FreeCell

Move all 52 cards to the four foundation piles, one for each suit. Build each foundation upward from Ace through 2, 3, and the remaining ranks to King.

The game deals one standard 52-card deck with no jokers. All cards start face-up, and there is no stock, waste, or drawing phase.

• Tableau: the eight playing columns, also called cascades. The four on the left start with seven cards each; the four on the right start with six. An exposed card has no other card covering it.
• Free cells: the four empty spaces at the upper left. Each can hold one card temporarily.
• Foundations: the four suit-marked spaces at the upper right. These start empty and hold the suits you build.

Moving individual cards

Move an exposed column card or a card from a free cell onto a column card one rank higher and of the opposite color. For example, a red 6 can go on a black 7. Hearts and diamonds are red; spades and clubs are black. Ranks do not wrap between King and Ace.

Any single exposed card can occupy an empty free cell. Any card can start an empty column; it does not have to be a King. A card buried in a column cannot move alone until the cards covering it are removed.

Moving a sequence

You can drag a descending, alternating-color sequence together if you have enough free space. For example, a black 8–red 7–black 6 sequence can go on a red 9. Pick up its highest card to move the whole sequence.

The group move is a shortcut for moving its cards individually through empty cells and spare columns. With two empty cells and no empty columns, you can move up to three cards. One spare empty column doubles that to six.

The limit is (empty free cells + 1) × 2^{spare empty columns}. Do not count the destination if it is empty: with two empty cells and just one empty column, you can move three cards into that column, or six onto a suitable card in another column.

Building the foundations

Move one exposed card at a time to its matching suit foundation, starting with Ace and continuing upward to King. In this version, the top foundation card can also return to a legal column or an empty free cell.

You win when all four foundations reach King. There is no points score here; the game tracks elapsed time and moves. Moving a single card or a whole sequence counts as one move.

If you run out of useful moves, check whether a free cell can be cleared or a shorter sequence can move. The game does not automatically declare a loss when you get stuck. Use Undo to try another approach, or open New game and choose Restart current deal to replay the layout or Random deal for a fresh layout.

Restarting or starting a new game after making a move in an unfinished deal records that attempt as a loss in your statistics. Using Undo alone does not record a loss.

• Choose a destination: drag a card or sequence with your mouse or finger onto a legal pile. Use a deliberate drag to move into an empty column.
• Automatic move: click or tap a face-up card. The game tries its foundation first, then the leftmost legal occupied column, then an empty free cell for a single card coming from outside the cells. It never automatically fills an empty column. This chooses a legal move, not necessarily the best move.
• Undo: reverses your last action and restores the previous move count. You can undo repeatedly during an unfinished game; it does not rewind the timer. Resume a paused game first.
• Pause: stops the timer and blocks card moves until you resume.
• New game: opens a menu. Choose Random deal for a fresh layout or Restart current deal to replay the same starting cards. Both reset the move count and timer.
• Share deal: copies a link to the starting layout so someone else can play the same deal.
• Auto-finish: appears when every column runs from higher to lower ranks, allowing equal ranks too. At that point no lower card is trapped behind a higher card; select Auto-finish to send the remaining cards to the foundations.
• Saved progress: return and press Play to continue your position and timer. Undo history and statistics also save when browser storage is available. Time away does not count.

• Find the Aces before moving. Look at what covers each one and plan where those cards could go. Clearing a route is more useful than moving cards without a destination in mind.
• Keep a way out of each free cell. Before parking a card, identify how you could bring it back into play. Filling all four cells sharply limits the sequences you can move.
• Work toward an empty column. It can hold a sequence and increase your move capacity. Choose a column you can realistically clear without filling every free cell.
• Check the destination before moving a long sequence. An empty destination does not help with the transfer itself. Count the other empty columns and cells before committing.

Paul Alfille developed FreeCell from Baker's Game by changing the column-building rule to alternating colors. He implemented it on the PLATO computer system in 1978. Read about FreeCell on Wikipedia.

Compared with Klondike Solitaire, FreeCell exposes every card, replaces the draw pile with four free cells, and lets any card fill an empty column. Try Klondike if you enjoy uncovering cards as you play.