Play FreeCell

About FreeCell & how to play

The solitaire of skill, not luck — nearly every deal is winnable if you plan it right.

All 52 cards are dealt face-up across eight columns, with four open free cells for parking and four foundations to build up. Your job is to send every card home, each suit in order from Ace to King. Because you can see everything from the start and almost every deal is solvable, FreeCell rewards planning over luck more than any solitaire out there — it's a puzzle you can genuinely think your way through.

Dodge deals this one. Tap a card, then where to send it; Undo and Auto are there to help you experiment and tidy up. Send all 52 home to win, and the faster and cleaner you do it, the better the score.

How to play FreeCell

1. Build the four foundations up by suit, Ace to King. That's where all 52 cards need to end up.
2. In the columns, stack cards down in alternating colors — a red 6 on a black 7, and so on.
3. Use the four free cells to park a single card each when you need to shuffle things around.
4. Tap a card to pick it up, then tap a legal spot. Tap a card twice to send it straight home.
5. Undo takes back moves and Auto sweeps the cards that are safe to send home. Clear all four foundations to win.

Tips & strategy

• Empty columns are gold. A cleared column holds any card and hugely increases how many you can move at once.
• Don't fill all four free cells early. Every one you occupy shrinks the runs you're able to move.
• Plan several moves ahead and dig toward the low cards — Aces and 2s — that start your foundations.
• Don't rush cards home too soon; a 5 or 6 is sometimes more useful sitting in a column to catch others.
• Stuck? Undo freely to test a line. FreeCell is about finding the right order, not memorizing it.