How Card Games Improve Our Perception?

Card games like solitaire, war, and poker have been popular for centuries. In fact, some historians claim that card games originated in China as early as 1000 AD.

The theory is that Chinese soldiers played with cards to pass the time during long periods of waiting or when they were stuck in a fortress defending against attack. 

But card games aren’t only a pastime for adults and children, they also offer cognitive benefits that can be useful to all of us. It is not a coincidence that many great poker players have high IQs or are great mathematicians. IQ tests are based on patterns and calculations that are found in card games. To have a high IQ, one needs to be able to find recognizable patterns and calculate the odds of winning from them.

Why are card games so much fun and how can they be beneficial for our perception? What is perception and why is it important?

Perception is the process of acquiring and understanding sensory information.

It can be affected by our past experience, education, memory, physical condition and emotions. It affects how we understand what is happening around us in the present moment as well as how we remember things that have happened to us before.

It helps us in adapting to the new situation and change the way we see things. Perception is a very important part of our lives because it affects everything that we do, from how well we function in work or school to how safe we feel when walking alone at night.

How card games improve our perception

Playing card games gives us a chance to improve our perception. When playing, we need to find and identify cards that are face down on the table or even in other players hands at times. Playing card games trains your brain to be more observant of all things around you and spot patterns that might not normally have been noticed by someone who does not train their brain by playing games. 

For example, if you are playing rummy and someone puts down a card face up on the table that is next in order to the one you just put your hand down with, then it will be easier for you to identify when they take cards from their pile. 

Card games involve many patterns and systems that are constantly moving and changing. Provided that we can help us find patterns in the world around us more easily, especially if we’re playing a game like solitaire or poker where all of the cards end up being spread out on the table face down. 

Perception improving card games examples

Games that are great for improving perception are solitaire, war, and poker. 

Classic solitaire is  a card game where the player must move all of the cards from one place to another in order, either by moving them up or down. You need to move them wisely to not block other cards from moving to the end of your stack. 

Free Cell is a variety of solitaire in which the player tries to move all of the cards in a table from one stack to another. It is  an extremely difficult game.

Spider Solitaire Challenge  is a little bit more complicated since it is played with two decks, but some people consider it as easier than classic Solitaire.

We can also play a simpler version of solitaire called Klondike, which is usually the first and easiest form for beginners to learn how to play. 

War is a card game where two players lay out their hands face up on the table, and take turns picking one card at a time until all but one player has nothing left in his or her pile. The last person standing wins the round. It’s common for people to get creative and switch rules a little, like picking up a card from the other player’s pile.

Poker is perfect for practicing evaluating the probability of winning and making decisions based on chance.

Children and playing card games

Children can be taught how to play card games to prepare them for other games in life. In many cultures, card games are played during family gatherings to strengthen bonds between members and develop social skills. 

We can teach children how to play these games using playing cards so that they develop useful perceptual abilities like attention control, visual-spatial processing, memory span, decision making ability and more. Moreover, winning and losing teach children how to control their emotions and how to deal with the consequences of their decisions.

A lot of children today are playing video games and not card-based board games like they used to in previous generations. This is bad because so many benefits can be gained from mastering card game techniques, rules, and strategies. 

Conclusion

Perception is an essential part of our functioning in the world and improving it is always beneficial for us. Card games are great for that since they require focus, multitasking, great memory and understanding of symbols and patterns. Moreover, card games teach children about decision making and how to control their emotions.

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