Playable Solitaire variant
FreeCell Solitaire
- Objective
- Move all 52 cards to the four foundations from Ace to King by suit.
- Difficulty
- Medium
- Win rate
- Above 99.99% of standard FreeCell deals are mathematically solvable.
How to play FreeCell Solitaire
A standard 52-card deck dealt face-up into eight cascades — the first four columns hold seven cards each and the remaining four columns hold six cards each. Four free cells and four empty foundations sit above the tableau. No stock pile.
- Move the top card of any cascade onto a cascade whose top card is one rank higher and the opposite color.
- You can move a single card into any empty free cell at any time.
- A card in a free cell can be moved back to any legal cascade target or to its foundation.
- Send cards to the foundations in ascending order from Ace to King by suit.
- Sequences move one card at a time, but vSolitaire automatically computes multi-card moves up to (empty free cells + 1) × 2^(empty cascades).
- Any card can be moved into an empty cascade.
Objective and winning
Move all 52 cards to the four foundations from Ace to King by suit.
Most FreeCell deals can be solved in 60–90 moves. Use the undo button to back up after free-cell commitments that lead to a dead position. If you cannot find a solution after twenty minutes, restart the same deal — fresh eyes often see the missing sequence.
Scoring on vSolitaire
vSolitaire scores +1 for each valid move and +10 for each card placed on the foundations, with a +100 win bonus on completion. There is no stock penalty in FreeCell, so move efficiency directly drives final score.
Strategy tips
- Free your Aces and 2s first — they have to come out before anything productive can land on the foundations.
- Keep free cells empty when you can. Filling all four free cells is the most common path to a dead game.
- Plan three or four moves ahead before touching a free cell. The cell is a commitment, not a scratchpad.
- Empty cascades are far more valuable than empty free cells because they can hold an entire sequence.
- Move long alternating-color runs as a group instead of breaking them apart for short-term placement.
- Send cards to the foundation only when you no longer need them for tableau building — premature foundation plays can lock out late-game options.
Common mistakes
- Burning every free cell early on a single problem column before reading the rest of the deal.
- Forgetting that a covered foundation card cannot come back; sending a 4 too early can strand a 3 of the opposite color.
- Treating empty cascades as throwaway space instead of multi-card stagings.
Difficulty and odds
FreeCell is the most consistently winnable mainstream Solitaire variant — over 99.99% of randomly dealt games are solvable. Difficulty comes from finding the right plan, not from luck.
Origin and history
FreeCell was designed by Paul Alfille in 1978 for the PLATO educational computer system. Its mainstream breakthrough came in 1995 when Microsoft included it with Windows 95, where the game was branded with 32,000 numbered deals — only one of which (#11982) has ever been proven unsolvable under standard rules.
FreeCell Solitaire in multiplayer
FreeCell is one of the strongest competitive Solitaire candidates because there is no hidden information: two players solving the same deal can be compared cleanly on move count, time, and clean solution rate.
Frequently asked questions
Is every FreeCell game winnable?
Almost. In Microsoft's original 32,000 numbered deals, only game #11982 has been proven unsolvable. For randomly shuffled deals, well over 99.99% can be won with correct play.
How many free cells are there in FreeCell?
Standard FreeCell uses exactly four free cells. Each can hold a single card at a time, giving you four temporary parking slots to rearrange the cascades.
Can FreeCell sequences be moved as a group?
Officially each card moves one at a time. vSolitaire — like most digital versions — auto-calculates the largest valid group move using the formula (empty free cells + 1) × 2^(empty cascades).
How is FreeCell different from Klondike?
Klondike has a face-down stock pile and seven cascades, with much of the deck hidden. FreeCell deals all 52 cards face-up across eight cascades and gives you four free cells instead of a stock, so the puzzle is fully visible from the start.