FreeCell Rules: A Complete Playing Guide

Short answer: PlaySoli FreeCell uses one 52-card deck dealt face up into eight tableau columns, plus four free cells and four foundations. Build tableau cards downward by rank while alternating red and black. Each free cell holds one available card. A primitive move to an empty tableau column places one card there. Foundations build upward by suit from Ace to King. The interface may move a valid sequence together only when the same result can be achieved through legal one-card moves using the currently empty cells and columns.

FreeCell gives you all the information at the start, but it does not give you unrestricted movement. The challenge comes from access and workspace. A card at the bottom of a tableau column may be visible yet unavailable. A free cell can hold it temporarily, but then that cell cannot help with another transfer. An empty column is powerful, but it is also a destination whose occupation can reduce your remaining capacity.

This guide defines the current PlaySoli implementation. It separates primitive legal moves—the one-card actions that define the game—from group-move shortcuts, where the interface carries an already ordered sequence in one action because enough temporary space exists. That distinction resolves most rule disputes.

For decision-making rather than legality, continue to the FreeCell strategy guide. For a detailed treatment of transfer capacity, see the planned FreeCell supermoves guide.

Contents

• The FreeCell layout
• The objective
• Which cards are available?
• How tableau building works
• How free cells work
• How empty columns work
• How foundations work
• How group moves work
• Legal and illegal move examples
• A complete turn-by-turn example
• Winning, losing and restarting
• Common rule mistakes
• In brief
• Frequently asked questions

The FreeCell layout

PlaySoli FreeCell begins with all 52 cards face up in eight tableau columns SRC-001 SRC-007. In the standard distribution, four columns contain seven cards and four contain six, accounting for the full deck SRC-038 SRC-039. There is no stock and no waste pile.

The board has four functional areas:

Area	Quantity	Purpose
Tableau columns	8	Hold the dealt cards and temporary descending alternating-color sequences.
Free cells	4	Each stores one available card temporarily.
Foundations	4	Receive cards by suit from Ace through King.
Stock / waste	0	FreeCell has no draw pile; every card is already on the tableau or in a cell/foundation.

Because every card is exposed, face up does not mean movable. Only the lower exposed card of a tableau column is directly available. Cards above it in the visual column may be visible but physically blocked by cards below them.

The objective

Move all 52 cards to the four foundations. Each foundation belongs to one suit and grows in ascending rank:

Ace → 2 → 3 → 4 → 5 → 6 → 7 → 8 → 9 → 10 → Jack → Queen → King.

A complete win therefore ends with four suited King-high foundations and no cards left in the tableau or free cells.

FreeCell is not won by making one long tableau sequence. Tableau order is a temporary working structure that gives access to lower cards and prepares them for the foundations.

Which cards are available?

An available card is one you can legally pick up as a single card at that moment. It is either:

• the exposed bottom card of a tableau column; or
• the card currently occupying a free cell.

A card already on a foundation is not ordinary tableau workspace. Some implementations may permit a foundation card to return to the tableau; strategy should not depend on that unless the interface explicitly allows it. The safe PlaySoli rule model is to treat foundation movement as progress that should be made deliberately.

A card can be completely visible yet unavailable. Suppose a column is displayed from top to bottom as:

9♣ – 4♦ – J♠

The J♠ is available because it is exposed at the bottom. The 4♦ is not available until the Jack moves away. Visibility gives information; exposure gives mobility.

How tableau building works

Tableau cards build downward by one rank while alternating colors SRC-001 SRC-007. The destination card must be exactly one rank higher and of the opposite color.

Examples of legal placements:

• Q♣ onto K♥
• 10♦ onto J♠
• 7♠ onto 8♦
• 2♥ onto 3♣

Examples of illegal placements:

• Q♠ onto K♣ — both are black.
• 9♥ onto J♣ — the rank gap is two.
• 8♣ onto 8♦ — equal ranks do not build.
• K♦ onto Q♣ — tableau building goes down, not up.

Suit does not need to alternate. Color does. Thus 10♣ can go on either J♥ or J♦, but not on J♠ or J♣.

A sequence must already be valid internally

A sequence such as 9♣–8♦–7♠–6♥ is internally valid because every step descends by one and changes color. A sequence such as 9♣–8♠–7♥ is not valid: the first two cards are both black. The interface cannot treat an invalid stack as one movable group merely because the bottom card fits the destination.

How free cells work

Each of the four free cells holds exactly one card SRC-001 SRC-007. Any available single card can enter an empty cell. A card in a cell remains face up and can later move to:

• a legal tableau destination;
• an empty tableau column;
• its correct foundation; or
• another empty cell, although that usually changes nothing useful.

A free cell is not a miniature tableau. You cannot stack two cards in one cell, even if they alternate colors. Four empty cells therefore provide four individual parking spaces, not a fifth column.

Why cell occupancy affects other moves

A long sequence transfer is shorthand for repeated one-card moves. Every empty cell can temporarily hold one card during that decomposition. Once a cell is occupied, it no longer contributes that space. This is why moving a card into a cell can be legal but still reduce the length of the next group you can transfer.

How empty columns work

An empty PlaySoli tableau column accepts any available single card SRC-001 SRC-007. There is no King-only restriction. That is one of the clearest differences from PlaySoli Klondike, where only a King or King-led sequence may enter an empty column.

The phrase “single card” describes the primitive move. A valid sequence may sometimes appear to move into an empty column in one interface action, but only if the program can decompose that transfer into legal single-card moves with the remaining temporary spaces. The destination column itself cannot simultaneously serve as an intermediate empty column.

Empty column example

Suppose 5♣ is exposed and one tableau column is empty. Moving 5♣ into that column is legal. Once it lands there, 4♦ or 4♥ may be placed on it. The empty column has become a new working stack.

Suppose instead that 5♣–4♦–3♠ forms a valid sequence. Whether the whole three-card sequence can move to the empty column depends on the other empty cells and columns. Do not infer legality merely from the fact that the destination is empty.

How foundations work

Foundations build upward by suit from Ace to King. A card can move to a foundation only when the immediately lower card of the same suit is already there.

Examples:

• A♣ can start the club foundation.
• 2♣ can follow only after A♣.
• 5♥ can move only when the heart foundation already shows 4♥.
• K♠ is the last card of the spade foundation, not the first.

Foundations do not build by alternating color. They build by exact suit.

Automatic moves and legal moves

A digital game may automatically send an obviously safe card to a foundation or finish a forced endgame. Automation is a convenience. It does not change the order required on the foundation. If the interface leaves a card in the tableau, you may still be able to move it manually when its suited predecessor is present.

How group moves work

Under the fundamental rule model, cards move one at a time. A computer interface can offer a group move or supermove when an ordered sequence can be relocated through a series of legal single-card moves using the available free cells and empty columns SRC-007 SRC-036 SRC-039.

This gives a reliable legality test:

1. Is the proposed group internally descending and alternating in color?
2. Does its top card fit the destination card, or is the destination an empty column?
3. Are enough cells and columns empty to hold the temporarily displaced cards?
4. After accounting for the destination, can the transfer be decomposed without stacking illegally in a cell?

If any answer is no, the group move is illegal even though each card is face up.

One empty cell: a two-card example

You want to move 6♣–5♦ onto 7♥. One free cell is empty.

1. Move 5♦ to the free cell.
2. Move 6♣ onto 7♥.
3. Move 5♦ from the cell onto 6♣.

The visible two-card transfer is legal because these three primitive moves exist.

Two empty cells: a three-card example

You want to move 8♠–7♥–6♣ onto 9♦. With two empty free cells:

1. Park 6♣ in cell A.
2. Park 7♥ in cell B.
3. Move 8♠ onto 9♦.
4. Move 7♥ from cell B onto 8♠.
5. Move 6♣ from cell A onto 7♥.

Again, the group action is only a shortcut.

Empty columns multiply options—but conditionally

An empty column can hold a temporary sub-sequence rather than one card, so it may increase capacity more than a free cell. The exact maximum depends on how many cells and columns remain empty, whether the target itself is empty, and the implementation’s accepted decomposition convention. Avoid memorizing a number without checking the current board.

The practical rule is simpler: the more occupied your cells and columns become, the shorter the sequence you can move.

Legal and illegal move examples

Example 1: opposite color, correct rank

J♦ onto Q♣ is legal. The move descends by one and changes from red to black.

Example 2: correct rank, wrong color

J♠ onto Q♣ is illegal. Both cards are black.

Example 3: any card into an empty column

An exposed 3♥ can enter an empty tableau column. FreeCell does not require a King.

Example 4: two cards into one free cell

Placing 7♣ in a free cell and then 6♦ on top of it is illegal. A cell holds one card only.

Example 5: foundation skip

Moving 4♠ to an empty spade foundation is illegal. A♠, 2♠ and 3♠ must arrive first.

Example 6: valid sequence, insufficient workspace

10♣–9♦–8♠–7♥ may be internally valid and fit on J♥, yet the move can still be rejected if all cells are occupied and no empty column can support the decomposition.

Example 7: visible but blocked

An A♦ three cards above the exposed bottom of a column cannot move. It becomes available only after every card below it is removed.

A complete turn-by-turn example

Consider this simplified position:

• Column 1 ends with 7♣–6♦.
• Column 2 ends with 8♥.
• Column 3 ends with A♠.
• One free cell is empty.
• The spade foundation is empty.

A legal line is:

1. Move A♠ from column 3 to the spade foundation.
2. Move 6♦ from column 1 to the free cell.
3. Move 7♣ from column 1 onto 8♥ in column 2.
4. Move 6♦ from the free cell onto 7♣.

The result is a legal 8♥–7♣–6♦ sequence, and the free cell has been restored. If column 1 is now empty, it becomes additional workspace.

A different order may be worse. If you first park an unrelated card in the only free cell, the two-card transfer may no longer be available. The rules have not changed; your remaining space has.

Winning, losing and restarting

You win when every card reaches a foundation. A deal can become functionally lost before the interface announces it: all free cells may be occupied, no tableau placement may be legal, and low foundation cards may remain buried. Undo or restart can then be the only practical response.

Do not infer that a loss proves the deal unsolvable. It proves only that the current line reached a dead end. Conversely, FreeCell’s open information does not guarantee that every initial arrangement has a winning line. PlaySoli makes no universal solvability claim SRC-001 SRC-007.

Common rule mistakes

Building by suit on the tableau

That is the characteristic Baker’s Game restriction, not standard PlaySoli FreeCell SRC-036. PlaySoli tableau piles alternate colors.

Applying Klondike’s King-only empty-column rule

Any available single card can enter an empty FreeCell column SRC-007.

Treating a free cell as a stack

A cell holds exactly one card.

Assuming every visible card is available

Only the exposed bottom card of each tableau column is directly movable.

Assuming any ordered sequence can move together

Sequence length is limited by the currently empty cells and columns.

Counting the destination as spare workspace

An empty column used as the destination cannot also help stage the same transfer.

Sending cards to foundations in the wrong order

Foundations ascend by suit from Ace. Tableau sequences descend by alternating color. These are different construction rules.

Believing a rejected group move contradicts the visible order

The sequence may be correctly ordered but too long for the remaining temporary spaces.

In brief

• One deck: 52 cards, all face up.
• Eight tableau columns: four initially hold seven cards and four hold six.
• Four free cells: one card per cell.
• Four foundations: build by suit from Ace to King.
• Tableau: build down by one rank in alternating colors.
• Available cards: exposed tableau bottoms and cell cards.
• Empty column: accepts an available single card; no King restriction.
• Group moves: allowed only when they can be decomposed through empty cells and columns.
• No stock, no waste and no redeal.
• A visible deal is not automatically guaranteed solvable.

Frequently asked questions

Are all 52 cards visible in FreeCell?

Yes. PlaySoli deals the full deck face up into eight tableau columns SRC-007. A visible card can still be blocked by cards below it.

How many cards can one free cell hold?

Exactly one. Four free cells can hold at most four cards in total.

Can any card go into an empty tableau column?

Any available single card can. Unlike Klondike, FreeCell does not require a King SRC-007.

Can I move a whole sequence at once?

Only when the sequence is internally legal, fits its destination and can be reconstructed through legal one-card moves with the empty cells and columns available.

Why did a sequence move work earlier but fail now?

You probably occupied a free cell or empty column that previously supplied temporary space. The same sequence can be legal in one board state and too long in another.

Do FreeCell tableau cards build by suit?

No. PlaySoli FreeCell builds downward in alternating colors. Same-suit downward building belongs to Baker’s Game in the cited comparison SRC-036.

Do foundations alternate colors?

No. Each foundation contains one suit and ascends from Ace through King.

Is there a stock or draw pile?

No. All cards are dealt at the beginning, so there is no stock, waste pile or redeal.

Is every FreeCell deal winnable?

No universal guarantee should be made. Some arrangements are demonstrably unsolvable, and PlaySoli does not claim that every deal has a solution SRC-007 SRC-025 SRC-026.

Related PlaySoli guides

• FreeCell strategy guide
• FreeCell supermoves and sequence capacity
• Common FreeCell mistakes
• History of FreeCell, PLATO and Windows
• FreeCell versus Klondike
• Solitaire terminology glossary

Sources used

• SRC-001 PlaySoli implementation and editorial specification.
• SRC-007 Current PlaySoli FreeCell product rules.
• SRC-025 Paul Alfille interview, including the original PLATO implementation.
• SRC-033 Michael Keller, FreeCell FAQ and Links.
• SRC-036 PySolFC Baker’s Game and Eight Off documentation.
• SRC-037 Gerald Paul and Malte Helmert, optimal FreeCell search and deadlock analysis.
• SRC-038 Achiya Elyasaf, Ami Hauptman and Moshe Sipper, GA-FreeCell.
• SRC-039 Marten Klaver, Theoretical and Practical Aspects of Freecell.

Material checked: 2026-07-17
Disputed or unverified facts: Group-move capacity can be expressed differently by different implementations; PlaySoli legality is defined here by decomposability through currently available cells and columns, not by an unsupported universal formula.
Editorial responsibility: PlaySoli Editorial Team.