Although he admits that he didn't have "much of an idea of what an app even was," Donald Rumsfeld, two-time defense secretary, White House chief of staff and pharmaceutical industry boss, has worked with developers to launch a new video-game app titled Churchill Solitaire — a game that British Prime Minister Sir Winston Churchill played during World War II,
NBC News reports.
The game, according to Rumsfeld, is a variation of Solitaire that Churchill created and played with a young protégé named André de Staercke.
Staercke later became a NATO diplomat and taught the game that "sharpened Churchill's wits and stole his nerves," to Rumsfeld in the 1970s.
"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," Rumsfeld wrote in a
Medium post. "Winston Churchill was gone. André de Staercke, as well. And I knew I wouldn't be around forever. There was every chance the game Churchill so enjoyed could be lost to the ages."
While a regular game of Solitaire involves one deck of cards and seven rows of cards, Churchill solitaire uses two decks of cards with 10 rows. NBC notes that there is also an additional end-game goal called the "Devil's Six."
Rumsfeld added that "Churchill Solitaire is not a game for everyone … It takes patience and perseverance, cunning and concentration, and strategy and sacrifice."
The app, which was endorsed by the Churchill family, has already generated a 4.5/5 customer rating and although there are in-app purchases available, the game is free to download.
NBC notes that Rumsfeld and the Churchill family's profits are going to charity.
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