Every card is dealt face up, so every deal is a puzzle you can think through. Four free cells give you room to work.
How to Play FreeCell Solitaire
FreeCell is a solitaire game in which all 52 cards are dealt face up. Nothing is hidden, so it is less about luck and more about planning: nearly every deal can be won if you find the right order of moves.
Objective
Move every card to the four foundations, one for each suit, building each foundation up from Ace to King.
Setup
One standard deck is dealt into eight columns, called the tableau. The first four columns get seven cards each and the other four get six. You also have four free cells, each of which holds one card, and four foundations that start empty.
Moves
- You can move the last card in any column (the one not covered by another card), or any card sitting in a free cell.
- In the tableau, build down in alternating colors. A red 7 can go on a black 8, and a black 7 on a red 8.
- Any single card can be parked in an empty free cell.
- Any card, or any correctly built run, can go into an empty column.
- Foundations start with an Ace and build up in the same suit: Ace, 2, 3 and so on up to King.
Officially, you move one card at a time, but you can move a whole run in one go when there is enough free space. Here is how much is enough.
How Many Cards Can You Move at Once?
Moving a run in one go is a shortcut for a series of single-card moves that use empty free cells and empty columns as temporary parking, so that space has to be available. The rule:
Count your empty free cells and add one. Then double that number for every empty column.
With two empty free cells and no empty columns, you can move three cards. Add one empty column and the limit doubles to six. A second empty column doubles it again to twelve.
| Empty free cells | No empty columns | 1 empty column | 2 empty columns |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| 1 | 2 | 4 | 8 |
| 2 | 3 | 6 | 12 |
| 3 | 4 | 8 | 16 |
| 4 | 5 | 10 | 20 |
One exception: when a run is going into an empty column, that column is the destination, so it can't also serve as temporary space. Leave it out of the count. With two empty free cells and one empty column, you can move six cards onto a card in another column, but only three into the empty column itself.
A run can never be longer than 13 cards, King down to Ace, so a limit of 13 or more means you can move any run you like.
FreeCell Strategy Tips
- Study the deal before your first move. Every card is visible, so find the Aces and 2s and count how many cards cover each one. An Ace with one card on top is easy to free. An Ace under six cards needs a plan.
- Keep free cells empty. Every card you park in a free cell lowers the number of cards you can move at once. Before you use a cell, know how that card will get back out, either to a foundation or onto a tableau card of the opposite color.
- Empty a column whenever you can. An empty column is worth more than an empty free cell, because it doubles your moving power instead of adding one. With one free cell open, emptying a column takes you from moving two cards at a time to moving four. Short columns holding low cards are usually the quickest to clear.
- Fill an empty column with care. A King, or a run headed by a King, is the best thing to put there, because it never has to move again. Dropping a lone low card into an empty column often wastes your most valuable space.
- Don't bury low cards. Before you build a long run on a column, check what is underneath. Stacking six cards on top of a 2 means moving all six later to reach it.
- Count your landing spots. A black 6 can only go on one of the two red 7s. If both red 7s are buried, neither black 6 has a home in the tableau, so work on freeing a red 7 early.
- Don't rush cards to the foundations. The game moves cards up for you once nothing in the tableau could still need them. Moving one up sooner can cost you a landing spot: send the 4 of hearts up early, and the 4 of diamonds becomes the only home left for the black 3s.
- Use Undo to test ideas. Undo is unlimited, so you can try a line of play, see where it leads and back out if it goes nowhere.
If you enjoy the planning FreeCell asks for, Spider Solitaire is a good game to try next.
Playing FreeCell on Solitaire Parlor
FreeCell on Solitaire Parlor is free to play in your browser, with no sign-up and nothing to download.
- Moving cards: click or tap a card to send it to the best legal spot. The foundations are tried first, so to put a card somewhere else, drag and drop it there. Runs move as a group when you have enough free space.
- Undo is unlimited.
- Hint highlights a useful move.
- Restart replays the same deal from the beginning.
- New Game deals a new numbered deal.
- Daily Deal gives everyone the same deal each day.
- Stats shows games played, games won, win rate, best time, and your current and best win streaks.
Your game is saved in your browser as you play, so you can close the tab and come back to it later. Stats are stored in your own browser, not on a server. The game tracks your time and moves; there is no points score.
Numbered Deals and Deal #11982
FreeCell is the game that made numbered deals famous. The version that shipped with Microsoft Windows numbered its games from 1 to 32,000, and the same number always produced the same layout, so friends could play the very same game and compare notes.
Solitaire Parlor keeps that tradition. Every game shows its deal number, and deals 1 through 32,000 are dealt exactly as they were in classic Microsoft FreeCell. If you remember one of those game numbers from the old Windows version, you will get the same cards here. Beyond those, deal numbers go up to 1,000,000.
To play a particular deal, add ?deal= and the number to the end of this page's address. Adding ?deal=11982, for example, brings up deal #11982. Send that address to a friend and they get the same deal. You can also type a number into Play a numbered deal in Settings.
Deal #11982 is the famous one. Of the original 32,000 Microsoft deals, it is the only one that cannot be solved.
A Short History of FreeCell
FreeCell belongs to a family of solitaire games that give you a few spare cells for holding cards. Its close relative, Baker's Game, uses the same layout but builds the tableau by suit instead of by alternating colors.
FreeCell itself is credited to Paul Alfille, who programmed it on the PLATO educational computer system in the late 1970s. It reached a far wider audience when Microsoft included it with Windows.
FreeCell FAQ
Can every FreeCell game be won?
Almost. Of the original 32,000 Microsoft deals, only #11982 cannot be solved. Unwinnable deals are rare, so if you get stuck, a different order of moves will very likely get you through. Use Undo to back up, or Restart to try again.
Why do some cards go to the foundations on their own?
Once nothing in the tableau could still need a card, the game moves it up for you, just as Windows FreeCell did. A red 5, for example, is only useful in the tableau as a landing spot for a black 4, so once both black 4s are on the foundations, it has no job left.
Is FreeCell harder than Klondike?
It's different. Klondike Solitaire, the game most people simply call solitaire, hides many cards face down, and some deals can't be won however well you play. FreeCell uses the same alternating-color columns and Ace-to-King foundations, but you see every card from the start and nearly every deal can be won. That makes each game more of a puzzle than a gamble.
Are my game and stats saved?
Yes, in your browser. If you clear your browser data or switch to another device or browser, your saved game and stats won't come with you.