Freecell Follies

In today's edition of "Hyperion is a complete idiot....."

I got my Freecell percentage but up to 73. (Well, 72.5, but they round up , so it shows as 73.)

I can't tell you how big a deal this is for me. I had been at 73 for so long, and then a month ago or so a string of bad days knocked me down to 72%. I find that I do the worst when I'm on the phone and not paying attention. (Of course that's the only time I usually play, since otherwise I feel guilty being on the computer and not working.)

The 72% was no big deal, I thought; I'd simply concentrate the next few games and bring it back up.

Uh, it doesn't work that way.

Oh, have I mentioned that I have over 2360 games in the record? (It's actually much worse than that; more on that in a moment.)

When you get that high, it's very very hard to change your percentage. For example, right now I'm 1719-652. If I won the next 100 games in a row, (very unlikely, as the most I've ever won in a row is 48, and even that is legend among my kind), I'd be 1819-652, which would only make my score 1% higher.

Several hundred ago I told myself that once I got to 75% I'd quit forever, only to realize that it's a Herculean task to move up, (while moving down is still relatively easy). For every game I lose, I have to win three just to break even with my 75% goal, and it doesn't advance the cause. It's distressing to think of how many games I'd have to win to get to 75%, but in some ways it's a macabre challenge.

Oh, and the much worse part? Every game I lose I replay until I win. Once I found out that Freecell only counts the loss once, I play and replay until I get it; determined that not a single game defeat me. Usually I get it the second or third time, but sometimes it takes me 20-30 times to get it right, and one time it took me almost 100. So, that total is actually much much higher.

Now that you know my shame I have no choice but to ritualistically commit sepuku (involving swallowing a Frisbee).

But only after I get to 75%.