Solitaire guide
How to play FreeCell: the rules, the free cells and the tips that win
Every card is dealt face up in eight columns. Build the four foundations up by suit from the Ace to the King. In the columns, build down in alternating colours. The four free cells each hold one card while you work, and an empty column takes any card. Almost every deal can be won.
The set-up
One deck, all 52 cards face up in eight columns: seven cards in the first four, six in the rest. Above them are four free cells on the left and four foundations on the right.
Moving cards
- Foundations: build each one up by suit, from the Ace to the King.
- Columns: build down in alternating colours: a red 7 on a black 8.
- Free cells: each holds any one card.
- Empty columns: take any card, or an ordered run.
How many cards can move at once
Officially you move one card at a time, but a run can move together if you could have moved it card by card through the empty free cells and columns. With f free cells empty and c empty columns, you can move (f + 1) × 2c cards; one empty column fewer if the run is moving into one.
| Free cells empty | No empty column | One | Two |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 2 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| 4 | 5 | 10 | 20 |
Safe moves home
A card nothing else could need goes home by itself in Yuzool's FreeCell: Aces and Twos always, and other cards once both foundations of the other colour have reached one less. You can turn that off in Options.
Tips that win
- Look first. Every card is face up, so find the Aces and Twos and plan how to reach them before you move.
- Keep the free cells empty. Each card in a cell halves what you can move at once.
- Empty a column early. It doubles the size of run you can move.
- Don't bury low cards. Moving a run onto a column that holds an Ace or a Two can trap it.
- Use Hint to learn. In Yuzool's FreeCell it shows the next move of a way to win from where you are.
Numbered deals
Yuzool's deals are numbered from 1 to 1,000,000 with our own shuffle. Share a number and a friend can play the same deal; every number is checked by a solver, and the very few that can't be won are skipped.
Questions
How do you play FreeCell?
Move all 52 cards to the four foundations, built up by suit from the Ace. In the columns build down in alternating colours, and use the four free cells to hold one card each while you work.
Can every FreeCell game be won?
Almost: only a handful of deals in every million can never be won. Yuzool checks every deal with a solver and skips the ones that cannot be won.
How many cards can you move at once in FreeCell?
As many as you could move one at a time through the empty free cells and columns: the number of empty free cells plus one, doubled for each empty column.
What is the difference between FreeCell and Klondike?
In FreeCell every card is dealt face up and there is no stock, so it is a game of planning; in Klondike some cards are face down and you turn cards from a stock.
Are the deal numbers the same as in other FreeCell games?
No. Yuzool numbers its own deals from 1 to 1,000,000, the same for everyone on Yuzool.