Everything you need to know about FreeCell Solitaire. Rules, free cells explained, win rates, strategy tips and common questions answered.
Everything you need to know about FreeCell Solitaire. Rules, free cells explained, win rates, strategy tips and common questions answered.
Q: How do you set up FreeCell Solitaire?
FreeCell uses a single standard 52-card deck. All 52 cards are dealt face-up into eight tableau columns — columns one through four receive seven cards each, and columns five through eight receive six cards each. All cards are visible from the very start of the game; there are no face-down cards in FreeCell. Four free cells sit in the top-left corner, each capable of holding one card at a time. Four foundation piles sit in the top-right corner, built up in suit from Ace to King. There is no stock pile — every card is already in play. For full setup and rules see our how to play FreeCell page.
Q: What are the basic rules of FreeCell?
Tableau columns build downward in alternating colour — a red 7 on a black 8, a black 6 on a red 7. A sequence of correctly ordered alternating-colour cards can be moved together as a group, subject to the super move limit (see below). Any single card can be placed in an empty free cell at any time. Cards in free cells can be moved back to the tableau or directly to the foundations when eligible. When a tableau column is emptied, any card or valid sequence can be placed there. The game is won when all 52 cards are sent to the four foundations in suit order from Ace to King.
Q: What are free cells and how do you use them?
Free cells are the four temporary holding spaces in the top-left corner of the layout. Any single accessible card from the tableau or from another free cell can be placed in an empty free cell at any time. Cards in free cells remain there until moved — either back to the tableau column where they fit, or directly to a foundation pile when eligible. Free cells are the defining feature of FreeCell and the primary source of its tactical flexibility: they allow individual cards to be temporarily parked while other cards are rearranged. However, each free cell can hold only one card, so filling all four free cells simultaneously eliminates most of the flexibility that makes FreeCell solvable. The expert habit is to treat free cells as a finite numerical resource rather than as unlimited temporary parking.
Q: What is the super move rule in FreeCell?
In FreeCell you can only physically move one card at a time, but most digital implementations allow you to move sequences of multiple cards in a single action — this is called a super move. The maximum number of cards that can be moved in a single super move is calculated by the formula: (number of empty free cells + 1) × 2 raised to the power of the number of empty tableau columns. With four free cells empty and no empty columns, you can move up to five cards at once. With three free cells empty and one empty column, you can move up to eight. With two free cells and two empty columns, up to twelve. Understanding this formula is essential for planning multi-card moves and explains why empty columns are exponentially more valuable than individual free cells.
Q: Can you move cards back from the foundation in FreeCell?
In most standard digital implementations, cards sent to the foundation cannot be moved back to the tableau. Some implementations do permit foundation reversal, but it is rarely necessary in FreeCell because the game's complete-information nature means that correct play prevents the need to reverse foundation moves. If your version permits reversal, use it cautiously — in the rare cases where reversal is needed, it is usually to provide a same-colour lower-rank card for tableau building when all copies are on the foundation.
Q: What happens when a FreeCell column is emptied?
An empty tableau column in FreeCell can receive any single card or any valid alternating-colour sequence, subject to the super move limit. Empty columns are the most powerful positional resource in the game: each empty column doubles the maximum super move size, as shown in the formula above. An empty column used to hold a single card temporarily while a sequence is reorganised is not wasted — the column becomes empty again once the temporary card is moved to its proper position. Expert FreeCell players plan the creation of empty columns many moves in advance and protect them from being filled with cards that cannot be quickly reassigned.
Q: What percentage of FreeCell games are winnable?
FreeCell is one of the most winnable patience games in existence. Of the 32,000 standard deals numbered in the Microsoft FreeCell implementation, only one deal — deal number 11,982 — is provably unwinnable. Approximately 99.999% of all randomly generated FreeCell deals are theoretically solvable. In practice, strategic players win 75–85% of hands; players who apply the advanced techniques in our FreeCell advanced strategy guide win 90–95%. The gap between theoretical winnability and practical win rate is almost entirely explained by sub-optimal play rather than genuinely unwinnable deals.
Q: Is there a FreeCell game that cannot be won?
Yes — in the classic Microsoft FreeCell numbering system, deal number 11,982 is mathematically proven to be unwinnable by exhaustive computer analysis. A small number of other deals in extended deal sets are also unwinnable, but the proportion is vanishingly small. If you are playing a numbered deal system and repeatedly fail to solve a specific deal number, it is worth checking whether that deal is known to be unwinnable before continuing to invest time in it.
Q: What is a good FreeCell win rate?
Below 50% suggests significant room to improve — most losing hands at this level are winnable with better strategy. 65–75% is competent play. 80–90% is strong strategic play. Above 90% represents expert-level application of column sequencing, super move planning, and the hard-deal techniques described in our advanced FreeCell strategy guide. Because nearly all FreeCell deals are theoretically winnable, any loss below the 90% threshold is almost certainly a strategy failure rather than an unwinnable deal.
Q: Why do I lose FreeCell games that seem like they should be winnable?
Four causes account for nearly all avoidable FreeCell losses. First, free cells are filled too quickly and too casually — once all four free cells hold cards, flexibility collapses and most positions become unresolvable. Second, buried Aces or 2s are not identified and excavated early enough, stalling foundation advancement. Third, empty columns are filled with cards that cannot be quickly reassigned, eliminating the exponential super move benefit they provide. Fourth, foundation plays are made prematurely for mid-rank cards — a 6 or 7 sent to the foundation removes it from tableau building availability, sometimes creating a colour conflict that blocks subsequent sequence construction. For solutions to all four see our FreeCell beginner strategy guide.
Q: What is the most important FreeCell strategy tip?
Treat the four free cells as a single numerical resource with a value of four, not as four independent parking spaces. Every card placed in a free cell reduces this value by one; every card removed restores it. When the value reaches zero, the game is almost always lost — there is no flexibility remaining to rearrange the tableau. The strategic implication: before placing any card in a free cell, confirm that a specific move exists to remove it within the next three to four moves. A free cell used as permanent storage rather than temporary staging is a free cell wasted. For the full beginner strategy framework see our FreeCell beginner strategy guide.
Q: What should I do first in FreeCell?
Identify and begin excavating any buried Aces or 2s in the opening moves. An Ace buried beneath five cards of mixed suits requires a planned sequence of free cell uses and tableau moves to expose — and the longer that excavation is delayed, the less free cell flexibility remains to execute it. After identifying buried Aces and 2s, look for long same-colour in-sequence runs in the columns and plan to consolidate them early, since long consolidated sequences become super-movable as free cells and empty columns become available. The opening ten moves of FreeCell are the most strategically consequential of the game.
Q: How should I use empty columns in FreeCell?
Treat every empty column as an exponential resource multiplier, not a storage space. An empty column doubles the maximum super move size; two empty columns quadruple it. Before filling any empty column, confirm either that the card or sequence being placed there will enable a specific productive move immediately, or that the column will be empty again within two to three moves. An empty column that is genuinely empty — available as staging — is worth more than an empty column containing a card that has no immediate productive destination. The expert discipline: never fill an empty column with a King unless placing that King and its sequence will uncover a buried Ace or 2, or enable a same-colour sequence consolidation that advances foundation play.
Q: When should I send cards to the foundation in FreeCell?
Aces and 2s: immediately, without exception. 3s and 4s: send as soon as both cards of the same colour group at the rank below are already on the foundation. For 5s through 7s: apply the one-rank balance rule — only send a card to the foundation if all four foundations are within two ranks of each other, to avoid creating colour conflicts in the tableau by removing a card that is still needed for building. For 8s and above: send freely unless the specific card is currently serving as an active tableau sequence anchor. Premature foundation plays for mid-rank cards are one of the most common causes of avoidable FreeCell losses.
Q: What is the best way to approach a hard FreeCell deal?
Three techniques address deals that resist standard forward play. First, backward analysis: identify the winning final position and work backward to determine what the tableau must look like ten to fifteen moves before the end, then plan forward toward that intermediate target rather than toward the end position directly. Second, critical card identification: find the single card whose inaccessibility is blocking the most foundation advancement and trace the complete excavation path for that card, treating its clearance as the game's primary goal until complete. Third, deliberate position degradation: if the current position is stuck in a local maximum — looks reasonable but has no productive continuation — intentionally make a move that worsens the apparent position to escape the dead end and create a new path forward. These three techniques are covered in full in our FreeCell advanced strategy guide.
Q: Should I use a FreeCell solver?
Solvers are useful for confirming whether a specific deal is winnable and for studying optimal solutions after the fact, but relying on a solver during play prevents the development of the strategic habits that make FreeCell genuinely satisfying to master. The most productive use of a solver is post-game analysis: play the hand to completion or failure, then compare your solution path to the solver's to identify specific decision points where your play diverged from optimal. This retrospective use builds pattern recognition faster than solver-assisted play without undermining the problem-solving experience that FreeCell is designed to provide.
Q: How is FreeCell different from Klondike Solitaire?
The most significant difference is information: FreeCell deals all 52 cards face-up from the start, while Klondike has many face-down cards throughout the game. FreeCell also has no stock pile — all cards are in the tableau from move one — and provides four free cells as temporary holding spaces, which Klondike does not. FreeCell is theoretically winnable for 99.999% of deals; Klondike is winnable for roughly 75–82% but much harder in practice because of hidden information. Most players find FreeCell more analytically satisfying and Klondike more variable and suspenseful. Play Klondike in our free Klondike Solitaire game.
Q: How is FreeCell different from Spider Solitaire?
Spider uses two decks (104 cards), ten tableau columns, and no free cells — the only staging resource is empty columns. FreeCell uses one deck, eight columns, and four free cells. Spider's win condition is completing eight same-suit sequences that are removed automatically; FreeCell's is building four suit foundations from Ace to King. Spider 4-Suit is winnable roughly 30–40% of the time; FreeCell is winnable roughly 99.999% of the time. Spider requires simultaneous suit management across ten columns; FreeCell requires sequence management and free cell discipline across eight. Play Spider in our free Spider Solitaire game.
Q: What are the main FreeCell variants?
Double FreeCell adds two extra free cells (six total) and uses two decks, significantly reducing difficulty. Eight Off is a close relative using eight free cells and eight tableau columns with same-suit-only building. Seahorse and Stalactites are less common variants with modified free cell and foundation rules. Baker's Game is a FreeCell variant that builds same-suit rather than alternating-colour — significantly harder because same-suit building produces fewer sequence-linking opportunities. Our advanced solitaire variants guide covers the full FreeCell family.
Q: Is FreeCell harder or easier than Klondike?
For most players, FreeCell is easier to win consistently once its strategic framework is understood — its near-100% theoretical winnability and complete information eliminate the luck element that makes Klondike frustrating. However, FreeCell is more analytically demanding: every loss in FreeCell is a strategy failure rather than a bad deal, which means improving at FreeCell requires direct engagement with the strategic decisions that caused each loss. Players who prefer a more puzzle-like experience tend to find FreeCell more rewarding; players who prefer variable, luck-influenced play tend to prefer Klondike.
Q: Can FreeCell be played with physical cards?
Yes — FreeCell was originally designed as a physical card game. Set aside four separate spaces as free cells and four as foundations, deal all 52 cards face-up into eight columns as described above, and play according to the standard rules. The main difference in physical play is that super moves must be executed one card at a time — the multi-card group move convenience of digital versions does not apply. Each card in a sequence must be physically moved through free cells or empty columns one at a time, which is slower but follows the same underlying logic.
Q: What does the deal number mean in FreeCell?
Many FreeCell implementations assign a number to each specific deal configuration. The deal number is a seed for a random number generator — a specific deal number always produces the same card layout. This allows players to replay specific deals, compare solutions with others, and look up whether a deal is known to be winnable or unwinnable. Deal number 11,982 in the Microsoft FreeCell numbering system is the most well-known unwinnable deal. If your implementation uses a different deal numbering system, the Microsoft numbers will not correspond to the same layouts.
Q: How is FreeCell scored?
Scoring varies by implementation. A common approach awards points for each card sent to the foundation and applies time bonuses for fast completions. Some implementations track statistics including win rate, average moves per win, and longest win streak rather than a per-game point score. Our free FreeCell game displays the scoring or statistics system in use at the start of each session.
Q: What does it mean when FreeCell says no moves are available?
A no-moves notification means no legal move exists anywhere in the current position — no card can be moved to the tableau, to a free cell, or to a foundation. In FreeCell this state almost always indicates that the game has been lost through strategy failure rather than an unwinnable deal, since virtually all FreeCell deals are solvable. The correct response is to use undo to return to an earlier position where alternatives existed, identify the specific decision that led to the stuck position, and choose a different path. If undo is not available, resigning and replaying the same deal number with a different approach is the most informative option.
FreeCell uses a single standard 52-card deck. All 52 cards are dealt face-up into eight tableau columns — columns one through four receive seven cards each, and columns five through eight receive six cards each. All cards are visible from the very start of the game; there are no face-down cards in FreeCell. Four free cells sit in the top-left corner, each capable of holding one card at a time. Four foundation piles sit in the top-right corner, built up in suit from Ace to King. There is no stock pile — every card is already in play. For full setup and rules see our how to play FreeCell page.
Tableau columns build downward in alternating colour — a red 7 on a black 8, a black 6 on a red 7. A sequence of correctly ordered alternating-colour cards can be moved together as a group, subject to the super move limit (see below). Any single card can be placed in an empty free cell at any time. Cards in free cells can be moved back to the tableau or directly to the foundations when eligible. When a tableau column is emptied, any card or valid sequence can be placed there. The game is won when all 52 cards are sent to the four foundations in suit order from Ace to King.
Free cells are the four temporary holding spaces in the top-left corner of the layout. Any single accessible card from the tableau or from another free cell can be placed in an empty free cell at any time. Cards in free cells remain there until moved — either back to the tableau column where they fit, or directly to a foundation pile when eligible. Free cells are the defining feature of FreeCell and the primary source of its tactical flexibility: they allow individual cards to be temporarily parked while other cards are rearranged. However, each free cell can hold only one card, so filling all four free cells simultaneously eliminates most of the flexibility that makes FreeCell solvable. The expert habit is to treat free cells as a finite numerical resource rather than as unlimited temporary parking.
In FreeCell you can only physically move one card at a time, but most digital implementations allow you to move sequences of multiple cards in a single action — this is called a super move. The maximum number of cards that can be moved in a single super move is calculated by the formula: (number of empty free cells + 1) × 2 raised to the power of the number of empty tableau columns. With four free cells empty and no empty columns, you can move up to five cards at once. With three free cells empty and one empty column, you can move up to eight. With two free cells and two empty columns, up to twelve. Understanding this formula is essential for planning multi-card moves and explains why empty columns are exponentially more valuable than individual free cells.
In most standard digital implementations, cards sent to the foundation cannot be moved back to the tableau. Some implementations do permit foundation reversal, but it is rarely necessary in FreeCell because the game's complete-information nature means that correct play prevents the need to reverse foundation moves. If your version permits reversal, use it cautiously — in the rare cases where reversal is needed, it is usually to provide a same-colour lower-rank card for tableau building when all copies are on the foundation.
An empty tableau column in FreeCell can receive any single card or any valid alternating-colour sequence, subject to the super move limit. Empty columns are the most powerful positional resource in the game: each empty column doubles the maximum super move size, as shown in the formula above. An empty column used to hold a single card temporarily while a sequence is reorganised is not wasted — the column becomes empty again once the temporary card is moved to its proper position. Expert FreeCell players plan the creation of empty columns many moves in advance and protect them from being filled with cards that cannot be quickly reassigned.
FreeCell is one of the most winnable patience games in existence. Of the 32,000 standard deals numbered in the Microsoft FreeCell implementation, only one deal — deal number 11,982 — is provably unwinnable. Approximately 99.999% of all randomly generated FreeCell deals are theoretically solvable. In practice, strategic players win 75–85% of hands; players who apply the advanced techniques in our FreeCell advanced strategy guide win 90–95%. The gap between theoretical winnability and practical win rate is almost entirely explained by sub-optimal play rather than genuinely unwinnable deals.
Yes — in the classic Microsoft FreeCell numbering system, deal number 11,982 is mathematically proven to be unwinnable by exhaustive computer analysis. A small number of other deals in extended deal sets are also unwinnable, but the proportion is vanishingly small. If you are playing a numbered deal system and repeatedly fail to solve a specific deal number, it is worth checking whether that deal is known to be unwinnable before continuing to invest time in it.
Below 50% suggests significant room to improve — most losing hands at this level are winnable with better strategy. 65–75% is competent play. 80–90% is strong strategic play. Above 90% represents expert-level application of column sequencing, super move planning, and the hard-deal techniques described in our advanced FreeCell strategy guide. Because nearly all FreeCell deals are theoretically winnable, any loss below the 90% threshold is almost certainly a strategy failure rather than an unwinnable deal.
Four causes account for nearly all avoidable FreeCell losses. First, free cells are filled too quickly and too casually — once all four free cells hold cards, flexibility collapses and most positions become unresolvable. Second, buried Aces or 2s are not identified and excavated early enough, stalling foundation advancement. Third, empty columns are filled with cards that cannot be quickly reassigned, eliminating the exponential super move benefit they provide. Fourth, foundation plays are made prematurely for mid-rank cards — a 6 or 7 sent to the foundation removes it from tableau building availability, sometimes creating a colour conflict that blocks subsequent sequence construction. For solutions to all four see our FreeCell beginner strategy guide.
Treat the four free cells as a single numerical resource with a value of four, not as four independent parking spaces. Every card placed in a free cell reduces this value by one; every card removed restores it. When the value reaches zero, the game is almost always lost — there is no flexibility remaining to rearrange the tableau. The strategic implication: before placing any card in a free cell, confirm that a specific move exists to remove it within the next three to four moves. A free cell used as permanent storage rather than temporary staging is a free cell wasted. For the full beginner strategy framework see our FreeCell beginner strategy guide.
Identify and begin excavating any buried Aces or 2s in the opening moves. An Ace buried beneath five cards of mixed suits requires a planned sequence of free cell uses and tableau moves to expose — and the longer that excavation is delayed, the less free cell flexibility remains to execute it. After identifying buried Aces and 2s, look for long same-colour in-sequence runs in the columns and plan to consolidate them early, since long consolidated sequences become super-movable as free cells and empty columns become available. The opening ten moves of FreeCell are the most strategically consequential of the game.
Treat every empty column as an exponential resource multiplier, not a storage space. An empty column doubles the maximum super move size; two empty columns quadruple it. Before filling any empty column, confirm either that the card or sequence being placed there will enable a specific productive move immediately, or that the column will be empty again within two to three moves. An empty column that is genuinely empty — available as staging — is worth more than an empty column containing a card that has no immediate productive destination. The expert discipline: never fill an empty column with a King unless placing that King and its sequence will uncover a buried Ace or 2, or enable a same-colour sequence consolidation that advances foundation play.
Aces and 2s: immediately, without exception. 3s and 4s: send as soon as both cards of the same colour group at the rank below are already on the foundation. For 5s through 7s: apply the one-rank balance rule — only send a card to the foundation if all four foundations are within two ranks of each other, to avoid creating colour conflicts in the tableau by removing a card that is still needed for building. For 8s and above: send freely unless the specific card is currently serving as an active tableau sequence anchor. Premature foundation plays for mid-rank cards are one of the most common causes of avoidable FreeCell losses.
Three techniques address deals that resist standard forward play. First, backward analysis: identify the winning final position and work backward to determine what the tableau must look like ten to fifteen moves before the end, then plan forward toward that intermediate target rather than toward the end position directly. Second, critical card identification: find the single card whose inaccessibility is blocking the most foundation advancement and trace the complete excavation path for that card, treating its clearance as the game's primary goal until complete. Third, deliberate position degradation: if the current position is stuck in a local maximum — looks reasonable but has no productive continuation — intentionally make a move that worsens the apparent position to escape the dead end and create a new path forward. These three techniques are covered in full in our FreeCell advanced strategy guide.
Solvers are useful for confirming whether a specific deal is winnable and for studying optimal solutions after the fact, but relying on a solver during play prevents the development of the strategic habits that make FreeCell genuinely satisfying to master. The most productive use of a solver is post-game analysis: play the hand to completion or failure, then compare your solution path to the solver's to identify specific decision points where your play diverged from optimal. This retrospective use builds pattern recognition faster than solver-assisted play without undermining the problem-solving experience that FreeCell is designed to provide.
The most significant difference is information: FreeCell deals all 52 cards face-up from the start, while Klondike has many face-down cards throughout the game. FreeCell also has no stock pile — all cards are in the tableau from move one — and provides four free cells as temporary holding spaces, which Klondike does not. FreeCell is theoretically winnable for 99.999% of deals; Klondike is winnable for roughly 75–82% but much harder in practice because of hidden information. Most players find FreeCell more analytically satisfying and Klondike more variable and suspenseful. Play Klondike in our free Klondike Solitaire game.
Spider uses two decks (104 cards), ten tableau columns, and no free cells — the only staging resource is empty columns. FreeCell uses one deck, eight columns, and four free cells. Spider's win condition is completing eight same-suit sequences that are removed automatically; FreeCell's is building four suit foundations from Ace to King. Spider 4-Suit is winnable roughly 30–40% of the time; FreeCell is winnable roughly 99.999% of the time. Spider requires simultaneous suit management across ten columns; FreeCell requires sequence management and free cell discipline across eight. Play Spider in our free Spider Solitaire game.
Double FreeCell adds two extra free cells (six total) and uses two decks, significantly reducing difficulty. Eight Off is a close relative using eight free cells and eight tableau columns with same-suit-only building. Seahorse and Stalactites are less common variants with modified free cell and foundation rules. Baker's Game is a FreeCell variant that builds same-suit rather than alternating-colour — significantly harder because same-suit building produces fewer sequence-linking opportunities. Our advanced solitaire variants guide covers the full FreeCell family.
For most players, FreeCell is easier to win consistently once its strategic framework is understood — its near-100% theoretical winnability and complete information eliminate the luck element that makes Klondike frustrating. However, FreeCell is more analytically demanding: every loss in FreeCell is a strategy failure rather than a bad deal, which means improving at FreeCell requires direct engagement with the strategic decisions that caused each loss. Players who prefer a more puzzle-like experience tend to find FreeCell more rewarding; players who prefer variable, luck-influenced play tend to prefer Klondike.
Yes — FreeCell was originally designed as a physical card game. Set aside four separate spaces as free cells and four as foundations, deal all 52 cards face-up into eight columns as described above, and play according to the standard rules. The main difference in physical play is that super moves must be executed one card at a time — the multi-card group move convenience of digital versions does not apply. Each card in a sequence must be physically moved through free cells or empty columns one at a time, which is slower but follows the same underlying logic.
Many FreeCell implementations assign a number to each specific deal configuration. The deal number is a seed for a random number generator — a specific deal number always produces the same card layout. This allows players to replay specific deals, compare solutions with others, and look up whether a deal is known to be winnable or unwinnable. Deal number 11,982 in the Microsoft FreeCell numbering system is the most well-known unwinnable deal. If your implementation uses a different deal numbering system, the Microsoft numbers will not correspond to the same layouts.
Scoring varies by implementation. A common approach awards points for each card sent to the foundation and applies time bonuses for fast completions. Some implementations track statistics including win rate, average moves per win, and longest win streak rather than a per-game point score. Our free FreeCell game displays the scoring or statistics system in use at the start of each session.
A no-moves notification means no legal move exists anywhere in the current position — no card can be moved to the tableau, to a free cell, or to a foundation. In FreeCell this state almost always indicates that the game has been lost through strategy failure rather than an unwinnable deal, since virtually all FreeCell deals are solvable. The correct response is to use undo to return to an earlier position where alternatives existed, identify the specific decision that led to the stuck position, and choose a different path. If undo is not available, resigning and replaying the same deal number with a different approach is the most informative option.