FreeCell Solitaire: how to play, rules and strategy

How to play

1. The goal is to move all 52 cards to the four foundations at the top right, one per suit, building each from ace up to king.
2. All 52 cards are dealt face up into eight cascades: four of seven cards and four of six. The four free cells at the top left start empty.
3. In the cascades, build down in alternating colors: a red 7 goes on a black 8, a black 9 on a red 10. Any card, not only a king, can go to an empty cascade.
4. Each free cell holds one card. Put a card there to uncover the one beneath it, and play it back onto a cascade or a foundation later.
5. Officially only one card moves at a time, but the game moves an ordered run for you when there is room to do it card by card: up to (free cells + 1) times 2 for each empty cascade. With 4 free cells that is 5 cards; with 4 free cells and 1 empty cascade, 10. When the run goes into an empty cascade, that cascade does not count.
6. Cards cannot come back from the foundations. Cards that are safe to send home go there by themselves, and once every cascade is in order the game plays the rest home for you.
7. Deals are numbered the way the classic FreeCell that came with Windows numbered them, so Deal #1 here is the same Deal #1. Nearly all of them can be won; deal #11982 is the famous one that cannot. The daily deal is the same for everyone each UTC day, and the game’s solver checks that it can be won before it is dealt.

Controls

Touch

Drag a card or an ordered run to another cascade, a free cell or a foundation, or tap it and then tap where it goes. Double-tap a card to send it to its foundation.

Mouse

Drag cards, or click a card and then the place it goes. Double-click a card to send it home.

Keyboard

Tab or the arrow keys move between the free cells, foundations and cascades. Enter picks up the top card (press it again on the same cascade to pick up more of its run), then Enter on another place puts it there. F sends the top card home, C puts it in a free cell, H shows a hint, U or Ctrl+Z undoes, N deals a new game, P pauses and Esc drops the pick.

Score and progress

Every card or run you move counts as one move; the cards that go home by themselves do not. The clock runs from your first move until the last card goes home, stopping while the game is paused. Undo takes moves back one at a time, Hint shows a useful move, and Restart deal plays the same cards from the start. Games played, games won, your best time, your fewest moves and your daily streak stay on this device.

Tips

• Look before you move. Every card is face up, so find where the aces and twos are buried and plan how to dig them out first.
• Keep free cells empty for as long as you can. Each free cell you fill halves your room to move runs, and a full set of cells usually ends the game.
• An empty cascade is worth more than a free cell: it doubles the length of the run you can move, and it can hold a whole run, not just one card.
• Build long ordered runs on high cards early, and avoid parking low cards in the free cells, because they need to go home before anything else can.
• Send cards home only when nothing still needs them to build on. The game sends the safe ones by itself; a 5 or 6 may still hold a lower card of the other color.
• If a deal looks stuck, use Undo to go back a few moves and try another plan. Hint shows the next move of a solution when the solver finds one from where you are.

Stuck on a deal, or wondering if it can be won? Enter its deal number into the FreeCell Solver to get a solution step by step.

A new challenge arrives every day at midnight UTC. More daily puzzles