How to Play FreeCell

Overview & Objective

FreeCell is a one-player game with a standard 52-card deck. The whole deck is dealt face up into eight columns, and your job is to sort every card onto four foundation piles, one per suit, each running from Ace up to King. Because nothing is hidden, there is no luck once the cards are dealt: with care, almost every game can be won.

Setup: Columns, Free Cells & Foundations

• Players: One.
• Deck: A standard 52-card deck, no jokers.
• Tableau: Eight columns. The first four hold 7 cards each and the last four hold 6 — all 52 cards, all face up.
• Free cells: Four empty spaces at the top left. Each holds one card at a time.
• Foundations: Four empty spaces at the top right, one for each suit, that start empty and end holding all the cards.
• No stock: There is nothing to draw from. Every card you will ever get is already on the table.

The Free Cells

The free cells give the game its name. Any single card can be moved into an empty cell, and it can come back out onto a column (or its foundation) whenever the rules allow. Think of them as temporary parking: a way to lift a card that is blocking the one you need, then put it back once the way is clear. A full set of cells is a warning sign — with nowhere to park, you lose almost all your freedom to manoeuvre.

Building the Foundations

Each foundation is built up in a single suit: Ace first, then 2, 3, and so on through the King. Cards go up one at a time, from a column top or a free cell. Aces and Twos should go up as soon as they are free. Our Auto button sends home every card that is safe — one that no card still in play could need as a parent — so it never costs you a move you wanted to keep.

Moving Cards & Runs (the Supermove Limit)

1. Columns build down in alternating colours: a red Ten goes on a black Jack, a black Nine on a red Ten, and so on.
2. Any card can go into an empty column — not just a King. An empty column is the most valuable space on the table.
3. Strictly, you move one card at a time. But an ordered run can be shuttled through empty cells and columns one card at a time and reassembled, so the game lets you move it in a single tap — as long as you have enough space to do it.
4. The supermove limit is (empty free cells + 1) × 2^{empty columns}. Four empty cells and no empty columns: 5 cards. Two empty cells and one empty column: 6 cards. If the destination is itself an empty column, it does not count as a helper, so the limit halves.
5. Tap a card to pick up the ordered run from that card downward; tap a column, free cell or foundation to drop it. If the run is too long for the space you have, the game tells you the limit.

Game Numbers

Every FreeCell deal on CardCouch comes from a game number between 1 and 1,000,000. The same number always produces exactly the same layout, so you can replay a deal you lost, race a friend on the same game, or hunt for a personal best on a favourite. Type a number into the Game number box and press Deal # to play it; New Game picks one at random. (Our numbering is our own — game #11982 here is not the famous unsolvable Windows deal.)

Beginner Tips

• Find the Aces first. Before you touch a card, look at where the Aces and Twos are buried and plan how to dig them out.
• Keep the free cells empty. Every card you park cuts the number of cards you can move at once. Park only when it frees something.
• Empty a column early. One empty column doubles your move limit and can hold a whole run.
• Don't break long runs without a reason. Ordered cards are already halfway home.
• Use Undo freely while learning. Seeing why a move blocked you is the fastest way to improve.

Ready for more? Our FreeCell strategy guide goes deeper on winning nearly every deal.

Frequently Asked Questions

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