Listen to the game description, or tap anywhere to skip it. To hear it again later, find and double-tap the cat at the top of the screen. Mindfulness Play, a calm game of solitaire. Your goal is to send every card home to the four foundation piles, each built up from Ace to King. The board, in reading order, is: first a cat and a mouse resting together at the top, then the four foundations and the draw pile, then the seven columns of cards, then the five buttons — new game, undo, invitation, show me a move, and settings. Every card is hand-painted in soft watercolor and ink, and the face cards — the Kings, Queens, Jacks, and Aces — have their own cute, playful cats on them instead of the traditional court and ace designs. Swipe right to move through it; each card tells you where it sits and whether it has a move to make. To move a card, double-tap it — or press Enter — and it travels on its own to the best legal spot: home to its foundation, or onto the card it can build on. Double-tap the draw pile to turn a card, and again once it is empty to turn them all over. There are no timers and no score — take all the time you like.
Mindfulness Play™
Solitaire
No moves left. A soft pink watercolor splotch with black ink lines over it: a round cat flopped down on its belly for a rest, legs sprawled out, long tail trailing off to one side, eyes closed — completely relaxed.
Mindfulness Play™
Mindfulness Play™ Solitaire is designed to take the pressure off, to bring some ease. While most apps use rewards and other pressures to keep you engaged, this one has no streaks, no scores, and no guilt.
Mindfulness often begins in sitting meditation. The hope is to carry that sense of presence into everyday life, but it's easy to forget. Mindfulness Play™ is that bridge from the cushion to everyday life. You play a soft game of solitaire, and playful watercolor cats invite you into mindfulness: A pause… notice your jaw. Soften as you exhale. As you bring mindfulness into your solitaire break, it can become easier to carry that sense of ease into other parts of your day.
The ideas in this game stem from many sources, beginning with Buddhism and yoga, which are both rooted in deep spiritual and cultural practices for the mind and body, cultivated over thousands of years in Asia. I learned these practices from many teachers, most deeply from the Vietnamese Zen teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, and from Tara Brach and Andy Puddicombe, who trained in the Theravada and Tibetan traditions. I have also spent many years learning about the nervous system from modern science, such as how our bodies shift between fight-or-flight and rest-and-digest, as well as how gentle noticing and dropping into our bodies can help us settle.
Over many years I've also learned from yoga teachers, from trauma-informed practice, from learning about neurodivergence and disability, from self-directed education, and from many books, courses and apps. I'm grateful to all of the people who teach these practices with such care. I come to this as an educator with more than twenty years of experience and with a PhD in education. I kept feeling stuck. I did the practices and felt good, but then struggled to apply what I learned to my everyday life, as a parent with chronic illness and a 24/7 caregiver. So I built a stepping stone for myself, the app I needed. And I thought others might like it too.
This game is a small bridge, not the whole path. If a moment of noticing feels good here, I warmly invite you to explore the traditions it comes from.
As a way of giving back, as a small gesture in gratitude to the deep spiritual and cultural traditions from which this work draws, 5% of what this game earns goes to an organization that helps people in need in Vietnam.
The concept, ideas, direction, art, wording and everything are mine, and I got the help of AI for the coding. Because I used the help of AI, another 5% goes to an organization that works to protect people and the environment from the potential harms of AI and to make sure it is used well.
As the game grows, I hope to give more to both.
Cassie Emmott, Erin Flory Robertson and Christian Hardy each created music for this game. Choose a track in Settings to meet each of them.
The ambient sounds are real recordings shared freely on Pixabay: rain by Liecio, ocean waves by DRAGON-STUDIO, forest birds by Dany_photo, and a stream by Pixabay user 26327991. The cat purring is by Islabonita. The soft card sounds and the gentle bell come from Kenney (kenney.nl).
Questions or ideas? info@mindfulnessplay.com
With gratitude, Dani
Mindfulness Play™
