Practice FreeCell with a coach

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The FreeCell table

The practice game needs JavaScript. The rules page has everything you need to play for real.

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Goal: get all 52 cards onto the four home piles, one pile for each suit, in order from the ace up to the king. Every card is face up from the start, so you can plan. Undo has no limit, so you can try things without fear.

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About this practice game

One player, one deck of 52 cards, every card face up. Eight columns are dealt, and your job is to move every card onto four home piles, one pile for each suit, in order from the ace up to the king. Four free cells give you room to park cards while you dig out the low ones. Press Hint for a suggestion and Undo as often as you like. Almost every deal can be won. New to the game? Press Watch a narrated deal above the table to see the computer play a whole deal, with every move explained.

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How FreeCell works

One player, one deck, nothing hidden. You play against the cards. Cards go in this order, lowest to highest: A (ace), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, J (jack), Q (queen), K (king). A card's place in this order is its rank, so a 7 is one rank higher than a 6.
The eight columns. All 52 cards are dealt face up into eight columns: 7 cards in each of the first four, 6 in each of the last four. Only the last card of a column (the one lowest on the screen) can be picked up on its own.
The four free cells. At the top left. Each holds any one card. A card in a free cell can go onto a column or home whenever it fits.
Building down in the columns. A card can go onto a card of the other color that is one rank higher: a red 6 onto a black 7, a black 7 onto a red 8.
Empty columns take any card. When a column has no cards left, any card, or a run of cards in order, can go there.
One card at a time, and runs. The rules move one card at a time. A run of cards in order may move together only when it could be moved one card at a time through the empty free cells and columns. That is at most (empty free cells + 1) × 2 for each empty column, and half that when the run goes into an empty column. The counter above the table shows the number right now.
The home piles. At the top right, one for each suit. Each starts with the ace, then the 2, then the 3, and so on up to the king, one card at a time. You never have to send a card home. In this practice game a card that is home stays home.
Winning. You win when all 52 cards are on the home piles. Almost every deal can be won. After each move the game spends a few seconds trying every way to go on. If it can prove that none wins, it tells you, so you can Undo; if the position is too big to check in that time, it says nothing.

How to use this page

Click a card to pick it up (it gets a red outline, and so do the cards below it). Then click where it goes: another column, an empty column, a free cell, or its home pile. Click the card again to put it down. The line at the top of the board lists where it can go, and those places are outlined.
Double-click a card to send it home when it can go. The Auto button sends home every card that is safe to send, one after another.
Hint points at one good move with a gold outline and says why. Undo takes back your last move, again and again. New deal shuffles and starts over.
With the keyboard: press Tab to move between the free cells, the home piles and the columns. In a column, the up and down arrow keys move between its cards and the left and right arrow keys move to the next column. Enter or Space picks a card up and puts it down. H sends the card you are on home, F puts it in a free cell. Escape puts it down.
To watch instead of play, press Watch a narrated deal above the table. The computer plays a whole deal, and every move is explained. Press Next and Back (or the arrow keys) to step, Play to let it run on its own, and Jump to to skip ahead. Back to playing returns to your game exactly as you left it.

Four things beginners miss

Keep free cells empty. Every full cell takes away a place to park a card and lowers how many cards can move together. Park a card only to reach a card you need, and bring it back out as soon as it fits somewhere.
Dig out the aces and other low cards first. Look for the card each home pile needs next. Start with the one that has the fewest cards on top of it.
Empty columns are gold. An empty column takes any card, and while it is empty it doubles how many cards can move together. Do not fill one without a reason.
Send a card home when nothing needs it. An ace or a 2 can always go. A higher card is safe once both cards of the other color one rank lower are home: then no card can still need to go on it. Auto follows exactly this rule.

Common beginner mistakes

Filling the free cells early. Four cells feel like a lot. With all four full, you can move only one card at a time and have nowhere to park.
Putting a king in a free cell. A king can only leave a free cell for an empty column or its home pile, so it may sit there for a long time.
Filling an empty column with a single low card. It is usually better kept for a long run or a king.
Giving up too soon. Press Hint, or press Undo and try a different way. Almost every deal can be won.

The full rules page →

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