FreeCell

🕹️ How to play

1. How to play FreeCell: In FreeCell you win by moving all 52 cards, suit by suit from Ace to King, onto the four foundations in the top right. In the columns you build down in alternating colours, and the free cells plus any empty column are all the room you have to shuffle cards around.
2. Tap a card and it finds its own spot: Tap the top card of a column (or an ordered run) and it goes to the first legal place: a foundation, then a column it fits on, then an empty column, then a free cell. If it can't move you're told why, e.g. "This run is 7 cards; you can move 6 right now". Dragging works too, or switch to tap-then-target in settings.
3. Park cards in the four free cells, top left: Each of the four free cells holds one card, so you can move a blocker out of the way. Cards in a free cell can go back to a column or up to a foundation at any time. The more free cells are empty, the longer the runs you can move, so don't fill them all at once.
4. Stuck? Undo, or tap "Can I still win?": Undo is unlimited and doesn't count as a move. "Can I still win?" checks whether the current position can still be solved, and if you've hit a dead end, "Back to a winnable step" rewinds to the last position confirmed winnable so you can try another line.

📖 Rules & variants

FreeCell rules — the layout: one 52-card deck, all face up, dealt into 8 columns of 7, 7, 7, 7, 6, 6, 6 and 6 cards. Top left are 4 free cells holding one card each; top right are 4 foundations in a fixed ♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ order, each built up in one suit from Ace to King. Get all 52 cards home to win.

Building: in the columns a card goes on a card of the opposite colour and one rank higher, such as a red 7 on a black 8. An empty column takes any card or ordered run. The top card of a column or a free-cell card goes to a foundation if it's the same suit and exactly one rank higher. Cards on a foundation can't be taken back, and you can't move a card from one free cell to another.

How many cards can you move in FreeCell: moving a run is shorthand for shifting cards one at a time through free cells and empty columns, so there's a limit. Max cards = (empty free cells + 1) × 2^(empty columns). When the run goes into an empty column, that column can't help, so use one fewer empty column. Quick table: with no empty column, 0–4 free cells let you move 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 cards; with one empty column (moving onto a card) it's 2, 4, 6, 8 or 10; moving into that empty column it's back to 1–5.

Safe auto-collect (on by default): Aces and 2s go home on their own. A card of rank 3 or higher only goes up automatically once both foundations of the opposite colour have reached one rank below it, so cards you still need for building aren't swept away early. You can turn auto-collect off and tap cards home yourself; once the rest can simply be played off, everything is collected in one go.

Undo and results: undo is unlimited and doesn't count as a move — the move counter goes back with it, and undos are counted separately. There's no score; the result shows your time, moves and undos. The clock starts with your first move and pauses while the tab is hidden. You can't undo after winning.

FreeCell game numbers and difficulty: every deal has a number from 1 to 32000, and the same number always gives the same cards, numbered like the classic 32000 deals. New game offers Easy, Standard and Hard, graded by how hard our offline solver found each deal, plus Today's deal. Random deals and Today's deal only come from deals the solver has confirmed winnable; a number you type in that hasn't been checked is marked "unverified" and is still playable.

When you're stuck: if there's no legal move, or the only moves just shuffle cards back and forth, a banner appears above the table. Tap Hint to see which card to move next (it highlights, it doesn't play for you), check the position with "Can I still win?", or rewind with "Back to a winnable step". Records and saves stay in your browser with no login, and a link with ?deal= and the number opens the same deal for a friend.

Worked example: why that run won't move

Cards per move = (free cells + 1) × 2^empty columns: right now (2 + 1) × 2^1 = 6, the run is 7, one cell short; freeing one more cell gives (3 + 1) × 2^1 = 8. When a drag is refused, the page tells you exactly that: "free 1 more cell and it fits".

Prefer face-down cards and a stock to draw from? Try Spider Solitaire or classic Klondike Solitaire — FreeCell is the all-open, plan-it-out cousin.

❓ FAQ