How to play FreeCell
FreeCell is the solitaire where nothing is hidden. All 52 cards are dealt face up into eight columns, and four free cells give you room to shuffle cards around while you build each suit from Ace to King on the foundations.
Because you can see everything, nearly every deal can be won — a loss is a plan that went wrong, and undo lets you go back and find a better one.
Rules
- The whole pack is dealt face up into eight columns (four of seven cards, four of six).
- Build down in alternating colours in the columns: a red 9 on a black 10. Any card can go into an empty column.
- Each free cell holds one card. Use them to park cards you need out of the way.
- Build each suit up from Ace to King on the four foundations. Fill all four and you win.
- You can move a whole run at once if there is room to do it card by card: up to (free cells + 1) × 2 for every empty column, or half that when the run is going into an empty column. The ⇣ counter shows the current limit.
- Deals are numbered 1 to 32000 with the same numbering as the classic Windows game, so a game number always gives the same layout. Enter one, take a random deal, or play today’s deal.
- With Auto-move on, cards nothing can need any more (Aces, Twos, and cards whose opposite-colour foundations are close behind) go up on their own. Leaving a game unfinished counts as a loss for your win rate and streak.
Controls
- Drag
- Move a card or a run onto a column, free cell or foundation
- Click / tap a card
- Send it (and the run on it) to the best spot: foundation, a column, an empty column, then a free cell
- 1–8 then 1–8 / C / F
- Keyboard: pick a column, then a destination column, a free cell or the foundation
- Q W E R
- Pick a free cell (or drop into it)
- U / Ctrl+Z
- Undo (a whole supermove is one step)
- A
- Auto-finish once every column runs high to low
- N
- Random deal
Tips
- Free cells are precious. Before parking a card, ask how it will get out again.
- An empty column is worth more than a free cell: it doubles the length of run you can move.
- Go after the Aces and Twos buried deepest first; the cards above them are what you will need to rearrange.
- Stuck? Undo back to where you first filled the cells and try a different order.
FreeCell strategy
Plan the first empty column
Before the first move, find the column you can clear soonest: usually a short one whose cards fit onto other columns or go straight up. An empty column is worth more than a free cell because it doubles the run you can move. With four free cells and no empty column you can shift five cards at once; with three free cells and one empty column, eight. Getting that first column empty early shapes the whole game.
Budget the free cells
Treat the four cells as a budget, not storage. Each card you park should have a way out within a few moves: a foundation about to reach it, or a column end it will fit on. Filling the last cell is the classic mistake. With no free cell and no empty column you can move only one card at a time, and a single awkward card can lock the table. Keep at least one cell open whenever you can.
Know what auto-move leaves behind
With Auto-move on, Aces and Twos go up at once, and so does any card that both opposite-colour foundations have caught up with. Anything beyond that stays put, because a column might still need it as a base. You can send those cards up by hand, but check first: a black 6 on its foundation can no longer hold the red 5 you were about to park.
Aim for the auto-finish
Wins are ranked on time, so the endgame matters. You don’t have to sort every card by hand: once each column runs from high to low, whatever the suits and colours, A sends the rest up for you. Aim for that shape as soon as the foundations are moving. Move high cards into empty columns, shed low cards onto the foundations, and the finish appears well before the last card is placed.
About FreeCell
Paul Alfille wrote FreeCell in 1978 for the PLATO educational computer system, refining an older patience called Baker’s Game by making the columns alternate in colour. Jim Horne’s version, with its 32,000 numbered deals, came to Windows in the early 1990s and became the office favourite once Windows 95 put it on every desk.
Players set out to find which of those 32,000 deals could be beaten, and found that all but one can: game #11982 is the famous exception. This remake uses the same deal numbering, so game #1 here is game #1 there. We added drag and tap moves, unlimited undo, a daily deal, and win rates and streaks.
Questions
Is every FreeCell game winnable?
Almost. Of the 32,000 classic numbered deals, only #11982 is known to be impossible. Every other one can be won, though some take real thought.
How many cards can I move at once?
As many as you could move one at a time using the free space: (free cells + 1) × 2 for each empty column. Moving into an empty column halves that, because the column you are filling no longer counts. The ⇣ counter above the table shows the limit.
Are the game numbers the same as in Windows FreeCell?
Yes. Deals 1 to 32000 are generated with the same numbering as the classic Windows game, so you can look up and replay a deal you know. Add ?deal=617 to the page address to open a specific game.
How is my time ranked?
Only wins count. Your fastest win is your best time; abandoning a deal counts as a loss for your win rate and streak but is never posted.