FreeCell is the open-information solitaire: there is nothing hidden, no luck of the draw, and nearly every deal can be won. That makes the rules easy to state and the game hard to put down. This page is a complete reference to how FreeCell is played — the layout, the deal, the legal moves, and how you win. If you'd rather learn by doing, you can play FreeCell straight away with unlimited undo and hints.
What is FreeCell?
FreeCell is a solitaire game played with a single standard 52-card deck. Every card is dealt face up, so you can see the entire deal from the first move — there is no stock to draw from and nothing concealed. The table has three kinds of pile: four free cells (single-card holding spaces), four foundations (where you build winning piles), and eight tableau columns, also called cascades, where the cards start out. Your job is to use the free cells and the tableau to unpack the deal and feed every card onto the foundations.
The setup
All 52 cards are dealt face up across the eight tableau columns. The deal is not even: the cards are dealt one at a time across the row, so the first four columns get seven cards each and the last four columns get six cards each. That is 4 × 7 plus 4 × 6 = 28 + 24 = 52 cards, the whole deck. The four free cells and the four foundations all start empty. Because nothing is face down, the position you see at the start is the position you have to solve — no surprises arrive later.
The objective
You win by building all four foundations up by suit, each running from Ace to King. Each foundation takes one suit: you start it with that suit's Ace, then add the Two, the Three, and so on up to the King. When all four foundations hold a complete Ace-to-King suit — 13 cards each, 52 in total — the game is won.
Legal moves
FreeCell has a small, strict set of rules for where a card may go. Everything else follows from these.
- Tableau builds down in alternating colours. You may place a card on a tableau column only if it is one rank lower than the column's top card and the opposite colour — a red Six on a black Seven, a black Four on a red Five, and so on.
- A free cell holds exactly one card. You may move any single card into an empty free cell, and move it back out later when it fits somewhere. A free cell that is already occupied is unavailable until you empty it.
- Foundations build up by suit from the Ace. A card goes to a foundation only if it is the Ace of an empty foundation, or the next rank up in the same suit as the foundation's top card.
- An empty column accepts any card. When a tableau column is cleared, any single card — or the lead of a run you can relay — may be placed there.
Officially, every move is a single card moving between a tableau column, a free cell, and a foundation. There is no separate rule for moving a group.
The supermove: moving several cards at once
Most FreeCell apps, CardHearth included, let you drag a whole descending, alternating-colour run in one gesture. This is the supermove, and it is purely a convenience: it automates a series of legal single moves that shuffle cards through your empty free cells and empty columns and back. Because of that, the number of cards you can move at once is limited by how much temporary space you have. The rule is:
(1 + empty free cells) × 2(empty columns)
In words: take one, add the number of empty free cells, then double the result once for each empty column. With all four cells free and no empty columns you can move five cards (1 + 4 = 5). Free up one column and that doubles to ten; a second empty column would double it again to twenty. One important caveat: when you are moving a run onto an empty column, that destination column does not count toward the doubling, because it is where the run is going rather than a relay space.
How you win
The game is won the moment every card sits on a foundation — all four suits built up cleanly from Ace to King. Free cells and tableau columns end up empty. Once the remaining position is provably safe to finish, an auto-complete option appears so you don't have to click every last card up by hand.
Are FreeCell deals always solvable?
Almost always. In the famous original collection of 32,000 numbered FreeCell deals, exactly one — deal #11982 — has been proven impossible to win. Every other deal in that set is solvable with perfect play, and across random deals generally the solvable rate is well above 99%. That is why FreeCell is treated as a puzzle of skill: if you lose, the deal was almost certainly winnable, and unlimited undo lets you back up and find the line you missed.
Frequently asked questions
How many free cells are there?
Four. Each free cell holds exactly one card, so you have four temporary parking spaces in total. They are open storage you can move any single card into, and you can move that card back out to a tableau column or a foundation whenever it fits.
How many cards can you move at once?
Strictly, one — FreeCell only ever moves a single card. Moving a run is shorthand for a sequence of single moves relayed through your free cells and empty columns. The most you can shift in one "supermove" is (1 + empty free cells) × 2 to the power of the number of empty columns. With all four cells free and no empty columns you can move five cards; one empty column doubles that to ten.
Are all FreeCell games winnable?
Almost. In the classic set of 32,000 numbered deals, only one — deal #11982 — has been proven unsolvable. Every other deal in that set can be won with perfect play, which is why FreeCell is regarded as a game of skill rather than luck.
Keep going
Now that you know the rules, play a hand of FreeCell and put them to use. When you're ready to win more often, read our FreeCell strategy guide, see how the game compares in FreeCell vs Klondike, look up any unfamiliar term in the solitaire glossary, or browse everything in our guides hub.