Free Cell Solitaire Strategy: Plan the Deal

The rules

• Build the foundations up by suit from ace to king.
• In the columns, build down in alternating colours.
• Each free cell holds one card; a card in a cell may return to a column or go to a foundation.
• Any card may go into an empty column.
• Several cards may move at once only if you could move them one at a time using the empty cells and columns available.

How many cards can I move?

The number of cards you can move as a run is (free cells empty + 1) × 2 to the power of (empty columns, not counting the one you move into). With four empty cells and no empty columns, five cards; with two empty cells and one empty column, (2 + 1) × 2 = 6; with no empty cells and no empty columns, one card at a time. Learn this formula: it tells you, before you try, whether a move is possible, and it explains why cells and columns are the currency of the game.

Dig for aces and twos first

Look at where the aces are. An ace at the bottom of a column under six other cards is the deal's problem; an ace near the top is a gift. Plan the first ten moves around freeing the deepest aces and twos, because until the low cards are out, the foundations cannot start and every other card has nowhere to go but the cells.

While digging, prefer to place the cards you remove onto other columns rather than into cells. A card in a cell is a cell you no longer have.

Keep the cells empty

Beginners fill the cells in the first few moves and then find they can move only one card at a time. Treat each cell as a loan: put a card there only when you know which move will take it out again. The best use of a cell is temporary, to hold one card while a run moves beneath it, then to return the card to a column.

An empty column is worth more than a cell

An empty column doubles the length of run you can move, and it can also take a run rather than a single card. When you can choose between emptying a column and keeping a cell free, empty the column. Avoid putting a king into an empty column early unless the king heads a useful run, because a king is permanent there.

Plan, then play

Because everything is visible, you can work out a deal before touching a card. A good routine:

1. Find the aces and twos and the cards burying them.
2. Identify which columns can be emptied quickly (short columns, or columns whose cards all have homes).
3. Decide which cells you will use and for which cards, and for how long.
4. Start digging, uncovering low cards and building same-colour-alternating runs that will later move as units.
5. Once two foundations are running, the deal usually opens up; keep counting moves.

Sending cards to the foundations

With all cards visible, you can be more relaxed about the foundations than in Klondike, but one rule still holds: keep a card in the tableau if a card of the opposite colour one rank lower still needs a home and nothing else could hold it. Double-tap sends a card up; when every lower card of both colours is already on the foundations, let the whole run go.

Common mistakes

1. Filling the cells early. Every cell used halves your move capacity.
2. Moving cards with no plan. With nothing hidden, every move can be justified before it is made.
3. Ignoring the deepest ace. The deal is won or lost at the bottom of that column.
4. Putting a king into an empty column by reflex. The column is more useful empty.
5. Guessing whether a long move is possible. Count it with the formula.

Glossary

• Free cell: one of the four spaces that holds a single card.
• Cascade: another name for a column.
• Supermove: moving several cards at once, allowed only when the cells and columns could do it one card at a time.
• Home / foundation: the four piles built by suit from ace to king.