FreeCell solitaire, solo or with friends

FreeCell is a solitaire where every card is dealt face up, so the whole game is planning. You move cards between eight columns and four free cells and build each suit up on its foundation, from ace to king. ShuffleFast plays it in your browser on your own, or at a shared table where you and a friend work on the same deal. There is nothing to install and no account to make.

The buttons above open a game right away. How many cards you can move at once is explained below.

The goal

Get all 52 cards onto the four foundations, one per suit, in order from ace up to king. When the last card lands, you have won.

The layout

• One deck, dealt face up. All 52 cards are dealt into eight columns. The first four columns hold seven cards and the last four hold six. Nothing is hidden and there is no stock.
• Four free cells. The row at the top left. Each cell holds exactly one card, as a place to park it while you rearrange the columns.
• Four foundations. The row at the top right, one for each suit. A foundation starts with the ace and grows one rank at a time.

How to play

Building on the columns

A card can go on a card that is one rank higher and the opposite color. A red 7 goes on a black 8, and a black 7 on a red 8. Aces are low and kings are high. Nothing can be placed on an ace.

Free cells

Drag the last card of any column onto an empty free cell to park it. Drag it back out onto a column it fits on, or onto its foundation, when you are ready. Only single cards can be parked, and only in an empty cell. When all four cells are full you cannot park anything else, which is the main way a game gets stuck.

Empty columns

When a column is cleared, any card, or any run of cards you can carry, can be moved into it. A king is not required. An empty column is worth more than an empty free cell, because it holds many cards and it also makes longer moves possible.

Foundations

The last card of a column, or a card in a free cell, can go to its foundation when it is the next card that suit needs. Cards on a foundation stay there. In ShuffleFast you cannot take one back, so get a card home only when you are sure you will not need it to build on.

Moving several cards at once

By the strictest rules of FreeCell you move one card at a time. Taking a whole run of cards across in one go is a shortcut for the same thing: the game shuffles them through your free cells and empty columns for you. ShuffleFast lets you drag a run in one move as long as it fits within this limit:

(free cells that are empty + 1) × 2 for every empty column

An empty column you are moving into does not count, since it cannot also be used as scratch space. To move a run, its cards must already form an ordered run (each card one rank lower than the one above it, alternating colors), and its top card must fit on the column you are moving to.

The same count applies when you are moving to an empty column, but that column is not counted: with four empty cells and one other empty column you can carry 10 cards to it, and with no other empty column you can carry 5. If you try to move a run that is in order and fits where you drop it, but is longer than your limit, the game tells you how many cards you can move right now, and the cards slide back.

Controls in ShuffleFast

• Move cards by dragging with a mouse, a finger or a pen. Pick up the last card of a column, or an ordered run at the end of it, and drop it on another column, a free cell or a foundation. Drop a card anywhere on the foundations and it finds its own suit. If the move is not legal, the cards slide back.
• Cards that can't be picked up do not respond to a drag. Only the last card and the ordered run it ends can be lifted.
• Finish fast. When every column runs in descending order from bottom to top, the rest of the game is certain, and a “Finish fast” button offers to play all the remaining cards onto the foundations for you.
• Suggested moves. Under the board, “See suggested moves” lists a few straightforward plays: cards that can go to a foundation, cards in a free cell that fit a column, and moves that build on a card without breaking up a run. It won't find every good line.
• Timer and moves. The bar above the board shows elapsed time and a move count. A run moved in one drag counts as one move.
• No undo. ShuffleFast has no undo button, in any game, so look before you move.
• Any screen size. The eight columns fit a phone in portrait. Cards are small there, and stay readable.

FreeCell strategy tips

These are habits that help in most games. They are not guarantees, and a few deals cannot be won.

• Look before you touch anything. Everything is visible. Find where the four aces and the low cards sit, and plan around the ones buried deepest.
• Keep free cells free. A parked card is a cost. Park only when it releases something useful, and try to end each sequence with the cells empty again.
• Empty a column early. The shortest column is usually the best candidate. An empty column and a few free cells together allow long moves.
• Don't waste empty columns. Filling one with a single stray card removes the very thing you worked for. Put a long run, or a king to build on, there, or use it to sort things out and then clear it again.
• Dig for the aces and twos first. Cards home are cards out of the way. But sometimes a low card is needed as a base for a run, so before you send a 3 to the foundation, check that you don't need it to hold a 2.
• Build long runs in a few columns. They can be moved as one, and they leave other columns free to be emptied.
• Think about which cards a move uncovers. Before moving a card, look at the one under it, and at where the next card down would have to go.

The strategy guide covers Klondike, but its habit of thinking a few moves ahead applies here too.

Play co-op FreeCell with a friend

FreeCell suits a shared table well because all the information is on the board and two people can weigh a move together. On ShuffleFast a multiplayer FreeCell game is one shared board, not a race. You see the same cards, and when anyone moves, everyone sees it.

1. Start a room with the button below. You become the host, and the room begins with a fresh FreeCell deal. (You can also choose FreeCell on the home page and then Play together.)
2. Send the invite. Use Copy invite link (or “Invite a friend” on a phone) above the board, or share the room's five-digit code.
3. Your friend opens the link, or chooses “Join a friend” on the home page and types the code. They land in your game as it stands and play FreeCell automatically.

Here is what is shared, and what the host controls:

• The board, the cells and the foundations. Any player can move a card or a run at any time. There is no turn order.
• The clock and the move count. They belong to the shared game.
• New games. Only the host can start a new game. It deals a fresh FreeCell game to the room after a confirmation.
• The win. When the fourth foundation is complete, everyone at the table sees the finished game.

Co-op FreeCell works well as a conversation: one of you can watch the free cells and the count of empty columns while the other plans the next few moves. If two of you move at the same instant, the server keeps the first move and puts the other player's board back in step. Rooms work as described in the co-op guide: you can only be in one room at a time, a room disappears 90 seconds after its last player leaves, and anyone with the link can join.

Common questions

Why won't my run of cards move?

Either the cards are not an ordered run (each one rank lower than the one above, alternating colors), the top card doesn't fit on the column you dropped it on, or the run is longer than your limit. In the last case ShuffleFast tells you how many cards you can move. Empty a free cell or a column and try again.

Can I take a card back from a foundation?

No. Once a card is on a foundation it stays there.

Can I play FreeCell in the daily puzzle?

No. The daily puzzle is a Klondike deal. FreeCell is available as a solo game or a co-op room.

Is every FreeCell deal winnable?

Almost every FreeCell deal can be won with careful play, which is why the game is about planning more than luck. But ShuffleFast deals are shuffled at random and are not checked in advance, so a very few deals may not be winnable.

Ready to play?