How to Play FreeCell: Rules, Moving Stacks and Strategy

To play FreeCell, deal all 52 cards face up into eight columns, then move them onto four foundations, one pile per suit built up from Ace to King. You build the columns down in alternating colors, and you have four free cells that can each hold one card while you rearrange things. Because every card is visible from the start, FreeCell is a game of planning rather than luck, and almost every deal can be won.

This guide covers the layout, every rule, the one rule most people misunderstand (how many cards you can move at once), a step-by-step plan for your opening, and the strategy habits that win games.

The layout

There is no stock and no waste pile. Everything you need is on the table from the first second.

The rules

Moving cards between columns

• A card can go on a card one rank higher and the opposite color: a red 7 on a black 8, a black Jack on a red Queen.
• Any card can go into an empty column. This is a big difference from Klondike, where only Kings can.
• You can only pick up the bottom card of a column (the one nearest you), or a properly built stack ending in it. More on stacks below.

The free cells

• Any single card can go into an empty free cell.
• A card in a free cell can move to a column or a foundation whenever there is a legal spot for it.
• Free cells are temporary parking. Four sounds like plenty, but they fill up fast.

The foundations

• Each foundation starts with an Ace and then takes the next card of the same suit, up to the King.
• You win when all four foundations are complete.

How many cards can you move at once?

This is the rule that confuses most new players. In theory you only ever move one card at a time. But if you have enough free space, moving a stack one card at a time through your free cells and empty columns is so mechanical that every computer version lets you move the whole stack in one go. That is called a supermove, and it is only allowed if the one-at-a-time version would work.

The limit works out to a simple formula:

Maximum stack = (empty free cells + 1) × 2 for each empty column

If you are moving the stack into an empty column, that column doesn't count as one of your empty columns.

These are the limits when the stack is moving onto another card. Moving into an empty column halves them, since that column can't also be used as temporary space. Every value in this table matches the rules engine that runs Poozee's FreeCell.

Worked example: four cards with one cell and one empty column

Say column 1 ends with the run 9♠, 8♥, 7♣, 6♦ and you want to move all four onto the 10♥ at the bottom of column 2. You have one empty free cell and one empty column (column 3). The table says you can move 4 cards. Here is how that works, one card at a time:

1. 6♦ to the free cell.
2. 7♣ to empty column 3.
3. 6♦ from the free cell onto the 7♣.
4. 8♥ to the free cell.
5. 9♠ onto the 10♥ in column 2.
6. 8♥ from the free cell onto the 9♠.
7. 6♦ from column 3 to the free cell.
8. 7♣ from column 3 onto the 8♥.
9. 6♦ from the free cell onto the 7♣.

Nine single moves, and the free cell and column 3 are empty again at the end. We replayed this exact sequence with Poozee's FreeCell rules to confirm every step is legal. On Poozee you just drag the 9♠ (or tap it) and the whole stack moves at once.

Pro tip: An empty column doubles how many cards you can move, while a free cell only adds one. When you have a choice, emptying a column is usually worth more than freeing a cell.

A plan for your opening

Every card is face up, so take ten seconds before your first move. Then:

1. Find the four Aces. Note how many cards sit on top of each one. The deeply buried Aces are your long-term problem.
2. Look for the free moves. Cards that can go onto another column without using a cell cost you nothing. Make the ones that help dig toward an Ace or a 2.
3. Pick a column to empty. A column with few cards, or with cards that have obvious homes, is a good target. An empty column is the most powerful thing you can have.
4. Spend cells only with a plan. Before putting a card in a free cell, know how it will come back out.
5. Let the foundations fill themselves. Poozee sends cards home automatically when they are safe (when no card still in play could need them as a landing spot), so you can focus on the columns.

Strategy habits that win games

• Keep at least one free cell open for as long as you can. A full set of cells with no empty column leaves you able to move only one card at a time, and that is where games are lost.
• Build long runs in order. A neat run of alternating colors can move as a stack later. A jumbled column can't.
• Don't break up a good run without a reason. Splitting a long run can leave cards you can no longer move as a group.
• Watch the low cards. 2s and 3s buried under high cards block the foundations. Plan to free them early.
• Use undo to look ahead. FreeCell has no hidden cards, so a line either works or it doesn't. Trying a line and backing out is how good players learn.

Numbered deals and the impossible #11982

FreeCell became famous through the version that came with Microsoft Windows. Its deals were numbered from 1 to 32,000, so players could share and compare games. In 1994 and 1995 the Internet FreeCell Project, a group of volunteers, set out to solve every one. They solved all of them except #11982, which is still considered impossible. Read why FreeCell game #11982 can't be won for the full layout and what makes it hopeless.

Poozee uses the same numbering: click Game # to play any deal from 1 to 1,000,000, including #11982 if you'd like to see it for yourself. Random new games come from the 32,000 classic deals and skip #11982, so every game you are dealt can be won. For how that compares with Klondike, see are all solitaire games winnable.

Keep playing

Put the rules into practice with FreeCell on Poozee, and when you're ready to plan deeper, read our FreeCell strategy guide. Hints come from a solver that looks for a winning line from your exact position. If you prefer the classic game with hidden cards and a stock, play Solitaire and read how to win solitaire for strategy.