FreeCell is the thinking person's solitaire. Unlike Klondike Solitaire, every one of the 52 cards is dealt face-up, so there is no hidden information and nothing left to chance once the deal is made. Each game is a pure logic puzzle, and with a solvability rate that rounds to 99.999%, almost every deal you meet can be won — provided you can read the board and find the path. This guide walks through the setup, the exact rules, the maths behind moving multiple cards, and the strategy that separates casual players from those who win nearly every hand.
What Is FreeCell?
FreeCell is a single-player card game played with one standard 52-card deck. Its modern popularity comes from Microsoft, which bundled a graphical version with Windows (famously with Windows 95), though the game itself was designed decades earlier by Paul Alfille, who built an electronic version on the PLATO educational system in 1978. What sets FreeCell apart from most solitaires is that skill, not luck, decides the outcome:
- All cards are face-up — there is no hidden information at any point
- Four free cells act as temporary parking spots for single cards
- There is no stock or waste pile — nothing to draw, nothing left to reveal
- Nearly every deal is solvable (~99.999% with perfect play)
Because everything is visible from the first second, a lost game in FreeCell is almost always a mistake rather than bad luck — a fact that makes it deeply rewarding to master.
Game Setup
The whole deck is dealt face-up into 8 tableau columns. The cards are dealt left to right, one to each column in turn, until they run out. This produces an uneven split:
- Columns 1–4 receive 7 cards each (28 cards)
- Columns 5–8 receive 6 cards each (24 cards)
The board also has two special areas, usually drawn along the top:
- 4 free cells (top-left) — each holds a single card of any rank or suit
- 4 foundation piles (top-right) — one per suit, built up from Ace to King
| Area | Count | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Tableau columns | 8 (four of 7, four of 6) | Main playing area, all 52 cards |
| Free cells | 4 | Temporary storage, one card each |
| Foundations | 4 | Ace-to-King build by suit — the goal |
The Objective
You win by moving all 52 cards onto the four foundations. Each foundation is dedicated to a single suit and is built strictly in ascending order:
Ace → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8 → 9 → 10 → Jack → Queen → King
When Hearts, Diamonds, Clubs, and Spades each reach their King, the game is complete. There is no time limit and no draw pile, so the only obstacle is the tangle of the tableau itself.
Complete Rules
Tableau Rules
- Cards are stacked in descending rank with alternating colors — a red 6 goes on a black 7, a black 5 on the red 6, and so on (identical to Klondike stacking)
- Officially, only one card at a time may be moved; the ability to shift a run of cards is a convenience built on top of that rule (see below)
- Any single card may be placed in an empty column — not just Kings, unlike Klondike, which makes empty columns extremely valuable
Free Cell Rules
- Each free cell holds exactly one card of any rank or suit
- A card sitting in a free cell can be played back to the tableau or up to a foundation at any time
- Free cells are a scarce resource: every one you fill shrinks how many cards you can move in a single action
Foundation Rules
- Each foundation starts with an Ace and builds up by suit to the King
- Most digital versions auto-play cards to the foundations when it is clearly safe, but you can usually override this
- Cards can be pulled back down from a foundation to the tableau in many implementations — occasionally useful to complete a sequence
Moving Multiple Cards (the Supermove)
Because only one card truly moves at a time, shifting a five-card run means temporarily stashing cards in free cells and empty columns, then rebuilding the run on the destination. Digital FreeCell automates this as a “supermove.” The maximum number of cards you can relocate in one go is:
(1 + free cells available) × 2empty columns
The empty-column term is a power of two because each empty column can itself hold a run that you assemble using the free cells, effectively doubling your capacity. Note that if you are moving a run into an empty column, that column no longer counts toward the multiplier for the move. The table below shows how quickly capacity grows:
| Free Cells Available | Empty Columns | Max Cards to Move |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 2 | 1 | 6 |
| 4 | 1 | 10 |
| 4 | 2 | 20 |
Winning Strategy
FreeCell rewards planning more than reflexes. Because the entire deal is visible, a few disciplined habits will lift your win rate close to the theoretical maximum. For a broader toolkit, see our solitaire strategy tips.
1. Plan the Whole Hand Before Touching a Card
Study the layout first. Locate the four Aces — the ones buried deepest under the most cards are your central problem. Trace, roughly, how you will dig each one out before you make your opening move. A move that looks helpful but blocks an Ace you needed is the classic way to lose.
2. Guard Your Free Cells
Free cells are your most precious resource, and it is tempting to dump cards into them for a quick win of space. Resist it. Every occupied cell lowers your supermove capacity, and filling all four early is the most common beginner mistake. Aim to keep at least one or two empty at all times, and always have a plan to unload any card you park.
3. Fight for Empty Columns
An empty column is even stronger than a free cell: it accepts any card and it doubles your moving capacity. Emptying a short column early — especially one of the six-card columns — often unlocks the rest of the board. Treat empty columns as strategic assets, not as temporary parking to be filled at the first opportunity.
4. Free the Aces and Low Cards First
Get the Aces onto the foundations, then the Twos, then the Threes. Early foundation progress frees tableau space and simplifies everything that follows. That said, do not blindly rush every low card up: a 3 or 4 that is still useful for building an alternating-color run in the tableau can be worth keeping down a little longer.
5. Build Long, Ordered Sequences
A long descending, alternating-color run consolidates many cards into a single column, which keeps the rest of the board open. Work to merge scattered cards into ordered runs rather than scattering them across cells and columns. Long sequences are also the payoff for having plenty of free cells and empty columns, thanks to the supermove formula above.
6. Use Undo to Explore
On Solitaires.gg you can undo freely. When two lines of play look close, try one, see where it leads, and undo if it stalls. Because FreeCell has no hidden cards, undo is a legitimate planning tool rather than a way to cheat luck.
Scoring, Time, and Statistics
Traditional FreeCell has no built-in points system — you either solve the deal or you do not. Digital versions add their own metrics, most commonly:
- Time — how long the solve takes; speed players chase sub-minute completions
- Move count — fewer moves signals a cleaner, more efficient solution
- Win streak — consecutive solves, a natural fit given how many deals are winnable
The headline statistic is solvability. The classic Microsoft set of 32,000 numbered deals contains exactly one that cannot be won — deal #11982. Broader computer analysis of a million random deals found only a tiny handful unsolvable, which is where the famous ~99.999% figure comes from. If you would like to dig into the numbers across different games, see our solitaire statistics breakdown.
FreeCell vs Klondike and Spider
FreeCell sits at the strategic end of the solitaire family. Compared with Klondike it removes luck almost entirely, and compared with Spider Solitaire it uses one deck instead of two and rewards precise cell management over suit-building. The table below summarizes the differences with Klondike:
| Feature | FreeCell | Klondike |
|---|---|---|
| Hidden cards | None (all face-up) | Yes (face-down cards) |
| Stock pile | No | Yes (24 cards) |
| Free cells | 4 temporary slots | None |
| Tableau columns | 8 | 7 |
| Empty column rule | Any card | Kings only |
| Solvability (perfect play) | ~99.999% | ~82% |
| Luck factor | Almost none | Significant |
If you enjoy how skill dominates FreeCell, explore the wider world of solitaire variations to find other games that suit your style.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is FreeCell Solitaire?
FreeCell is a solitaire card game in which all 52 cards are dealt face-up into 8 tableau columns. Four free cells provide temporary single-card storage, and the goal is to build all four suits up from Ace to King on the foundations. It is almost entirely a game of skill.
Is every FreeCell game winnable?
Nearly. Of the original 32,000 numbered Microsoft FreeCell deals, only deal #11982 is proven unsolvable. Across large random samples about 99.999% of deals are winnable with perfect play, so a loss almost always means a mistake was made rather than an impossible deal.
How many cards can I move at once?
The maximum is (1 + free cells available) × 2empty columns. With all four free cells open and no empty columns you can move five cards; each empty column doubles that figure, so free cells and empty columns are the two levers that expand what you can do.
What is the difference between FreeCell and Klondike?
In FreeCell all cards are visible from the start and four free cells give you temporary storage, so outcomes are decided by skill. In Klondike most cards begin face-down and you draw from a stock pile, so hidden information and luck play a large role. FreeCell has a far higher win rate as a result.