How to play
All 52 cards are dealt face up into eight columns at the start, so there’s no luck after the deal: every card is visible and almost every game can be won with the right plan.
The goal is to move every card to the four foundations at the top right, one per suit, from Ace up to King.
- Columns. You can place a card on a column if it is one rank lower and the opposite color, like a red 6 on a black 7. Any card can go into an empty column.
- Free cells. The four spaces at the top left each hold one card. Use them to park a card while you dig underneath it.
- Foundations. Build each suit up from Ace to King. Cards can’t be taken back down from a foundation.
- Moving several cards. You can move an ordered run as a group if you have enough room to do it one card at a time. The limit is (empty free cells + 1), doubled for every empty column. When the run is going into an empty column, that column doesn’t count, so the limit is halved. The line under the table shows both numbers.
Tap a card to move it, together with the ordered cards on top of it, to the best place: a foundation first, then a column, then an empty column, then a free cell. When a card is safe to put away (nothing still needs it), it moves to its foundation by itself.
Game numbers. Each deal has a number from 1 to 1,000,000 shown at the top, using the same numbering as the classic Windows game. Share a link ending in ?deal=617 and a friend gets exactly the same cards. Restart plays the current deal again from the beginning.
Strategy
Free the Aces and 2s early. Look for low cards buried near the top of the columns and plan how to reach them before you start moving cards around.
Keep free cells open. Every card you park in a free cell cuts your group-move limit. Filling all four cells is the most common way to get stuck. Before you use one, know how you’ll empty it again.
Empty columns are worth more than free cells. An empty column doubles how many cards you can move at once. Clearing a short column is often the best move on the board.
Think in whole runs. Instead of moving single cards, look for a move that places an entire ordered run somewhere useful, which frees the card underneath it.
Undo is part of the game. FreeCell is about planning. If a line doesn’t work out, go back a few moves and try another.
Try a variation. Klondike adds hidden cards and a draw pile, and Spider Solitaire uses two decks and rewards building long runs in one suit.
