FreeCell is a solitaire card game and, as such, traditionally a single-player game. You aim to sort a deck of cards using the most smart and quick way possible.
It stands out due to the free cells, dealing all cards revealed from the start, and as a result, having very few unsolvable setups.
You play FreeCell Solitaire with one deck of 52 French-suited playing cards. That means all 13 ranks – King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace – appear once in each suit (Spades, Clubs, Hearts, and Diamonds).
To set up the game, shuffle the deck and place all cards in the tableau: Arrange eight rows in the middle of the table, one half with seven cards each and the other with six cards each. All cards face up from the start.
Thus, this solitaire variant has no stock, unlike Spider or Klondike, for example.
Then, there are four empty slots above the tableau that we call the foundation. This is where you want all cards to end up in four piles, each in one suit only sorted from Ace at the bottom to King on top.
Finally, distinctive of FreeCell, there are four more empty slots above the tableau, free cells to park individual cards at.
To solve the game, you need to move all cards from the tableau to the foundations. The following rules apply while doing so:
- You can only move individual cards from the tableau to the foundation.
- You can only move individual cards to an empty cell.
- You can move individual cards or rows of alternating colors and consecutive ranks from a tableau pile to a matching open card in the tableau.
In the free cells, you can place any card, only one card per cell.
In the tableau, you must create sequences from King to Ace with alternating colors.
In the foundation, you must start with the Ace and then build up each suit to the King. Once you accomplish that, you win the game!
If solitaire card gaming sounds like fun, check out our games at the Solitaire Palace and Spider Palace. Our solitaire realizations offer an exclusive multiplayer mode. This is how it works: You and your fellow players each aim to solve the same card setup separately. You need to play quicker and more effectively to win more points than the others. A round ends shortly after one player moves all cards to the foundation, and the player with the highest total score wins!