What you're trying to do
FreeCell has one clear objective: get every card onto the four foundation piles. Each pile is tied to a suit, and you build it from Ace up to King.
The twist is that you can see every card from the beginning. There are no hidden cards waiting to surprise you later. That makes FreeCell less about luck and more about making space, planning a few moves ahead, and not boxing yourself in.
First, get familiar with the board
The game uses a normal 52-card deck. After the deal, the board is split into three areas that you'll use for different jobs.
- Tableau: eight columns of face-up cards. Most of the game happens here.
- Free cells: four single-card spaces. Think of them as short-term parking spots.
- Foundations: four piles, one per suit, where cards eventually end up in Ace-to-King order.
Moving cards on the tableau
Cards are stacked downward by rank and the colors must alternate. So a red 8 can go on a black 9, while a black Queen can go on a red King.
An empty column can take any single card. Longer runs can be moved too, provided the cards are already in the right descending, alternating-color order and you have enough open space elsewhere on the board to carry out the move.
Free cells help, but they fill up fast
A free cell can hold one card and only one card. That makes it useful when you need to get a blocker out of the way for a moment.
It's easy to overuse them, though. Four occupied cells can turn a flexible position into a cramped one very quickly. If you place a card there, try to know what you're opening up and how you might free that cell again.
Don't rush every card to the foundations
The foundation piles are built by suit: Ace, 2, 3, all the way through King. You move cards there one at a time.
Low cards are usually worth sending up early, especially when doing so uncovers something useful. Still, an available foundation move isn't always the best move. Sometimes that card is more valuable on the tableau because it lets you place an opposite-color card beneath it.
What counts as a movable sequence
You can move more than one card at once when the run is already arranged correctly: descending by rank and alternating in color. The catch is that the board needs enough spare room to make that move possible.
FreeCell Now follows the standard supermove rule. Open free cells increase how many cards you can move, and empty tableau columns can increase that capacity again. One exception is worth remembering: when the destination is itself an empty column, that column doesn't also count as extra working space.
Controls in FreeCell Now
- Click or tap a card or legal sequence, then choose its destination.
- Drag and drop if you'd rather move cards directly.
- Double-click an eligible card to send it to a foundation.
- Undo reverses your most recent move.
- Hint points out a useful legal move when one is available.
- Auto moves cards to the foundations when the game judges those moves to be safe.
- New starts another deal.
Five things that are worth watching
- How many free cells are still open? The more you have, the easier it is to rearrange a messy section of the tableau.
- Can you clear a whole column? An empty tableau column is especially valuable because it gives you much more room to shift longer runs around.
- Are an Ace or 2 buried somewhere? Freeing low cards early often gets the foundations started and opens useful space.
- What happens after this move? A move can be legal and still leave you worse off. Before using a free cell, look at how that card is coming back out.
- Did a promising line go nowhere? Use Undo and try a different order. FreeCell is a game where small changes in move order can make a big difference.
How the game ends
You've won once all 52 cards are in the foundations, with 13 cards in each suit pile from Ace through King.
If you get stuck before then, don't assume the deal is lost. Check whether you can recover a free cell, open a column, or expose a low card that gives you a new route through the position.
Play a game of FreeCell and try the rules on a fresh deal.
If you are deciding between browser versions, see our FreeCell alternatives and website comparisons.