Though I haven’t played the actual card game since before smartphones existed, after winning my first two hands of Klondike solitaire, I felt like a certified card shark.Ĭraving some company, I shared my screen with my girlfriend Timaj via Zoom and invited her to join me in Scramble Words while I scrambled eggs for dinner (don’t judge - they go great with wine). The game is simple - letters appear along the bottom of the screen and you have to use them to form words. Which led me to solitaire, which I wish I’d remembered while quarantined. (Look it up, ladies.) The clues in Mini Crossword were easier than The New York Times crosswords (what isn’t?), but challenging and fun nonetheless. I love language and consider my vocabulary to be kind of, shall we say, brobdingnagian. While my score was nowhere near the list of highest-ranked players, I loved the feeling of focus and absorption. With seven minutes to match as many of the same tiles as I could, my competitive spirit awakened. I first clicked on Mahjong Remix, a new take on the classic. I told her I was, well … game … then enjoyed a few moments of playtime over the next several days.

So I was intrigued when a girlfriend told me she loves the free games on and suggested I give them a try.

With cold weather and limited options for fun, it’s easy to lose hours scrolling through the news or social media, but for the sake of my sanity, I’ve unplugged a bit.

Aarp games block champ