FreeCell

Rules and how to play

The game uses the 52 cards of a deck without jokers. The cards go in 8 tableau columns, 4 free cells, and 4 foundations. At the start, all 52 cards are dealt face up to the tableau: 7 cards to each of the 4 columns on the left and 6 cards to each of the 4 columns on the right.^[9][10]

In the tableau, you place a card on the top card of a column if it is 1 lower and the other color (red or black). For example, you can place a red 7 (hearts or diamonds) on a black 8. Only the top card of each column can be moved.^[9][10]

A free cell is a space that can hold any card, but only 1 card at a time. You can put the top card of a column in a free cell and later move it from there onto a card in the tableau, to an empty column, or to a foundation.^[1][9]

Any card can be placed in a column that has no cards left. This is where FreeCell differs from Klondike Solitaire, in which only a king can be placed there.^[1][9]

The foundations are where you build each suit up one rank at a time, from ace to king. They are also called home cells. Put an ace on an empty foundation, then place the 2, the 3, and the following cards of the same suit on it in order. Under the standard FreeCell rules, a card placed on a foundation cannot be moved back to the tableau. It cannot be moved back on this page either, but you can take back the whole move with “Undo move”.^[1][10]

You clear the game when all 52 cards are on the foundations. On this page, the game is not counted as a loss automatically when you run out of moves. You can go back with “Undo move” and try a different move, or end the game with “Give up”.^[9]

How many cards you can move at once

Under the original rules, you move 1 card at a time. However, by moving cards one by one through empty free cells and empty columns, you can carry a run of cards to another column without changing its order. On this page, you can move a run at the top of a column (cards in alternating colors, each 1 lower than the card it sits on) to another column at once, as a single move.^[1][9]

The number of cards you can move at once is the number of empty free cells plus 1, doubled for each empty column. For example, with 2 empty free cells and 1 empty column, it is (2 + 1) × 2 = 6 cards. When you move cards into an empty column, that column is not counted as an empty column, so in the same case you can move up to 3 cards.^[1][9]

A run with more cards than you can move at once cannot be moved together. When there are no empty free cells and no empty columns, you can only move 1 card at a time.

Cards that move to the foundations automatically

On this page, a card moves to the foundations automatically, right after the deal and after each move, when moving it there cannot change whether the deal can be solved. Cards that move automatically are not counted as moves. When you press “Undo move”, the cards that moved automatically after that move go back too.

Aces and 2s move automatically, as does any card when the foundations of both suits of the other color (black for a red card) have been built up to 1 lower than that card. A card also moves automatically when both suits of the other color have been built up to 2 lower than it and the other suit of its own color to 3 lower. Under rules where cards cannot be moved back from the foundations, it has been shown that moving either kind of card up does not change whether the deal can be solved.^[1][2]

When every column is in order, with higher cards further down, the remaining cards move to the foundations automatically one after another, and you clear the game.

Deal numbers, difficulty, and unsolvable deals

In FreeCell, almost every deal has a sequence of moves that gets all the cards to the foundations. Among the deals that have been checked, about 1 in 84,000 is unsolvable.^[3]

The deal numbers on this page follow the numbering used in common by many FreeCell programs (1–1,000,000). With the same number, you can play the same deal as in other programs, or the same deal as a friend. In this numbering, the deals within 1–1,000,000 known to be unsolvable are the 8 deals numbered 11982, 146692, 186216, 455889, 495505, 512118, 517776, and 781948. You can also start these deals on this page by entering their numbers, but when you start one, the page shows “This deal is known to be unsolvable”. Random deals and the daily challenge never use these 8 deals.^[1][10]

When the operator checked deals no. 1 to 32,000 with the solver (a program) on this page, it found a sequence for all 31,999 deals other than no. 11982. For this check, the limit on the number of positions examined was set higher than for hints. For deal no. 11982, the solver examined every reachable position (61,643 in all) and found no sequence.

Difficulty on this page is decided by the number of free cells needed to solve a deal. Michael Keller gives this number as an objective way to measure how difficult a deal is. Deals that can be solved with 1 free cell or none are “Easy”, deals that need 2 are “Medium”, and deals that need 3 or 4 are “Hard”.^[1]

Sorting deals no. 1 to 32,000 (the 31,999 deals other than no. 11982) with the solver on this page gave 6,036 Easy deals (18.9%), 18,989 Medium deals (59.3%), and 6,974 Hard deals (21.8%). The solver has a limit on the number of positions it examines, and deals for which it found no sequence within that limit were counted on the side that needs more free cells. Because of this, about 5% of the “Hard” deals can be solved with 2 free cells. For the same reason, at least 250 of the “Medium” and “Hard” deals can be solved with 1 free cell. Difficulty is shown only for deals no. 1 to 32,000.

The daily challenge is a deal set for each date in Japan time, and everyone who plays that day gets the same deal. It is chosen from deals no. 1 to 32,000 (except no. 11982), so the menu also shows the difficulty of that day’s deal.

Controls on this page

In the menu, choose how the deal is picked (“Daily challenge”, “Easy”, “Medium”, or “Hard” for difficulty, “Random deal”, or “Enter a deal number”), then press “Deal and start”. With “Enter a deal number”, enter a whole number from 1 to 1,000,000.

To move a card, drag it to where you want to put it, or press it to highlight it and then press where you want to put it. Pressing a card in the middle of a run at the top of a column moves that card and all the cards on top of it together. Pressing a single highlighted card again (double-clicking it) moves it to a foundation if it can go there. A tableau card that cannot go to a foundation moves to an empty free cell.

When you try to move a run with more cards than you can move at once, the table shows how many cards you can move at once now, and the cards go back to where they were. “Undo move” can take back as many moves as you like. Press “Hint” (to the right of the 3D view, or below it on narrow screens) to search for a winning sequence from the current position. The first move appears as text below “Hint”, and the card to move is highlighted on the table. When the search has checked every possibility and found that there is no winning sequence, the page says so. The search has a limit on the number of positions it examines, and when it finds no sequence within that limit, the page shows “No winning sequence was found from this position” (this does not mean that there is none).

Below “Hint”, the moves you can make now are listed as buttons under “To the foundations”, “To the free cells”, and “To the tableau”, and pressing one makes that move. The number of cards you can move at once now is also shown there. With these buttons, you can play even on devices that cannot show the 3D view, or with only a keyboard.

When you clear a deal, the page shows your moves and time and the records on this device (win rate, winning streak, fastest time, and fewest moves). A run moved at once counts as 1 move, and cards that move to the foundations automatically are not counted. For the daily challenge, the page also shows how many people tried it that day, the share who cleared it, and where you rank by moves and by time. Send the link in the result card, and the person who opens it can play the same deal.

Strategy tips

• Keep empty free cells and empty columns open for as long as you can. Each empty column doubles the number of cards you can move at once.
• Start by moving cards off the columns where aces and 2s are buried. Once low cards reach the foundations, other cards are more likely to move up automatically too.
• Do not rush to put a king in an empty column. A king cannot be placed on any other card, so once you put one in an empty column, that column is hard to empty again.
• Before you use up the free cells, check whether you can build long runs. When there are no empty free cells and no empty columns left, you can only move 1 card at a time.

Origin and history of FreeCell

Solitaire games that deal all the cards face up and use spaces holding 1 card each existed before FreeCell. In June 1968, in his column in Scientific American, Martin Gardner described a solitaire game that C. L. Baker had taught him. Gardner did not know its name, so he called it “Baker’s Game”, and it is still known by this name. It differs from FreeCell only in that tableau cards are built down by the same suit.^[1][4]

The first computer version of FreeCell was written by Paul Alfille, then a medical student at the University of Illinois, on PLATO, the university’s educational computer system. Some sources give the year as 1978, and others as the mid-1970s. Alfille has said that he thinks he made up the name himself.^[1][5][6]

Jim Horne, who learned the game on PLATO, made MS-DOS and Windows versions of it, and it became widely played after it came as standard with Windows for home users, starting with Windows 95. The Windows version gave each deal a number from 1 to 32,000, and anyone who chose the same number got the same deal. The range of numbers was extended to 1–1,000,000 in Windows XP in 2001. Horne shared his code for dealing the cards and allowed it to be published, and Michael Keller published it, so many other programs also produce the same deal for the same number.^[1][6][7]

In August 1994, Dave Ring recruited participants on the internet, and they solved the 32,000 deals by hand, splitting them into blocks of 100. When the project ended in April 1995, the only deal left unsolved was no. 11982. By 2018, Theodore Pringle and Shlomi Fish had checked about 8.6 billion deals and found 102,075 unsolvable ones, about 1 in 84,000.^[1][3][8]

Sources

1. Michael Keller, “FreeCell -- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)”, Solitaire Laboratory (opens in a new tab)
2. Charlie Blake and Ian P. Gent, “The Winnability of Klondike Solitaire and Many Other Patience Games”, Journal of Artificial Intelligence Research 85 (2026) (opens in a new tab)
3. Shlomi Fish, “Report: The solvability statistics of the Freecell Pro 4-Freecells Deals” (2018) (opens in a new tab)
4. Martin Gardner, “Mathematical Games”, Scientific American, vol. 218, no. 6 (1968) (opens in a new tab)
5. Dennis Cronin, “Interview with Paul Alfille”, Freecell.net (2000) (opens in a new tab)
6. Ellen Kaye, “One Down, 31,999 to Go: Surrendering to a Solitary Obsession”, The New York Times (2002) (opens in a new tab)
7. Jim Horne’s code for dealing the cards, on Michael Keller’s site Solitaire Laboratory (mshuffle.txt) (opens in a new tab)
8. Chris Plante, “Unbeatable”, The Gameological Society (2012) (opens in a new tab)
9. Wikipedia (English), “FreeCell” (opens in a new tab)
10. Wikipedia (Japanese), “フリーセル” [FreeCell] (opens in a new tab)

Frequently asked questions

Is FreeCell free to play?

Yes, it’s free. You don’t need to sign up or install an app. You can play in the 3D view in your browser with a deal chosen by difficulty or by number, or play the daily challenge.

How many cards can I move at once?

You can move as many cards at once as the number of empty free cells plus 1, doubled for each empty column. With 2 empty free cells and 1 empty column, that’s 6 cards. When you move cards into an empty column, that column isn’t counted, so in the same case it’s 3 cards.

Can every FreeCell deal be solved?

Not every deal, but almost all of them can be solved. Among the deals that have been checked, about 1 in 84,000 is unsolvable. Within deal numbers 1 to 1,000,000, 8 deals are known to be unsolvable, including no. 11982.

What is a deal number?

It’s a number that decides the order of the cards in a deal (some programs call it a game number). The numbers on this page follow the numbering used in common by many FreeCell programs (1–1,000,000). With the same number, you can play the same deal as in other programs, or the same deal as a friend. Deal no. 11982 is known to be unsolvable in this numbering. To play a deal by its number, choose “Enter a deal number” in the menu, enter the number, and then start.

How is the difficulty decided?

It’s based on the number of free cells needed to solve the deal. Deals that can be solved with 1 free cell or none are “Easy”, deals that need 2 are “Medium”, and deals that need 3 or 4 are “Hard”. The operator sorted deals no. 1 to 32,000 with the solver on this page, so difficulty is shown only for deals in this range. Deals for which the solver found no sequence within its limit on the number of positions examined were counted on the side that needs more, so about 5% of “Hard” deals can be solved with 2.

How is FreeCell different from Klondike Solitaire?

The differences are that all the cards are face up from the start and that there are free cells that each hold only 1 card. There’s no stock. Any card can be placed in an empty column, but cards on the foundations can’t be moved back to the tableau. Since you can see every card, the only luck involved is the deal.

What is the daily challenge?

It’s a deal set for each date in Japan time, and everyone who plays that day gets the same deal. When you clear it, the page shows how many people tried it that day, the share who cleared it, and where you rank by moves and by time.

Where are my records saved?

Your records (win rate, winning streak, fastest time, and fewest moves) are saved only in the browser on this device. Your result for the daily challenge is sent to this site’s server to show how many people tried it and the spread of results, but the moves and the time themselves are not recorded. If you turn off “Send game statistics” at the bottom of the page, your result for the daily challenge is not sent either (see the privacy policy for details).

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