How to Play FreeCell: Strategies for Beginners

Author: Tim K

Looking for a fun and rewarding way to kill an hour or two? Maxed out on standard solitaire? Then maybe it’s time to give FreeCell a try! What is FreeCell solitaire, you may be wondering? It’s a variation of standard solitaire that offers a refreshing departure from what you may be used to.

You can still play this chill, yet exciting game with just yourself, but the gameplay is fundamentally different in several ways. In this guide to all things FreeCell Solitaire, we will cover FreeCell Solitaire rules, key tips and strategies to up your game, mistakes to avoid, and more.

When you’re ready to grace that virtual felt table with your newly learned skills, we’ll be ready as always at Arkadium with fun, free, no-download FreeCell Solitaire. Shall we begin?

Basic FreeCell Solitaire Rules and Objectives

Your one objective in FreeCell Solitaire is to build up all four foundation piles, starting from the ace and ending with the king. But how exactly does one do that, and what is a foundation pile? Here’s a simple breakdown of FreeCell solitaire rules and gameplay basics.

How FreeCell Is Played

At the beginning of each game, all 52 cards are dealt face-up in the form of eight piles, or cascades, spanning the length of the bottom portion of the play area. Four of the cascades have seven cards, and the other four have six.

Look up, and you’ll see that each of the upper corners of the play area contains four empty cells. The four cells in the upper left-hand corner are called the free cells. The four cells in the upper right-hand corner are called the foundations. These three areas—the cascades, free cells, and foundations—make up the entire FreeCell Solitaire play area.

Your priority is to expose the aces, move them to the foundations, and build them up in ascending order from two to king. So, once you expose and move the ace of diamonds, keep moving cards around to then expose and move the two of diamonds, three of diamonds, and so forth until that foundation is built up to the king. Do this for all four aces, and you win!

How to Move Cards Around

A card can be moved either to an empty free cell, an empty cascade slot, the foundation, or to another cascade if the top card of the cascade is one rank higher and of the opposite color. For example, if you want to expose an ace hiding behind a seven of hearts, you can move that seven of hearts to a different cascade with an eight of clubs (or spades) at the top.

Move your cards around, get those aces up into the foundations, and build on them with cards of the same suit, ascending from twos to kings. The free cells are there for you to dump cards in when you can’t find a home for them, but be careful to use them very sparingly. Once they fill up, you’ve got no more wiggle room.

How Is FreeCell Different from Other Solitaire Games?

Especially if you’re a classic solitaire whiz, you will probably notice some major differences right off the bat when firing up FreeCell solitaire for the first time. For example, the cascades are not dealt in accordance with solitaire rules, i.e., they are not dealt in descending order and with alternating colors. However, as mentioned, you do need to abide by these two rules when moving cards from one sequence to another.

Another major difference is that you don’t have a stockpile of face-down cards you draw from; everything in FreeCell solitaire is out in the open. The third significant difference between FreeCell and standard solitaire is in the name of the free cells themselves. Solitaire has no such area to move and store cards that are in the way, though it has the four foundation spaces.

Finally, FreeCell is very different from standard solitaire in the faculties and strategies required to play. Where solitaire is much more luck-based, FreeCell requires more of a strategic mindset. You need to think ahead with every move, anticipating how moving x card to y area will affect your future chances of building up foundations, exposing the cards you need, and maintaining as many empty spots as possible to give you more freedom. Read on for key strategies to help you achieve this.

FreeCell Tips and Strategies to Help You Win Every Game

Technically, not every single game of randomly dealt FreeCell solitaire is winnable. Still, the vast majority (as in, more than 99%) of them are. If you’re looking to win (virtually) every time, then give these proven strategies a try.

FreeCell Tip #1: Take a Hard Look at the Starting Board

Since your first priority is to reveal the aces, twos, and threes (and so on), it’s always a good idea to begin each game by carefully surveying the board and locating these important cards. This will give you a clear game plan in terms of which sequences you should move where.

Freecell Tip #2: Move Aces Up as Early as Possible

If you are unable to get most or all of the aces onto their foundations within the first few moves, you may find yourself bogged down quickly. For example, if you only have the ace of hearts on its foundation, all of those twos and threes belonging to the other three suits can cause congestion and clog up your free cells.

FreeCell Tip #3: Build Foundations Carefully

It’s tempting to immediately move each card onto its appropriate foundation the moment it is revealed, but actually, this isn’t always the best play. For example, if you have an ace that you want to reveal hiding behind a red eight, and there’s a black nine at the top of one of your cascades, it’s better to move the eight over to the black nine instead of moving the nine up to its foundation.

Avoid These Common Mistakes

We’ve already mentioned one crucial mistake that leads many Freecell players to harpoon their chances of success: sacrificing playable cards to build foundations. Rest assured, there are several other key mistakes to avoid, including the following:

Don’t abuse the free cells. Only move cards here when you have to, and make sure not to forget them up there.

Don’t think just one move ahead. If you can’t plan at least 2-3 moves ahead, you may miss out on important opportunities to advance the main objective.

Don’t sleep on those empty spaces. Empty columns are just like free cells, offering a key strategic advantage for those who know how to use them. Create empty spaces as much as you can in order to offload cards that are in your way and build new cascades.

All That’s Left Is to Play

And there you have it—you are officially primed and ready to become a FreeCell master. All that’s left now is to get online and practice. At Arkadium, we’ve got all the “free FreeCell” action you could ever want, and with no downloads required. If you end up creating any new strategies or tricks that we didn’t cover, let us know in the comments!