this?" lol

I am at my office. I should be at home sleeping or playing LA Noire.