FreeCell strategy

If you are new to the game, start with how to play FreeCell: the layout, the free cells and how cards move. This page picks up from there.

Read the table before the first move

FreeCell has no hidden cards, so every deal can be planned from the start. Before you touch anything, look for three things:

1. Where the Aces and 2s are, and how many cards lie on top of each.
2. Which column is shortest, or holds the fewest cards out of order. That is the column you can empty first.
3. Runs that are already in order, which can move together later.

Here is deal 1, the first deal in the Windows game. Columns are counted from the left.

Free the Aces first

A card on its suit pile never needs a place again, so every Ace you free makes room for everything else. Start where Aces are closest to the front, even if it costs a free cell or two for a moment. On deal 1:

1. Put the 3♦ from column 6 into a free cell.
2. Put the 2♣ into a free cell. Now the A♣ is at the front: it goes up, the 2♣ follows it from the cell, and the A♠ goes up after them. Two free cells borrowed, three cards home, and only the 3♦ is still in a cell.
3. Put the 8♣ from column 7 into a free cell.
4. Move the J♥ onto the Q♣ in column 6.
5. Put the 4♦ into a free cell. The A♥ goes up, and so does the 2♥ from the front of column 3.

Five moves, and five cards are on their piles. On this site, cards that no column could ever need go up by themselves; you never lose a move by forgetting one.

A free cell is a loan, not a home

After those five moves, three of the four free cells are full: 3♦, 8♣ and 4♦. That is the most dangerous moment in FreeCell. With cells full you can move only one card at a time, and a single careless move can leave no moves at all.

The rule is simple: only fill a free cell when you can see how it will be emptied. Here the plan is to empty column 8, which holds cards that fit elsewhere:

6. Move the 10♣ onto the J♥ in column 6.
7. Put the 7♦ into the last free cell. All four are full now, which is fine only because the next four moves are certain.
8. Move the 7♠ onto the 8♦ in column 3.
9. Send the 3♣ up to its pile.
10. Send the 3♥ up to its pile.
11. Move the 5♥ onto the 6♠ in column 1. Column 8 is empty.

Count how many cards you can move

Moving a run is really a series of single moves through the free cells and empty columns, so the room you have sets the limit: (empty free cells + 1) × 2 for each empty column, not counting a column you are moving into.

In the picture there are no empty free cells and one empty column, so the limit is (0 + 1) × 2 = 2. That is exactly enough for the next move:

12. Move the 8♦ and 7♠ together onto the 9♣ in column 2.
13. Move the 3♦ from its free cell onto the 4♠ in column 3.

Now one free cell is empty again, and so is column 8, so the limit is back to (1 + 1) × 2 = 4. Thirteen moves in, seven cards are home and the position is easier than the deal you started with. Hint on deal 1 suggests these same thirteen moves, so you can follow them on the real table and keep going from there.

A few numbers worth remembering:

• 4 empty free cells, no empty column: 5 cards.
• 2 empty free cells and 1 empty column: 6 cards.
• No empty free cells and 2 empty columns: 4 cards.
• 4 empty free cells and 2 empty columns: 20 cards, more than any run can hold.

An empty column beats a free cell

A free cell holds one card. An empty column holds a whole run, and it doubles how many cards every other move can carry. So once you have a choice, spend free cells to win an empty column, as deal 1 did with column 8, and think twice before filling an empty column with a single card. If you must, put a high card there, a King or a Queen, which can start a long run of its own.

Choose which card to build on

Every card has two places it could go: the 7♥ fits on the 8♠ or the 8♣. Before you commit, check where the other red 7 lies. If it is buried in a column you need to dig through, keep the better spot for it. The same thought applies to Kings in empty columns: pick the King whose Queen of the other colour is ready to follow.

Don’t send cards up too early

The site sends up cards no column can need. Others you can send up yourself, but a red 5 on its pile is one less place for a black 4 to land. Until both piles of the other colour have caught up, a middle card can still be more useful on the table than at home.

When you get stuck

• Undo to the last free cell you filled. Most lost games go wrong there, not at the end.
• Look for a column you could empty in two or three moves, and work backwards from it.
• Ask for a hint. Hint searches ahead for a winning line and explains its first move in one sentence. It is a good teacher: try to guess its move before you press it.

Can every deal be won?

Almost. Of the first million numbered deals, only eight cannot be won, the most famous being deal 11982, and a new deal here is never one of them. That makes FreeCell a game of skill: when a game is lost, there was nearly always a way through. More about the deals that cannot be won.