Puzzles and possibilities
Infinite combinations, unlimited potential. (Image by J Laso)
I believe that puzzles can teach us key problem-solving skills.
After all, what is a problem but a puzzle that just might have some less fun, real-life implications?
I’ve written before about how I honed some of these skills as a sixth grade super nerd, finding strategies to win solitaire games that weren’t even meant to be strategic.
And then there was Beleaguered Castle (which my childhood self would call Beauregard Castle for several years). A game that, I discovered, I could determine was winnable or unwinnable without even picking up a card.
In Beleaguered Castle, you lay the four aces in a column, and then put the other 48 cards in eight piles of six, one piles on each side of each ace, with the cards overlapping.
The goal, as usual, is to get all of the cards onto the foundations, ace to king, by suit. But only the top card of each pile is available to move, and it can only go on a card of the next-higher rank.
The only way to win, therefore, is to find a way to remove each of the cards in one of the piles, thereby freeing up a space into which any card can go.
In those days before smartphones existed, I trained myself to sit for several minutes without moving any cards until I was able find a complete sequence of moves that would allow me to clear a space. If I couldn’t find one, I could be sure that the game was lost, and I would shuffle and deal again.
On the other hand, if found a space, I could try to use it to make another space, and so on. If I got to that point, I was likely to win.
I wish I were that patient with real-life things. Many’s the time when I’ve made an impulsive choice without thinking all the way through its implications.
That said, I’m pretty good at examining my choices when I’m feeling stuck.
At first, I may only see some superficial moves I can make. But to go deeper, I can think about the result I’m looking for and work backward. What are the steps to get there, and what can I do now that could allow me to start down that path?
For a long time, planning the process, it will seem like not much is happening. But I just have to be patient. Because once I make my decision and start making the necessary moves, things will start to shift. I’ll see more and more choices open up. I’ll discover that the stuckness was an illusion.
In real life, the difference is that I risk developing an emotional attachment to a given course of action that clouds my judgment. It’s as though I’m desperately trying to put an eight on a jack and getting upset that it doesn’t go. Sometimes, I’ve got to accept that the the only option is to shuffle the cards and lay them out again. I have to let go of the way I thought it should be and the rules I am imposing on the situation.
It’s a lot easier to play a low-stakes game than it is to figure out real life. But keeping a sense of playfulness and possibility can help us to maintain perspective and prevent things from getting too heavy. We can imagine the potential outcomes and choose the one that best fits. Then, when the moment is right to move, we’ll be ready.
