FreeCell is the solitaire with every card face up: build the four foundations up by suit from ace to king, with eight columns and four free cells to put a card aside in. Free in your browser, with no download and no sign-up. Play Microsoft’s numbered deals from 1 to a million, or race friends on the same deal.
FreeCell was invented in 1978 and became famous as the solitaire that came with Windows. All 52 cards are dealt face up into eight columns, so nothing is hidden and nothing is left to luck: you see the whole game from the first move. You build down in the columns in alternating colours, and use the free cells, four places that hold one card each, to get cards out of the way.
Almost every deal can be won, which is exactly what makes a lost game sting: it was a move you made. The skill is in not wasting the free cells, clearing a column early, and moving long runs through the space you have, which is also why fewer cells makes for a much harder game.
The deals are numbered as they were in Windows, so deal #1 here is deal #1 there: type in a number to play it, or let the game deal one at random, which a solver has always won first. Play with four, three or two free cells, take moves back as often as you like, and keep your best time and fewest moves in this browser.
The layout, what goes on what, the free cells and empty columns, how many cards move at once, the deal numbers and #11982.
FreeCell Rules: How to Play →How to look at a deal before you move, why a free cell is a loan, why an empty column is worth more, and how to play with fewer cells.
How to Win at FreeCell →Open a table and send the link to up to three friends. You play the same deal side by side, each at your own table: first to put all 52 cards up wins, or whoever has the most up after 5, 10 or 15 minutes.
Nobody sees anyone else’s table, since it would show them the way through their own: you see how many cards the others have up and how many moves they have made. The deal number stays hidden until the end, and every table is laid open then.
Almost. With four free cells, all but eight of Microsoft’s first million deals can be won. Here a deal dealt at random is always one a solver has won with your number of cells, so a way through is always there; you can still lose it by going the wrong way.
The most famous deal in solitaire: the only one of Microsoft’s original 32,000 that cannot be won with four free cells. Seven more like it turn up in the first million. You can type in 11982 and try it here, but nobody has ever won it.
As many as you could move one at a time through the free cells and empty columns: (free cells + 1), doubled for every empty column. With four free cells and no empty column that is five; add an empty column and it is ten.
Yes. Open a table, send the link to up to three friends, and race on the same deal: first to put every card up, or the most cards up against the clock. You see how far the others have got, but not their tables.
Yes, completely. It runs in your browser on a computer or a phone, with no download, no account and no sign-up.
Like your solitaire with hidden cards? Play Solitaire or Spider Solitaire, or try Sudoku.