← Blog · 5 min read · Updated May 2026
FreeCell Solitaire Rules in 5 Minutes
FreeCell is the most beginner-friendly serious solitaire variant. Every card is face-up from the start, four "free cells" buffer your moves, and nearly every deal is solvable. Once you understand the rules, you can win 80%+ of hands with patience. Here's the full ruleset.
The Layout
FreeCell deals all 52 cards face-up across eight tableau columns. Columns 1-4 get seven cards each; columns 5-8 get six cards each. Above the tableau sit two areas:
- Four free cells on the left — each holds exactly one card.
- Four foundations on the right — one per suit, built up from Ace to King.
The Goal
Move every card to the foundations. When all four foundations end on Kings, the game is won.
Legal Moves
Single-card moves
Any single card can move from its current spot (tableau bottom, free cell, or foundation) to any legal destination:
- To a tableau column: bottom of destination must be one rank higher in opposite color (red 5 on black 6).
- To a free cell: free cell must be empty.
- To a foundation: next rank up in the same suit as the foundation.
- To an empty column: any card.
Group moves (the formula)
FreeCell allows you to drag a properly sequenced group of alternating-color descending cards as if it were one card — but the number of cards in the group can't exceed your buffer space.
The formula:
Max group size = (1 + empty free cells) × 2^(empty tableau columns)
With all four free cells empty and zero empty columns, you can move 5 cards as a group. With one empty column, 10 cards. With two empty columns, 20. The formula matters: every empty column literally doubles your move power.
Special Cases
Auto-play
Most online versions auto-send cards to the foundation when they're safely playable. You can usually disable this in settings if you want to control timing manually.
Moving cards off the foundation
Some FreeCell variants let you move a foundation card back to the tableau. Standard FreeCell does not — once a card is on the foundation, it's locked.
The reverse-sequence rule
In strict FreeCell, you cannot place a sequence "up" — only "down." A 7 cannot land on a 6.
Why Almost Every Deal Is Solvable
Of the 32,000 original Microsoft FreeCell deals, exactly one — deal #11982 — was proven unsolvable. The rest each have at least one winning line. Across all possible random FreeCell deals, the unsolvability rate is around 1 in 100,000. That's the famous "99.999% solvable" statistic.
See Why FreeCell Has a 99.999% Win Rate for the full explanation.
Win Rate Expectations
- First 50 hands: typically 40-60% win rate as you learn.
- After 200+ hands: 80%+ is achievable.
- Patient expert play: 95-99%, with the gap to 100% being unsolvable deals only.
FreeCell is the rare solitaire where your skill level visibly tracks your win rate.
Play Now
Open our FreeCell page and try a hand. Stats save automatically, so you can track your win rate over time.