FreeCell Solitaire Rules & Strategy Guide

A standard 52-card deck is dealt face-up across eight tableau columns. Columns 1–4 receive seven cards; columns 5–8 receive six cards. Four free cells sit in the top-left — each can hold exactly one card at a time. Four foundation piles sit in the top-right, one per suit.

Tableau builds are descending in rank and alternating in color — a red 6 may go on a black 7. Free cells can hold any single card temporarily; cards in free cells may move back to the tableau or directly to the foundation. Foundation piles build from Ace up through King in a single suit.

You can move a sequence of alternating-color, descending cards as if it were one card — but only if you have enough free space to physically move them one at a time. The maximum number of cards movable as a group equals (free cells + 1) × 2^(empty tableau columns). With all four free cells open and no empty columns, you can move five cards as a group; with two free cells and one empty column, you can move six.

1. Preserve free cells. The temptation is to park cards in free cells immediately, but every card in a free cell reduces your maximum move size. Use free cells deliberately, not reflexively.

2. Build low foundation cards early. Unlike Klondike, FreeCell rarely requires keeping low cards in play. Move Aces and 2s to the foundation as soon as they're accessible — they'll never be needed back.

3. Plan for empty columns. An empty tableau column is worth more than any sequence move. It doubles your maximum group move size, and it's the main escape valve for locked positions.

4. Look ten moves ahead. Because all cards are visible, you can (and should) fully plan your approach before making any move. Undo is available, but the best FreeCell players rarely need it because they plan rather than experiment.

Out of 32,000 commonly studied FreeCell deals, only two are provably unsolvable: deal #11982 and deal #146692 (using the Microsoft numbering system). Every other deal can be won with optimal play. If you feel stuck, the deal almost certainly has a solution — you just haven't found it yet.