How to Win FreeCell Solitaire
You can see all 52 cards in FreeCell, but getting at a buried one can take several moves, and a plan that looks fine often falls apart on its last step because the cell it needed is already full. This guide is about checking for that room before you start, choosing the cheapest way to reach the low cards and getting out of trouble when the cells fill up.
This page assumes you know the layout and legal moves. If those are new, begin with the FreeCell rules. The positions below are about choosing between moves, not about which moves are allowed.
Read the deal before touching a card
Start with the Aces and 2s, but do not stop there. Trace each low card down its column and count how many cards cover it. An Ace under one movable card is a quick release. An Ace under 5 cards is a project, especially when the cards those 5 would need to land on are buried elsewhere. That column deserves attention before an easier foundation move distracts you.
Next, look for the shortest column and for any descending, alternating-color pairs already on the table. A short column is your best chance of opening real workspace. A ready-made pair may let you clear it without using a cell at all. Finally, note duplicated ranks. If both black 8s are deep in the tableau, a red 7 has fewer useful destinations than it appears to have.
Make every free cell earn its keep
Putting a card in a cell uncovers the card beneath it, but it also cuts down how many cards your next sequence move can carry. Weigh both. If the uncovered card can go to a foundation and the parked card can return to the tableau, the cell may be needed only briefly. If neither has a destination, the same move can leave you with less room and no immediate continuation.
Before parking a card, name its exit. Perhaps the black 9 will soon take a red 8, or a foundation will be ready for the card after 2 lower ranks move. If you cannot identify a likely exit, leave the cell open until the move buys something concrete. Using one cell for a move or two is routine. With 3 occupied, slow down. Once all 4 are full, every loose card must find a tableau or foundation destination before you can take another column apart.
Clear a column for a reason
An empty tableau column is the most useful piece of room in standard FreeCell. It holds a card or a sequence, and it increases the size of a legal supermove. Opening a column is often worth a short detour, but the value disappears if you immediately fill it with a card that cannot move again.
Decide what the space will do before you open it. It may be a temporary landing place while you reverse 2 stacked sequences, a home for a long King-led run or the extra column that makes a 6-card transfer possible. If the answer is only "put this card somewhere," keep looking.
Count a supermove before you build it
Digital FreeCell lets you move an ordered run in one action when the same transfer could be completed one card at a time through the available spaces. With no empty column, the capacity is the number of open cells plus 1. Each spare empty column doubles that number in standard FreeCell; King-only and single-card variants use different limits. With 3 open cells, you can move 4 cards. The same 3 cells with one empty column let you move 8.
A practical catch remains. If the destination itself is an empty column, that column cannot also act as spare workspace during the transfer, so the capacity is halved. With 3 open cells and 1 empty column, you may carry 8 cards onto another card but only 4 into the empty column. Count only the room you have when the move begins. Space you plan to open afterward does not help this move.
Do this count before you assemble a long run. If you build 7 cards together while your current capacity is 5, the run is not mobile. It may still be useful, but you have joined the cards before securing a way to relocate them. Check the capacity first, then decide whether the longer sequence helps or becomes a wall.
Try it: one free cell, one empty column
This constructed practice position uses the same move rules as the game. Move the 4-card run 7♠–6♥–5♣–4♦ onto 8♥, or try the empty column. With one free cell and one spare column, you can move (1 + 1) × 2 = 4 cards onto the 8♥. Into that empty column, it is only 2. The destination cannot also be workspace.
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After Reset, fill the last free cell and try the 4-card transfer again. Capacity falls to 2, so the same run no longer fits. This example creates no score or saved game.
Foundation moves are safe only when the table agrees
Aces and 2s usually leave the tableau without trouble. From the 3s upward, ask whether the card is still needed as a landing place. If both red 6s reach their foundations, a black 5 loses both of its possible places to go. When that 5 is covering the card you need next, an automatic-looking foundation move may close the only useful way into the column.
A reliable check is to compare the 4 foundations. When the suits are rising together, the lower opposite-color cards are less likely to be needed on the table. When one suit is far ahead, pause. You may be pushing its cards upward because they are easy to reach while the cards you actually need stay trapped in the other suits.
Recover when the cells are nearly full
A cramped FreeCell table is not repaired by moving the same loose cards between cells and columns. Stop and sort the parked cards into 2 groups: cards that can reach a foundation after a move or two and cards that need a card on the table to go on. Work on the first group first. Emptying even one cell may restore a useful single-card transfer and start a chain of releases.
If no cell card can leave directly, inspect the cards covering its possible destinations. Moving an exposed black 6 onto a red 7 might uncover a red 9 that can take a black 8 out of a cell. That transfer is useful even if it removes nothing to a foundation. When you cannot find such a release, Undo can help you revisit the earlier move that occupied the needed space.
Every Winnable deal on the site has a known solution from the opening, but the position in front of you may have drifted away from it. A run of legal moves can use up every way out, and Undo is the quickest way back to the point where it still worked. How we check that a deal can be won.
Work backward on a hard deal
In a difficult opening, choose one buried card as the first target and work backward from it. Which card covers it? Where can that covering card land? What has to move before that landing spot opens up? This short chain of answers gives you a plan. Trying to improve all 8 columns at once usually consumes cells without bringing any single release close enough to finish.
Keep a second plan in reserve. If your main plan depends on a black 10 that is deeper than expected, know whether the other black 10 can do the same job. Duplicate ranks often provide the only flexibility on a tight table. Spending both copies in fixed sequences too early removes that choice.
Players who enjoy this kind of open-table calculation can compare how the same resources change in Baker's Game, Eight Off and the other FreeCell variants. The familiar layout remains, but same-suit building, fewer cells and King-only spaces change which plans are realistic.
Close the game without creating a last-card trap
Late FreeCell often accelerates because the foundations begin accepting cards in long runs. Let the easy cards go, but keep checking what the last Kings and Queens are lying on. A King or Queen that covers lower cards in its column still has to move before those cards can go home. Building another long tableau run at this stage can hide the simple foundation order that is already available.
When 2 or 3 columns remain, read the exposed cards by suit from low to high. Move the lower foundation card first, then see what it uncovers before committing a high stack to an empty column.
Common questions
Should I move every Ace and 2 to the foundation?
Usually. No card on the table ever needs to land on them, so moving them opens space without removing a useful landing card. From the 3s upward, check the opposite-color cards still waiting on the table.
How many free cells should I keep open?
Keep at least one open when you can, and give every occupied cell an exit plan. Two occupied cells with clear exits are healthier than one cell holding a card that cannot move for the rest of the deal.
Is it always correct to make an empty column?
No. Clearing a column is valuable only if the cost does not fill all your cells or bury another needed card. Know how the empty column will be used before spending several moves to create it.
Why will the game not move my full sequence?
The run may be ordered correctly but longer than the current supermove capacity. Count open cells plus 1, then double for each spare empty column. Do not count the destination column if the run is moving into it.