FreeCell: free online solitaire, strategy and winning tips

What is FreeCell?

The solitaire of planners: all 52 cards are dealt face up into eight columns. Use the four free cells and empty columns to dig out the cards you need. Safe cards go home on their own.

FreeCell is the solitaire where luck steps aside. All 52 cards are dealt face up into eight columns from the start, so you can see every card you will need. Four free cells give you a little room to park single cards, and the whole game is about using that room well.

It grew out of an older patience called Baker's Game, where columns were built by suit. Paul Alfille switched that to alternating colours and wrote the first computer version on the PLATO system in 1978, and Microsoft's version, with its 32,000 numbered deals, made it famous in the 1990s. Players also search for its cousins: Baker's Game, Eight Off (with eight cells) and Seahaven Towers.

On SkillXGames each deal gets a number from 1 to 32,000, shown under the table. A tap sends a card where it fits: home first, then onto a column, then into a free cell. Cards that can't be needed any more go home on their own, the table tells you how many cards you can move at once right now, and it warns you if no legal move is left. Undo is unlimited.

At a glance

Category

Card Room

Difficulty

Medium

Play time

5–15 min

Price

Free, in your browser, sign-up optional

How to play

Build down

On the columns, place a card on one rank higher of the opposite colour.

Free cells

Any single card can wait in an empty free cell. Tap a card that has nowhere else to go and it parks there.

Move runs

A run moves in one go if you have room: (free cells + 1) × 2 for each empty column.

Go home

Foundations go up by suit from Ace to King. Cards that can't be needed any more go home on their own.

Scoring

A win scores 2,500 points minus 8 per move and 1 per second, never less than 100. Cards that go home on their own don't count as moves.

Deals are numbered 1 to 32,000. If no legal move is left, the table tells you: undo or start a new deal.

What it trains

Planning ahead

Working out a sequence of moves before making the first one.

Managing scarce space

Keeping free cells and empty columns open until they really pay off.

Learning from mistakes

Undoing a stuck line and finding the branch that works.

Strategy and tips

Read the deal first

Every card is visible, so spend the first half-minute just looking. Find the four Aces and the 2s, and note which columns bury them deepest.

Empty a column early

An empty column doubles the run you can move: with 2 free cells and 1 empty column you can move 6 cards; with 2 empty columns, 12. Short columns are the quickest to clear.

Plan each card's exit

Before you park a card, know how it will leave: a column top one rank higher in the other colour, or its foundation. A card with no way out blocks a cell for good.

Leave clean runs alone

A column that is already an ordered run is finished work. Build on it, don't break it. The digging belongs in the mixed columns.

Keep the foundations level

Let the four suits rise together. Sending red 7s home early removes the spots where black 6s could have waited.

Back up and branch

If a line gets stuck, undo to the last real choice and try the other branch. Testing a plan and backing up is how strong players learn a deal.

Fewer moves, higher score

Each move costs 8 points and each second 1. A plan that saves ten moves is worth more than rushing, and cards that go home on their own are free.

Why play FreeCell?

FreeCell is a pure planning game. Nothing is hidden, so the question is never "what's under there?" but "in what order?". It trains you to think several moves ahead and to keep scarce resources, the cells and empty columns, free until they really pay off.

Because nearly every deal can be won, a lost game is something to learn from, not bad luck. That makes it satisfying to replay and a good daily habit for a focused mind.

Frequently asked questions