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This is just a simple FAQ. :) No strategy here (maybe later), but don't worry
because a few games of practice will get you right into the flow of things.
Enjoy this guide, hombres.
What is the attraction of Freecell?
What are the rules of the game?
What versions of Freecell exist?
Anything else to know about the PC version?
How many of the deals can be won?
What are the bonus games?
What are the cheats in Freecell?
How many Freecell deals are there?
What is Freecell notation?
What are some extra challenges?
How about some cool effects?
Have any cool deals for me?
Considering that Freecell isn't the most well-known game, you might
wonder why Microsoft chose this game to include this software with
Windows. But this game is great, mainly because it is a great
determiner of skill and strategy. Most solitaire games are difficult
to win even with the best play and require a lot of luck to win
regularly. However, almost every Freecell deal can be won with perfect
play; and of the 32000 included in the basic Windows version, all but
one are winnable. This means that its not the player's luck being
tested, but rather his skill. Also, since all cards can be seen from
the beginning, the game offers you the chance to plan ahead; once
again, other games would force you to rely on luck in that situation.
*** What are the rules of the game?
A full fifty-two card deck is randomly distributed face-up into eight
columns, four of seven and four of six. Cards overlap so that only the
bottom card is accessible, and only one card may be moved at a time.
The legal moves are as follows: 1) Any card may be moved to one of the
four stacks, which must be built up from ace to king in suit. When all
cards are in the stacks the game is won. 2) Any card may be moved into
an open FreeCell, of which there are four. 3) Cards may be built
downward in the columns from king to ace in alternating color. For
instance, a red (hearts or diamonds) nine can be played on a black
(spades or clubs) ten. You will notice that in the computer version of
a game, you can move groups of cards together; be aware that this is
just the game speeding up the movement of cards. Technically, you are
shifting cards back and forth between empty spaces in order to move a
group like this. Note that an empty column can be filled by any card,
not just a king as in many games. Following are the specific rules of
the game, straight from the game itself.
The game area consists of four home cells, four free cells, and a deck of
cards, which is dealt face up in eight columns at the beginning of the
game.
To move a card, click the card you want to move, and then click where you
want to move it. You can move cards according to the following rules:
• A card from the bottom of a column can move to a free cell.
• A card from a free cell, or from the bottom of a column, can move to a home
cell. Moves to a home cell must be made in order of lowest to highest, same
suit.
• Aces can move to an empty home cell.
• A card from a free cell, or from the bottom of a column, can move to the
bottom of another column. Moves to a column must be made in order of
highest to lowest, alternating suit colors.
*** What versions of Freecell exist?
The original version of Freecell has been used for a number of
editions of Windows. This is the version you can recognize by the fact
that "Select a Deal" demands a number from 1 to 32000. Windows XP
introduced a new version with one million deals which comes free with
the operating system. A number of cool freeware programs are also
available for playing Freecell. Get FreeCell Pro, an excellent
freeware program, at: .
This game allows you to record solutions, keep a log, have more
statistics, and also play with more or less FreeCells for an added
challenge, and features in the latest version over eight BILLION
deals.
*** Anything else to know about the PC version?
You should know that Macintosh versions are available. You should also
know, as a point of fact, that for all the main versions of the game,
even the freeware ones, the numbered deals are identical. For
instance, deal #16789 will be the same in FreeCell, FreeCell XP, and
FreeCell Pro. Finally, note that MS FreeCell is not flawless in its
performance of automatic group moves. For instance, three blank
columns can move an eight card sequence from one column to another;
but MS will tell you that you can only move three. You can perform the
action manually, but for the best Freecell time just download FCPro.
In the MS version, reveal a partially covered card by right-clicking
the card. And clicking on a card moves it to a freecell, if one is
available.
*** How many of the deals can be won?
Of the 32000 original deals, all but one can be solved, and this has
been verified. The impossible deal can be seen by choosing game number
11982. David Ring's Internet FreeCell Project proved all the other
31999 to be possible to defeat. The Windows XP version extends out to
one million deals, and eight cannot be defeated: the same 11982, and
in addition 146692, 186216, 455889, 495505, 512118, 517776, and
781948. When you're playing, unless you are playing through them in
order or intentionally choose the unwinnable game, every game you
choose is almost certainly winnable. Computer analysis of many, many
deals (millions) suggests that the ideal win rate for FreeCell is well
over 99% with the best possible play. In fact, an extensive analysis
showed that of the first 20 million numbered deals in FCPro, 263
cannot be solved; this suggests that about one in every 76,000 deals
is impossible.
*** What are the bonus games?
Input -1 or -2 into the "Select Game" box to get two bonus games. They
are pretty looking setups, and both are clearly unwinnable. This type
of impossible setup is easy to create. However, just by adding a fifth
FreeCell, both of these setups, and the infamous #11982, can be
defeated. Creating setups that require six or seven FreeCells to solve
is almost impossible, and it is likely that EVERY setup can be solved
with eight available FreeCells.
*** What are the cheats in Freecell?
There is one cheat but it is pretty great. At any time hold down Ctrl
+ Shift + F10, and up pops the "User-Friendly User Interface" window.
Choose Abort to win the game, Retry to lose the game, or Ignore to
cancel. Note that after you select win or lose, you will have to make
one move, any move, to achieve the automatic victory or loss. So you
have to use it before your position is completely blocked, otherwise
it won't work. This cheat is unconfirmed for any other version besides
the basic one.
*** How many Freecell deals are there?
32000 different deals are included in the basic Windows version, and 1
million in the Windows XP version. But this number pales in comparison
to the actual number of extant Freecell deals. Basic combinatory
mathematics allows us to see that there are 52! possible different
deals (52 factorial, or 52*51*50*...*3*2*1). This number is about
8.0658 X 10^67, or 80 million trillion trillion trillion trillion
trillion deals. However, many deals are mathematically equivalent, and
we can remove all but about 1 out of every 4608 deals as redundant,
leaving us with an effective total of only 1.7504 X 10^64. Following
is an explanation of the number 4608.
First, the initial setup contains 4 columns of seven and 4 columns of
eight cards. Any column is interchangeable with another of the same
number, with no effect on the game. There are (4!*4!)=576 permutations
of any identical combination of columns. So we can eliminate 575 out
of every 576 deals.
Next, the suits and colors aren't distinct objects in this game, but
only mathematical values assigned to cards, and can be completely
interchanged with no effect. For instance; if we replace every club
with the same number heart, and so on for spades and diamonds, the
setup is the same as far as the game is concerned. We can either do:
Spades <----> Diamonds Spades <----> Hearts
Clubs <----> Hearts or Clubs <----> Diamonds
And furthermore, switching all spades for all clubs, or all hearts for
all diamonds, does nothing. Thus, these are all the same:
(SHDC) (HSCD) (DCSH) (CHDS)
(SDHC) (HCSD) (DSCH) (CDHS)
This means that only one out of every 8 possibilities is relevant. So
we can divide the number of deals by 8, giving us 1.7504 X 10^64.
*** What is Freecell notation?
Freecell notation is an easy way to write out or save solutions to
different layouts, without using a lot of space. Each play consists of
two characters; the origin of cards and the destination of cards. The
numbers 1-8 indicate the columns, left to right; the letters a-d
indicate the four FreeCells; and h represents the home stacks. The key
is that on each move, you move AS MANY CARDS as you can from one place
to the other. To denote that the reader should move less than the
maximum number of cards, the two-letter entry should be followed by
the number of cards moved in parantheses, as so: 35 (1). Such a
situation can only happen when you are moving cards into an empty
column, from another column. As an example of Freecell notation, here
are solutions to games #1 and #2. Such solutions as these assume that
you are playing the computer version, therefore automatic moves are
taken into account.
If you're using FCPro, try solving games using three, two, one, or
even zero FreeCells. On the regular version, try putting the aces up
in a certain order, or any other challenge you can come up with! One
cool idea is to go for the maximum "flourish", which means as many
cards as possible going up to the stacks only at the very end, when
the game is making automatic moves. With animation on this can look
pretty cool. Check out the next section for some fifty-two card (full
deck) flourishes.
*** Have any cool deals for me?
These numbers are large and you need FreeCell Pro or an equivalent to
access most of these deals:
52-Card Flourishes: 7239, 9993, 10331, 12387, 16508, 17502, 18492,
22574, 23190, 27251. You'll need clever play to attain the maximum
flourish, but they are all possible.
14 Cards Immediately to Home: 181627041
15 Cards Immediately to Home: 143973501
16 Cards Immediately to Home: 2016704153, 3453036771, 4418013924,
5856288588, 8110636965.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS/AN ENDORSEMENT:
Michael Keller's FAQ is very large and extensive. Check it out at the following
link to his site:
http://home.earthlink.net/~fomalhaut/fcfaq.html
And another plug for FreeCell Pro:
http://home.earthlink.net/~fomalhaut/fcpro.html
Thanks to Windows and the game's designers for the fun of this game. FreeCell
is copyright to Microsoft, and the software is by Jim Horne.
Thanks to GameFAQs, and especially to CJayC for doing such a great job there.
*******************************************************************************
This file is copyright by Denouement (Chris Parham). You may NOT reproduce or
distribute this guide in any manner, electronically or otherwise, without the
express written permission of the author. You may not display this guide on any
page in which there are advertisment banners. Below can be found the list of
sites that are permitted to host this guide. This list can be changed at any
time.
"The Freecell FAQ"
Last Update: 27.9.2002
Version: 1.0
DENOUEMENT
