Advanced Guide to FreeCell Solitaire
FreeCell uses one standard deck of 52 cards, all dealt face up onto eight columns: the first four columns get seven cards and the other four get six. Nothing is hidden, so every deal is a puzzle you can read from the first move. Above the columns sit four free cells on the left and four foundations on the right, one for each suit.
The goal is to build all four foundations up by suit, from Ace to King. On the table, you build columns down in alternating colours: a red 6 can go on a black 7, a black 6 on a red 7. Each free cell holds any one card while you dig out the card you need, and an empty column accepts any card or ordered run.
You move one card at a time, but the game moves a whole ordered run for you when there is room for it, the standard "supermove". The number of cards you can move at once is the number of empty free cells plus one, doubled for each empty column. Moving a run into an empty column, that column does not count. With the default auto-play on, cards that can never be needed on the table again go to the foundations by themselves.
Controls
- Tap a card or run, then tap where it should go: a column, a free cell or a foundation. Or drag it there. Tapping the same card again sends it to the best legal spot: its foundation, then a column it builds on, then an empty column, then a free cell.
- H shows a hint, U or Ctrl+Z undoes, R rewinds to the last winnable position, and N starts a new deal (press it twice to abandon a game in progress).
- The Solve Light in the top left shows the state of the game. Tap it for a short explanation.
- The menu turns auto-play, the Solve Light and the sound on or off. Your game saves after every move: close the tab and choose Continue to pick it up again.
The Solve Light
The idea behind this FreeCell is a light that tells you, after every move, whether your game can still be won. While you think, a solver searches ahead from your exact position. It finishes in a moment for most positions.
- Green, "Winnable": the solver has found a line that wins from here and counts its moves. It does not tell you the line. That is what Hint is for.
- Red, "No win": the solver searched every position you could reach from here and none of them is a win. This is a proof, not a guess.
- Amber, "Unclear": the search hit its limit before it found a win or proved there is none. This is rare, and the position is often lost.
When the light goes out, the table's glow fades from green to red and the Rewind button lights up. One press takes you back to the last position where the light was green, so a single slip never costs you the whole deal. Rewind counts as undoing each of those moves. Keep the light green from the first move to the last and you earn the Steady light milestone. Players who would rather find out for themselves can switch the light off in the menu.
Tips and Strategy
- Free the Aces and 2s first. They are buried in most deals. Spend your first moves digging them out before you build long runs.
- Treat free cells as borrowed. Every card parked in a cell cuts how many cards you can move at once. With four cells full and no empty column you can only move one card at a time.
- An empty column is worth two free cells. It doubles the size of every run you can move, so emptying a short column early often opens the whole deal.
- Watch the light after risky moves. If you are unsure about filling your last cell, make the move and look. If the light turns red, Rewind costs a few points, but finding out twenty moves later costs the game.
- Read the hint's reason. Every hint says why the move helps: it frees a card for its foundation, empties a column or builds a run. Over a few games you learn to spot these moves yourself.
- Plan toward Kings. A King cannot build on another card: it moves only to an empty column, a free cell or its foundation. A King low in a column with a long ordered run on it is easy to move; a King on top of a mixed pile blocks it.
Numbered Deals, the Daily Deal and the Deal Table
Every game is a numbered deal from 1 to 1,000,000, dealt by the same method as the original Windows FreeCell, so deal #1 here matches deal #1 in the classic version. Type a number into the menu to replay or share a deal. Random deals come from the first 32,000. Deal #11982 is the famous one that cannot be won. Open it and the Solve Light proves it: the solver searches every reachable position and finds no win.
The daily deal is chosen from the UTC date, so everyone gets the same cards that day, and it has its own leaderboard: open Scores and pick the Today's daily tab. Solving it extends your daily streak, and missing a day resets it. The deal table holds deals 1 to 100, each marked with your best stars. Ranks go from Novice to Apprentice at 10 solved, Journeyman at 25, Master at 50 and Grandmaster at 100. Completing the table unlocks the Crown card back, and play carries on for stars and scores.
Score, Stars and Unlocks
The score starts at 1000 and drops 2 points per move, 5 per undo, 20 per hint and 1 for every 5 seconds of play. A supermove counts as one move, and cards that auto-play home are free. The Par in the top bar is the length of the first winning line the light found from the deal; win in that many moves or fewer and you get 100 bonus points. Purists can switch the light off in the menu before a deal: win that deal without turning it back on and without a hint, and you get another 100 points for playing in the dark. A win earns one star, two stars if you finish in 100 moves or fewer, and three stars if you also used no undo and no hint. Stars unlock card backs (Aurora at 5 stars, Tide at 15) and table colours (Emerald felt at 10, Plum at 25, Dawn at 45). A 7-day daily streak unlocks the Ember card back, and a 30-day streak unlocks the Aurora table. Every win also sends the cards bouncing off the foundations, as a nod to the classic.
A Brief History of FreeCell
FreeCell belongs to the patience family, card games for one player. Games with reserve cells like these are much older than computers, but the modern version was made popular by Paul Alfille, who wrote it for the PLATO education system in 1978. It reached a huge audience when Microsoft shipped it with Windows in the 1990s, together with its 32,000 numbered deals. Players then tried to solve all of them, and only deal #11982 held out. Later solvers extended the count to a million deals and found that almost all of them can be won.
That is what sets FreeCell apart from Klondike Solitaire and Spider Solitaire: with every card face up and almost every deal winnable, a loss is down to the moves you chose, not the luck of the shuffle. The Solve Light builds on that. It tells you the moment a position stops being winnable, so you can see which move cost you the game.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is every FreeCell deal winnable?
Almost. Of the original 32,000 numbered deals, only deal #11982 cannot be won, and among a million deals only a handful are impossible. Every deal from 1 to 100 on the deal table is winnable, and the daily deal skips #11982. Open #11982 from the menu to watch the Solve Light prove it cannot be won.
What does the Solve Light do?
After every move a solver searches ahead from your position. Green means it found a winning line and shows how many moves it takes. Red means it searched every reachable position and none wins, which is a proof. Amber means it hit its search limit without an answer. It never tells you which move to make; the Hint button does that.
What does Rewind do?
When the light turns red or amber, Rewind takes you back to the most recent position where it was green, in one press. It counts as undoing each move it takes back, so each one costs 5 points and the three-star bonus. It is only offered while the light is out and an earlier green position exists.
How many cards can I move at once?
The number of empty free cells plus one, doubled for every empty column. With four empty cells and no empty column that is five cards; with two empty cells and one empty column it is six. When the run goes into an empty column, that column does not count. If a run is too long, the game says how many cards you can move right now.
What is auto-play, and can I turn it off?
Auto-play sends a card to its foundation only when no card could ever need to go on it: Aces and 2s always, and other cards once both opposite-colour cards one rank lower are home. It never plays a card you might still need. When every remaining card is in order, it sweeps them all home. Turn it off in the menu to make every move yourself.
Are these the same numbered deals as Windows FreeCell?
Yes. The deals use the same shuffle as the original Microsoft version, so a deal number shows the same layout here. Deal #1 starts with the Jack of diamonds, 2 of diamonds, 9 of hearts and Jack of clubs across the first row. You can enter any deal from 1 to 1,000,000.
How do the hints work?
A hint shows the next move on the winning line the Solve Light found: it outlines the card, draws an arrow to where it goes, shows how many moves remain and says why the move helps. Following hints from the start wins any deal the light has lit; a hint gives up only on the rare position where the search stops before finding a line. Each hint costs 20 points and the three-star bonus. On a lost position the hint offers Rewind instead.
How are stars and the score worked out?
The score starts at 1000 and loses 2 per move, 5 per undo, 20 per hint and 1 every 5 seconds, with 100 bonus points for winning at or under the light's par and another 100 for winning with the light off all game and no hint. One star for any win, two stars for winning in 100 moves or fewer, three stars for 100 moves or fewer with no undo and no hint. A supermove counts as one move.
How does the daily deal work?
The daily deal is picked from the UTC date, so every player gets the same deal that day, with its own leaderboard. Solving it extends your streak, which is marked on the calendar in the deal table. A 7-day streak unlocks the Ember card back and a 30-day streak unlocks the Aurora table.
What is the deal table?
Deals 1 to 100, each showing your best stars. Solving them raises your rank: Apprentice at 10, Journeyman at 25, Master at 50 and Grandmaster at 100. Completing the table unlocks the Crown card back. You can play the deals in any order, and the summary's Next button takes you to the next one you have not solved.
