Betaboardgames.zone is still being built. Tell us what to fix next.

Learn FreeCell: Tutorial

1 player · 5–15 min · Moderate to learn

Pass & play Quick match

Show all steps on one page

Step 1 of 7/freecell/tutorial#step-1

The Deal

Welcome to FreeCell! The whole deck is dealt face up into 8 columns: the first four get 7 cards, the last four get 6. Nothing is hidden, so you can plan the whole game from the first move.

Above the columns are 4 free cells on the left, each holding one card, and 4 foundations on the right, one per suit.

Your goal is to build every suit on its foundation from Ace to King. Only the last card of each column, the one you see in full, can be moved.

Step 2 of 7/freecell/tutorial#step-2

Build Down, Alternating Colors

On the columns you build downward in alternating colors: a card goes on a card one rank higher of the other color.

The 7 of Hearts has just moved from column 1 onto the 8 of Clubs in column 3. Now the 6 of Clubs at the end of column 4 can follow it, a black 6 on a red 7.

To move a card, drag it, or tap it and then tap where it should go.

Step 3 of 7/freecell/tutorial#step-3

Foundations: Ace to King

Each foundation starts with an Ace and grows up by suit: Ace, 2, 3 and so on up to the King.

The Ace of Spades is at the end of column 5, with the 2 of Spades right behind it. Send the Ace to a foundation, then the 2 of Spades after it.

Cards never come back from the foundations, so play a card up when you no longer need it in the columns.

Step 4 of 7/freecell/tutorial#step-4

Use the Free Cells

A free cell holds any single card while you get it out of the way.

In column 2 the King of Diamonds covers the Ace of Diamonds. Move the King into a free cell: then the Ace, the 2 of Diamonds and the 3 of Spades under it can all go to their foundations.

A card in a free cell can later go onto a column or to its foundation. Every full cell leaves you less room, so empty the cells again whenever you can.

Step 5 of 7/freecell/tutorial#step-5

Empty Columns

Column 8 holds the Ace and 2 of Clubs, the 4 of Spades, the Ace and 2 of Hearts and the 3 of Diamonds. With the foundations built so far, all six can go up one after another, and the column is left empty.

An empty column takes any card, not only a King. It works like a free cell that can hold a whole run, which makes it the most valuable space on the table, so fill it only with a plan.

Step 6 of 7/freecell/tutorial#step-6

Moving Runs

Column 3 ends in an ordered run: 8 of Clubs, 7 of Hearts, 6 of Clubs. You can move all three at once onto the 9 of Diamonds in column 6.

Strictly, cards move one at a time, so a run can only travel as far as your free space lets you shift it card by card. The limit is the number of empty free cells plus one, doubled for each empty column. Here 3 cells are empty and so is column 8: (3 + 1) × 2 = 8 cards. A run moving into the empty column itself can't count that column, so there the limit is 4.

Step 7 of 7/freecell/tutorial#step-7

Winning the Game

You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations, Ace to King in every suit.

If every free cell is full, no column is empty and no card fits anywhere, no moves are left and the game is over. A game also stops after 3,000 moves.

Stuck? Undo takes a move back and Hint suggests one. In the setup you can play with only 3 or 2 free cells for a harder game, or build the columns by suit, the traditional variant called Baker's Game.