FreeCell Solitaire is the strategist's game — the patience where luck steps aside and judgement takes the throne. Every one of the fifty-two cards is dealt face-up from the start, and four free cells stand ready as reserves, so nothing is hidden and nearly every deal can be won with the right plan.
Where Klondike asks patience with a shuffle you cannot see, FreeCell asks only that you think clearly. Play free in your browser — no download, no signup — with unlimited undo, hints and full-screen.
How to play FreeCell Solitaire
FreeCell deals all fifty-two cards face-up into eight columns — the first four hold seven cards each and the last four hold six — so the entire game is visible before you make a single move. Above the tableau sit four free cells, each able to hold one card, and four foundations to be built upward by suit from Ace to King.
Within the tableau you build downward in alternating colours, exactly as in Klondike: a red seven onto a black eight, a black six onto a red seven. A free cell is a temporary parking space for any single card, invaluable for shifting an awkward pile out of the way. Strictly speaking you may only move one card at a time, but because free cells and empty columns let you relocate cards, the game allows you to move a sequence whose length is limited by how many cells and empty columns are free. Empty columns may be filled by any card, not only a King. Win by sending all four suits home to the foundations. When you crave a game with an element of chance again, Spider awaits.
FreeCell Solitaire strategy & tips
Because everything is visible, FreeCell rewards planning above all. Before you touch a card, survey the whole board and locate your Aces and Twos — the deeper they are buried, the sooner you should plot their release, since no foundation can begin without them. Sketch the sequence of moves in your mind and work backwards from the card you truly need.
Treat the four free cells as precious. Each card you leave in a cell is one fewer you can use to shuffle a long sequence, so return parked cards to the tableau or the foundations as soon as a home appears. Prize your empty columns even more highly, for together with free cells they set the maximum length of run you can relocate in one move. Avoid rushing cards to the foundations if a low card might still serve as a landing spot in the tableau. And when a line of play goes wrong, unlimited undo lets you retrace your steps — in FreeCell a stall is almost always a puzzle to be re-solved, not a dead end.
The solvable solitaire
FreeCell holds a distinction that sets it apart from every other game in the court: with all cards on view and four reserves at hand, the overwhelming majority of deals can be won by skilful play. Of the classic numbered deals made famous by the game's early computer versions, all but a single notorious hand are known to be solvable — a record no other popular solitaire can claim.
That near-certainty changes the character of the game entirely. A loss in FreeCell is rarely the fault of the shuffle; far more often it is a move played out of turn or a free cell spent too freely. This makes it the ideal training ground for the thinking player, and a satisfying proving ground once Klondike has taught you the foundations. Master FreeCell and you master solitaire as a game of pure skill.