“Among the things one learns as time passes is that everyone has to age, but not everyone has to get old,” Donald Rumsfeld writes for Medium. “One of the best ways to stay young is to keep learning.”
“That’s one of the reasons I’ve spent the better part of the past two years trying my hand at developing a mobile app,” Rumsfeld writes. “To be more precise, I’ve been working with a team of developers to bring into the digital age a card game that dates back to at least the Second World War, and perhaps earlier. Starting this week, I’m pleased that it is now going to have a new life thanks to modern technology.”
“My involvement in this game — an incredibly devilish version of solitaire — starts with one of the greatest leaders of the 20th century at one of the most tumultuous times in world history,” Rumsfeld writes. “Most people have played some version of Solitaire in their lives. The Churchill version, like the man himself, is far more demanding and complex. Instead of using a single deck of 52 cards, Churchill Solitaire uses two decks. Instead of the traditional 7 rows of cards, there are 10. Instead of simply moving cards so that they fit back into single-suited piles from Ace to King, Churchill Solitaire includes an extra row of six cards — the Devil’s Six — that a player has to liberate as well.”
“Up until a few years ago, there were probably a dozen or so people in the entire world who knew how to play this game. These were mostly people I taught the game to — my wife, Joyce (the second best living Churchill Solitaire player I know), our children, and some assorted colleagues and friends. That was it. Winston Churchill was gone,” Rumsfeld writes. “And I knew I wouldn’t be around forever. There was every chance the game Churchill so enjoyed could be lost to the ages.”
“Then I was approached about turning this game into an ‘app.’ I can’t say I had much of an idea of what an app even was. I had played the regular version of solitaire on my iPad, but turning Churchill Solitaire into an app of its own wasn’t something I’d ever envisioned,” Rumsfeld writes. “It wasn’t something I was sure the Churchill family would even want us to contemplate.”
“In January 2014, I wrote a letter to Sir Winston Churchill’s great-grandson, Mr. Randolph Churchill. I had known Randolph’s father during my days as a diplomat. I told Randolph the background of the game, my interest in calling it ‘Churchill Solitaire,’ and wondered if the Churchill family would have any objection,” Rumsfeld writes. “To the contrary, the Churchill family was enthusiastic about the idea — Randolph called it ‘a marvelous way to bring this back to life’ — and they agreed to lend their name to it as well. This is not a profit-making endeavor on either of our parts. The Churchill family’s profits from the game, like mine, will go to charity.”
‘Churchill Solitaire is a game that is a host of contradictions — simple yet complicated; frustrating yet fun. Now it lives on for a new generation — a fitting tribute to a great man,” Rumsfeld writes. “And starting this week, it is available to the world on the App Store and will soon be coming to other platforms.”
Donald Rumsfeld talked about Churchill Solitaire on NBC’s Today Show this morning:
Much more in the full article here.
Churchill Solitaire is free [In-App Purchases, $4.99 unlocks all) in the App Store here.
MacDailyNews Take:
I may be drunk, Miss, but in the morning I will be sober and you will still be ugly. — Winston Churchill
“A review of the Rumsfeld files finds a scattering of references to the great wartime statesman. In 1963, two months into his first term in Congress, Rumsfeld wrote that a push to award honorary U.S. citizenship to Churchill would set ‘a bad precedent,'” Dan Zak writes for The Washington Post. “On the afternoon of Sept. 10, 2001, he quoted Churchill — ominously, in retrospect: ‘Nothing surpasses the experience of being shot at… and missed.’ A month after the Sept. 11 attacks, he forwarded George W. Bush some thoughts on Churchill that ended with this: ‘War is uncertain — a thing where surprises are routine. How wars end is usually just as surprising.'”
“In some ways, the wars that began under Rumsfeld’s watch have yet to reach their ends,” Zak writes. “The devil’s six remains uncleared in Iraq and Afghanistan. Once you start playing, though, it’s sometimes best to keep the game going. ‘On the one hand it’s dangerous to do something: It’s risky, it’s not certain, as Churchill pointed out,’ Rumsfeld says, referring to U.S. engagement — and disengagement — in regional conflicts. ‘But on the other hand, not doing something is equally dangerous.'”
“A stumped player of Churchill Solitaire can ask the app for hints, or for redos,” Zak writes. “If only both were also available in real life.”
Read more in the full article here.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews readers too numerous to mention individually for the heads up.]
Like him, hate him??? I am sure there will be opinions.
But after reading the history and description, I must admit, I find this game interesting. I like it when old concepts are preserved and not lost.
MDN loves its Republican war criminals!
Morgan Kerry, you are nonsensical. By your “logic,” NBC, The Washington Post, and hundreds, if not thousands, of other media outlets that are covering his new game “love” Rumsfeld. You must be related to John Kerry. You make about as much sense.
Rumsfeld should be in prison. He is a war criminal and lied about Iraq causing the biggest foreign and military disaster in the history of the United States.
He also caused thousands of needless deaths and took forever to adequately equip troops.
His other blunder was not putting enough forces in Afghanistan early on to capture Bin Ladin.
I’m USMC, multiple combat tours, Fsck Rumsfeld and all his kind. I’d spit in his face if I had the chance.
Oh and anyone who believes he wrote an app should buy the bridge I have for sell.
Nowhere does anyone but you state or believe that Rumsfeld wrote the app. Learn how to read.
You are not sick of stupidity. You read this site, don’t
you?
He should be in prison for creating a game? Don’t pretend to be a liberal when you have nothing but irrational hate in your heart!
Waaaahhh, waaaahhhh, sniffel sniffel, waaaaahhhhhhh Rumsfeld is … Rumsfeld is … ohhhh, Rumsfeld is a, well, a BAD GUY. Waahhahhhhhhhahahahahhhh. Asscrybaby clown Rumsfeldinprison needs to grow the *uck up. Thanks Rummy for slapping the snot out of those yellow belly asscoward libs!
Don’t pretend you don’t know why he is saying that. You have proven it by your stupid response alone.
I see a quote from Winston Churchill that I read as critical of Donald Rumsfeld.
For the terminally stupid: the “Miss” in Churchill’s quote that MDN explicitly chose out of thousands of Churchill quotes is Rumsfeld.
I fail to see how MDN calling Rumsfeld “ugly” means they love him. I think it’s pretty clear that MDN thinks Rumsfeld is “ugly.” As in an ugly human being. But, of course, I am capable of critical thinking, not just reactionary knee-jerk responses when I read someone’s name.
Furthermore, MDN specifically chose another article within their Take that closes with: “A stumped player of Churchill Solitaire can ask the app for hints, or for redos. If only both were also available in real life.”
Do not call me stupid, stupid.
“Morgan Kerry” and “Darwinia” read like classic products of American public education.
They can’t read and they even go so far as to castigate people, in this case MDN, for doing the exact opposite of what they “think” they’re doing. Such idiots will be our ultimate downfall.
Idiocracy isn’t a movie, it’s a prophesy.
By any measurement Rummy is a war criminal
Your mind is closed. So you are not a liberal. It is just a goddam game!
You are a total jackass. Rumsfeld is a veteran, served the country during wartime. Was a public servant much of his life. And he never went off to his bedroom with Reggie Love and played Hearts and patty-cake while good American were under attack, as Barack Obama did during the Benghazi attack.
This guy needs to take a long walk off a short plank.
Scum. Nothing more, nothing less.
It is only a game. Your are only a mindless hater.
http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/01/iraq-war-wmds-donald-rumsfeld-new-report-213530
So, like Steve Jobs with John Sculley and Eric Schmidt, George W. Bush trusted the wrong guy with Rumsfeld.
GW Bush trusted the entire corps of the Neo-Conservatives. Oops. War crimes! (…Among many other abominations). And yes kids, history will prove this was the case. Let’s not vote that into office again.
💣⛽⛽⛽
Download Waterboardr from the App Store today!
This is the only political comment here that actually has relevancy to the game and some worthwhile humor.
What a political comment that would make. A game where drone strikes, kidnapping and interrogation, are as much a factor as shooting at potential enemies (or possibly innocents).
Score points for uncovering actual evidence to save lives, but lose points for reducing your countries international reputation, harming innocents, and creating additional enemies.
Buy the game? Sure. Rent the game? No. Because that’s what you are doing. You have to keep buying “games”.
No thanks.
Nope. A one-time in app payment of $4.99 unlocks everything forever.
It’s the only game where the cheating is automated.
The Winston Quote is actually a W.C.Fields joke from the 1934 movie, “It’s a Gift”.
Georg W version of the game – 1card
and then you get water boarded…
Such a calm, intelligent and wise man.
Rummy should be in jail.