FreeCell rules
The layout
One 52-card deck, dealt face up into eight columns: the first four hold seven cards, the last four hold six. Four free cells hold one card each. Four foundations, one per suit, start empty.
What each move needs
- Onto a column: one rank lower, opposite colour.
- Onto a foundation: the next rank up, same suit, starting with the ace.
- Into a free cell: any single card, if the cell is empty.
- Into an empty column: any card. Nothing is reserved for kings.
How many cards you may move at once
Strictly, one. Computer versions let you drag a run because they can perform the single-card moves for you, so a run is legal exactly when you had the space to carry it:
(1 + empty free cells) × 2empty columns
Moving into an empty column counts one fewer — that column cannot help carry the run it is receiving. With three free cells and one empty column you can move eight cards onto an occupied column, but only four into the empty one.
When a card goes home by itself
This site sends a card to its foundation as soon as nothing could ever need it again: every card that could still be stacked on it is already home, or is free to follow it there. So with both black fives and the four of hearts home, the seven of diamonds goes up — the only cards that could sit on it are the black sixes, and they can leave whenever they like.
Microsoft FreeCell is stricter here and holds that seven back until both black sixes are home. Both behaviours are safe; ours simply saves you the clicks.
Winning and losing
You win when all four foundations reach the king. You lose when no legal move remains — usually with all four free cells full. Undo is always available, so a dead end costs nothing but the moves it took to reach it.