Freecell Rulebook

Table of Contents

Table of Contents

• Components
• Setup
• Object of the Game
• Card Movement
• Building on the Tableau
• Foundations
• Supermoves
• Autoplay (Implementation Note)
• Numbered Hands
• Variants

Components

• One standard 52-card deck.

Setup

• Deal the cards face-up into eight cascades (tableau columns). Four of the cascades comprise seven cards each and four of the cascades comprise six cards each.
• There are four open cells (free cells) and four open foundations.
• The top card of each cascade begins a sequence.

Object of the Game

• Move all 52 cards to the four foundations, building each foundation up by suit from Ace to King.
• The game is won after all cards are moved to their foundation piles.

Card Movement

• Only one card may be moved at a time (but see Supermoves below).
• Any cell card or top card of any cascade may be moved:
  • to build on a tableau cascade,
  • to an empty cell,
  • to an empty cascade, or
  • to its foundation.

Building on the Tableau

• Tableaus must be built down by alternating colors. A card may be placed on another card only if it is one rank lower and of the opposite color (black on red, red on black).
• An empty cascade may be filled with any card, not only a King. (Solitaire Laboratory FAQ: "the most common mistake being to allow only kings to be placed in empty columns" in computer versions.)

Foundations

• Foundations are built up by suit.
• The foundations begin with the Ace and are built up to the King.

Supermoves

• In FreeCell, unlike many solitaire card games, only one card may be moved at a time. Complete or partial tableaus may be moved to build on existing tableaus, or moved to empty cascades only by a sequence of moves which recursively place and remove cards through intermediate locations.

• For example, with one empty cell, the top card of one tableau can be moved to a free cell. The second card from the top of that tableau can now be moved onto another tableau. Then the original top card can be moved from the cell on top of it.

• Such a sequence of moves is called a "supermove". Computer implementations often show this motion, but players using physical decks typically just move the tableau at once.

• A sequence of cards may be moved as a unit only if the whole sequence could be transferred by moving one card at a time, using empty cells and/or empty cascades. (Solitaire Laboratory FAQ.)

• The maximum number $C$ of cards in a tableau that can be moved to another tableau equals the number of empty cells plus one, with that number doubling for each empty cascade:

  C = 2^M × (N + 1)

  where M is the number of empty cascades and N is the number of empty cells. The maximum number that can be moved to an empty cascade is C / 2.

• Solitaire Laboratory FAQ, worked example: "Normally a sequence one card longer than the number of empty freecells can be moved from one column to another, but this is doubled for every empty column (except for the destination column -- if you are moving to an empty column, that column does not count). For example, a four-card sequence can be moved with three empty freecells, but if there is also a vacant column, an eight-card sequence can be moved, putting the first four cards temporarily in the empty column (using the freecells), then moving the other four cards to the destination (using the freecells again), and finally moving the first four cards from the formerly-empty column to the destination (using the freecells a third time)."

• Solitaire Laboratory FAQ: "The most common and useful supermove situation is moving a four-card sequence from one column to another when there is an empty column but only one empty freecell." Microsoft FreeCell carries out such moves as a single move.

Autoplay (Implementation Note)

• Many computer versions of FreeCell move cards automatically to the foundations. This is an implementation feature and is not part of the printed rules described above. Some versions only autoplay when all remaining cards are in sequence (autofinish); most autoplay a card whenever it is safe to do so.
• Aces can always safely be played, as well as twos of any suits whose aces are already there. In general, it is completely safe to autoplay a card when any possible card that could be packed onto it on a tableau column has already been played to the foundation, or can be played there as soon as it is uncovered.

Numbered Hands

• Although software implementations vary, most versions label the hands with a number derived from the seed value used by the random number generator to shuffle the cards.
• Microsoft FreeCell is so definitive for FreeCell players that many other software implementations include compatibility with its random number generator in order to replicate its numbered hands.

Variants

• Baker's Game. One of the oldest ancestors of FreeCell is Eight Off. Martin Gardner described in his "Mathematical Games" column (Scientific American, June 1968) a game by C. L. Baker which is similar to FreeCell, except that cards on the tableau are built by suit rather than by alternate colors. This variant is now called Baker's Game.
• Relaxed FreeCell. A variant where card sequence movement is not limited by available cells is known as Relaxed FreeCell.
• Other solitaire games related to or inspired by FreeCell include Seahaven Towers, Penguin, Stalactites, ForeCell, and Antares (a cross with Scorpion).