How to play FreeCell
FreeCell is a one-player solitaire in which you can see every card from the start. The 52-card deck is dealt face up into eight columns, and four free cells beside them each hold one card while you work. Luck hardly comes into it: the whole layout is known from the first move, so the better planner wins. Paul Alfille created the game in 1978, and it became famous worldwide when it shipped with Windows.
Play FreeCell free here, with no sign-up, right in the browser on your phone, tablet or computer. Hands are numbered as in Windows, and you get hints, unlimited undo and a timer; cards no longer needed on the board go up to the foundations by themselves.
Objective
Move all 52 cards to the four foundations, one per suit, from Ace up to King. To get there, take the columns apart: park cards in the free cells and move them from column to column until the cards you need are free.
Setup
The table has three areas:
- The tableau. Eight columns holding all 52 cards face up: seven cards in each of the first four, six in each of the other four.
- The free cells. Four spaces at the top left. Each holds any one card, which you can take back out at any time.
- The foundations. Four spaces at the top right, one per suit. Each is built from Ace up to King.
FreeCell rules
Only cards on top can move: the last card of each column and the cards waiting in the free cells.
- Every card is face up. Nothing is hidden, so every move can be thought through in advance. Luck only deals the cards; planning wins the game.
- Build down in alternating colors. A card goes on one a rank higher of the other color: a red nine on a black ten, a black Jack on a red Queen.
- One card per free cell. Any top card can be parked in an empty free cell. From there it can go onto a column or up to a foundation.
- An empty column takes any card. Unlike Klondike, a cleared column can be filled with any card or ordered run, not only a King.
- Runs move as far as free space allows. Strictly, cards move one at a time, but the game does the shuffling for you: you can move a whole ordered run if there is room to park the cards in between. Each free cell adds one card and each empty column doubles the count. With four free cells you can move five cards; with an empty column as well, ten. The number you can move right now is shown under the board.
- Foundations go up by suit from the Ace. Each foundation starts with an Ace, followed by the Two, Three and so on of the same suit. A card on a foundation stays there.
- Cards no longer needed go up on their own. As in Windows, a card nothing more needs to be built on moves to its foundation by itself: Aces and Twos right away, higher cards once both foundations of the other color have caught up. And once every column runs downhill, the game finishes the rest for you.
Hand numbers: can every hand be won?
Every hand has a number from 1 to 99,999 and is dealt exactly as in Windows FreeCell, so hand #1 here is hand #1 there. You can replay a familiar hand, race a friend on the same one, or pick a number from the New game menu. Computer solvers have shown that only one of the first 32,000 hands has no solution, #11982, and only eight of the first million. Random hand never deals #11982 here, and every other hand can be won.
How FreeCell differs from Klondike
In Klondike most cards start face down and the rest wait in the stock, so luck matters a lot and some hands cannot be won at all. FreeCell has no stock: every card is on the table and face up from the first move, and four free cells help instead. An empty column takes any card, not only a King. That makes FreeCell a thinking game: plan carefully and you can win nearly every time. For more of a gamble, try Solitaire Turn 3.
FreeCell strategy: how to win
Nearly every hand can be won, though not in just any order. These habits help:
- Look over the whole board first. Every card is visible, so before the first move find the Aces and Twos and work out how to reach them. A few seconds of thought at the start save dozens of undos.
- Free the Aces and Twos. The sooner the foundations get going, the more cards go up and the more room opens on the board. A low card deep in a column is your first target.
- Keep free cells free. Free cells are the most precious thing in the game. Each one you fill cuts how many cards you can move at once. Fill one only when you know how soon you will empty it.
- An empty column is worth more than a cell. An empty column doubles how long a run you can move and takes a whole run, not just one card. Don’t rush to drop a single card in it if you can keep it empty.
- Clear short columns. A column of a few cards is the easiest to empty completely, and an empty column opens up the most possibilities.
- Don’t bury low cards. Avoid building a long run on a column with an Ace or Two deep inside it: getting them out later will be hard.
- Kings belong at the head of a column. A King can’t go on another card, so its place is at the top of a column. Move a King into an empty column when a long run can build down from it.
- Use Hint and Undo. Hint shows a useful move, Undo takes back as many moves as you need to try another plan, and Redo plays the undone moves again. Tap a card and it goes to the best place by itself: a foundation, another column or a free cell.
Questions and answers
Why is FreeCell called Солітер in Ukraine?
That was the game’s name in the Russian-language Windows installed on computers in Ukraine for years, and it stuck. Its original name, FreeCell, comes from the four free cells you park cards in. In English “solitaire” means any patience game, but in Ukrainian “Солітер” usually means FreeCell, while classic solitaire is Kosynka, that is Klondike.
Can every FreeCell hand be won?
Almost. Of Windows’ first 32,000 hands only #11982 has no solution, and of the first million only eight. So if a hand won’t come out, the order of moves is most likely the problem: undo a few and try another plan.
Are the hand numbers the same as in Windows?
Yes. Cards here are shuffled the same way as in Windows FreeCell, so a hand with the same number looks the same. To play a particular hand, open the New game menu and pick Choose a specific hand.
How many cards can I move at once?
As many as there is room to park in between: the number of free cells plus one, doubled once for each empty column. With four free cells that is five cards; with four cells and one empty column, ten. If you move into an empty column, that column doesn’t count. The current number is shown under the board as Cards per move.
How is FreeCell scored?
Windows FreeCell kept no score, only wins. Here, as in Klondike, every card on a foundation is worth 10 points, so a win is 520 points, plus a speed bonus: the faster you finish, the bigger it is. The total earns XP on your profile, a quarter as much for a hand you have solved before. After a win you also see what share of players you were faster than.
Which is harder, FreeCell or Klondike?
It depends on what you call hard. In FreeCell every card is visible and nearly every hand can be won, but you have to plan several moves ahead. Klondike asks for less thinking but leaves more to luck, and some of its hands cannot be won at all.
Do I need to sign up or download anything?
No. FreeCell here is completely free and runs right in the browser on a phone, tablet or computer. There is nothing to install: open the page and the hand is already on the table. Signing in is optional and only needed to keep your wins and XP in your profile. An email address is enough: we send you a sign-in link.
What happens to my game if I close the page?
The hand is saved in your browser with every move and the time on the clock, so after a reload you carry on from the same spot. Hands you have solved get a check mark by their number. The game in progress belongs to this browser and device; once you sign in, solved hands and XP are kept in your profile.
More solitaires
пасьянс.укр also has classic Klondike Solitaire, dealing one card at a time, the harder Solitaire Turn 3, and Spider in one, two and four suits, played with two decks.