FreeCell

Play FreeCell Online

FreeCell is the solitaire where nothing is hidden. All 52 cards are dealt face up into eight columns, and your goal is to move every one of them to four foundations, building each suit from Ace to King. There's no stock to draw from, only four free cells where you can park a card for a while. Because you see everything from the first move, almost every deal can be won, and a lost game usually comes down to a plan that went wrong rather than bad luck. At Slice Games, FreeCell is free to play in your browser, with hints from a built-in solver, three difficulty modes and stats for every mode.

How to Play FreeCell

One standard 52-card deck is dealt into eight columns: the first four get seven cards each, the last four get six. Above the columns sit four free cells on the left and four foundations on the right, one for each suit. Every card is visible, so you can think several moves ahead before you touch anything.

• Build down in alternating colors — a card goes on the next higher card of the opposite color, such as a red 9 on a black 10. Suits don't matter in the columns.
• Park cards in the free cells — each cell holds exactly one card. Any single card from a column can wait there until you find it a better spot.
• Fill empty columns with anything — unlike Klondike Solitaire, an empty column accepts any card or valid run, not just a King.
• Build the foundations up by suit — each foundation starts with its Ace and climbs to the King of the same suit. Once a card is on a foundation, it stays there.
• Move only proper runs — you can pick up several cards together only when they form a run that descends in alternating colors.
• Win by bringing all 52 cards home — the game is won when all four suits are complete on their foundations.

Tap or click a card to send it to the best legal spot, or drag it exactly where you want it; a run moves as a whole. With auto-play to foundations switched on, cards fly to their foundation on their own as soon as no other card could still need them. You can switch it off in Settings and play every card yourself. When every remaining card can go home, a Finish button appears and plays them all up for you.

Moving Several Cards at Once

Strictly speaking, FreeCell moves one card at a time. A run can still travel in one go if you have enough free space to shuttle its cards through empty cells and columns, and Slice Games does that for you as a single move, often called a supermove. The limit is simple:

Cards you can move = (empty free cells + 1), doubled for every empty column.

With four empty cells and no empty column, you can move five cards. One empty column doubles that to ten, and two empty columns allow twenty. If you're moving the run into an empty column, that column doesn't count, so with one empty column the limit drops back to five. Try a run that's too long and the game tells you how many cards you can move right now.

4, 3 or 2 Free Cells: Pick Your Difficulty

4 Classic is standard FreeCell and the best place to start. Random deals in this mode skip the few deals known to be unwinnable, so every one of them can be won. 3 Hard removes one cell, which shrinks every multi-card move and makes each parked card more costly. 2 Expert leaves you with only two cells, where planning several moves ahead becomes essential. With 3 or 2 cells, some deals can't be won at all, so a loss isn't always your fault. The free-cell setting applies to the next deal, and statistics are kept separately for each mode.

Hints, Undo and Numbered Deals

When you're stuck, press Hint and the game highlights a card and where it should go. Hints come from a solver that searches ahead. When it finds a winning line, the hints follow that line move by move; when it can't find one in time, it suggests its best move instead. If the solver proves the position can no longer be won, it tells you so without using up a hint. Undo takes back your last move, including any cards that were auto-played after it. Every game includes a few free hints and undos, and Slice Games Premium makes both unlimited.

Every deal has a number, and the numbering matches classic Microsoft FreeCell, from deal 1 up to 1,000,000. You can restart the current deal at any time from Settings and try the same cards again. Choosing a specific deal number is a Premium feature, as is the winnability check, a live badge that shows whether your current position can still be won.

Strategy Tips to Win More Games

FreeCell rewards patience more than speed. These habits make the biggest difference:

• Read the whole board first. Everything is face up, so find the buried Aces and 2s and work out how to reach them before your first move.
• Treat free cells as a last resort. Every filled cell shrinks the runs you can move and the options you have left. Try to empty a cell soon after you fill it.
• Value empty columns above cells. An empty column doubles the size of the run you can move, and it can hold a whole sequence instead of a single card.
• Free low cards early. Aces and 2s belong on the foundations. A column that hides several low cards is often the best one to clear.
• Build long, clean runs. An ordered run in alternating colors can move as a unit later. A jumbled column can't.
• Think before filling an empty column. A King there never has to move again, but a lone low card may block the space you'll need for a long run.
• Restart to learn a deal. If a game falls apart, replay the same cards with everything you now know about them.

Can Every FreeCell Deal Be Won?

Almost, but not quite. Computer solvers estimate that around 99.999% of deals with four free cells can be solved. The famous exception is deal #11982, the only unwinnable deal among the original 32,000 deals of Microsoft's version. Because Slice Games uses the same numbering, #11982 here is the very same deal. Random 4 Classic deals skip it, along with the other known unwinnable deals up to one million, so every random deal you get in that mode can be won. With 3 or 2 free cells, random deals aren't filtered, and some of them have no solution.

The game itself is older than Windows. Paul Alfille created the first computer version of FreeCell in 1978 on the PLATO system at the University of Illinois. Microsoft has included FreeCell in Windows since 1995, and that's how the game and its numbered deals became a classic.

Why Play FreeCell at Slice Games?

FreeCell starts right in your browser and adapts to your screen, whether you're on a computer or holding a phone upright or sideways. On small screens, the cards switch to a compact face with a large rank and suit, so long columns stay readable. Statistics are kept for each mode: games played and won, win rate, current and best win streak, best time and fewest moves. The timer simply counts up, with no time limit, and an unfinished game is saved as you play. Two table themes, Classic and Midnight, are free, and Premium adds Royal, Sakura, Ember and Glacier.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is FreeCell free to play?

Yes. The full game is free to play, including all three free-cell modes, restarting a deal, statistics and a few hints and undos in every game. Slice Games Premium adds unlimited hints and undo, choosing any deal number, the winnability check and extra table themes.

What's the difference between FreeCell and Klondike Solitaire?

In Klondike Solitaire, most cards start face down and you draw from a stock. In FreeCell, all 52 cards are face up from the start, there's no stock, and four free cells give you room to maneuver. That makes FreeCell almost entirely a game of planning.

How many cards can I move at once?

Take the number of empty free cells, add one, then double it for every empty column. With four empty cells and no empty columns, that's five cards. If the destination is an empty column, it doesn't count toward the doubling.

Is deal 11982 really unwinnable, and can I play it?

Yes, deal #11982 can't be won with four free cells, and it's the same deal as in Microsoft FreeCell. Random deals never give it to you, but Premium players can enter its number and try it themselves.

Can I play FreeCell on my phone?

Yes. Tap a card to move it or drag it to a specific spot. The layout scales to your screen, and when you hold your phone sideways it can move the cells and foundations to the sides to give you bigger cards.