FreeCell Strategy: How to Win Almost Every Deal

Is every FreeCell game winnable?

Nearly. FreeCell became famous through the Windows version with 32,000 numbered deals, and players who worked through all of them found exactly one that cannot be solved: deal #11982. Some deals outside that set are unsolvable too, but they are rare.

We checked this on NitroPlayer's own rules, where you move one card at a time. We dealt 1,000 random deals the way the game does and ran a quick search program on each one. It found a full solution for 984 of 1,000. On the other 16 it gave up after looking at 300,000 positions, which does not prove those deals are lost; a stronger search would likely solve most of them.

So when you are stuck in FreeCell, the cards are almost never the problem. The order of your moves is.

How much each free cell is worth

To see how much the free cells matter, we ran the same search with fewer cells, on 300 random deals each, giving up after 100,000 positions.

Losing one cell barely matters. Losing two costs almost a third of all deals, and with a single cell most deals are out of reach. In a real game, a cell holding a card you cannot place is a lost cell, so two cards parked for good leave you playing the 2-cell game.

Every cell you fill is one cell fewer for the rest of the game, which is why the best players keep at least one or two empty as long as they can.

Dig out Aces and 2s first

All 52 cards are face up in eight columns, four of seven cards and four of six. We dealt one million random deals and measured how deep the low cards sit:

• An Ace sits under 2.8 cards on average, and so does a 2.
• Only half of all deals start with any Ace free to play.
• Two deals in three bury at least one Ace under 5 or more cards.

Before your first move, find all four Aces and count the cards on top of each. Start with the column where an Ace and its 2 sit closest to the bottom. Every low card that reaches the foundations frees the cards stacked above it.

Worked example: the deal from the video

Counting columns from the left, column 1 ends with 2 of spades, Ace of spades, 9 of diamonds. Column 2 ends with the 10 of clubs. Column 3 ends with 2 of hearts, Ace of hearts, 3 of spades. Columns 5 and 6 end with the 3 of hearts and the 4 of spades.

1. Dig out the Ace. The red 9 of diamonds goes on the black 10 of clubs. Now the Ace of spades is free: send it home, then the 2 of spades under it.
2. Use a free cell only when it helps right away. The 3 of spades goes into a free cell, and the Ace of hearts under it goes home at once.
3. Empty the cell fast. With the Ace and 2 of spades home, the 3 of spades leaves the free cell for the foundation. One move in, one move out.
4. Double-tap to send cards home. The 2 of hearts, the 3 of hearts and the 4 of spades each go home with a double-tap.

A few moves, seven cards home, and all four free cells empty again. The video deal is set up so the low cards sit near the bottom; in most real deals you will need more moves to reach them, but the pattern is the same.

Free cells and empty columns

On NitroPlayer you move one card at a time. To move a run, you shift its cards one by one through free cells and empty columns, so space decides how far you can go.

• With only free cells, you can relocate a run of empty cells + 1 cards.
• Each empty column doubles that number: with 2 empty cells and 1 empty column, you can move 6 cards.
• Any card can go into an empty column, not only a King, so do not waste one on a low card unless it clearly unlocks progress.

Count your space before you start a long transfer. Running out halfway leaves a half-moved run blocking two columns.

When to send cards home

Aces and 2s always go home at once. For higher cards, check first: a red 7 on the foundation can no longer hold a black 6 in the tableau. A card is safe to send home when both cards of the opposite color one rank lower are already there. The Daily FreeCell ranks you by moves, and Undo takes a move back completely, so try a line and step back if it fails. Play a deal now in free online FreeCell.