h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I have heard several people say that once you learn FreeCell you never go back to solitaire and I could use a good game to kill time. So can anyone tell me how to play the game.

I know how to play it, let's see if I can describe it.

In free cell the object is to get all the cards stacked by denomination (that's the wrong word) starting with aces.

This is made difficult by the fact that the cards are in colums that are all jumbled up.

Now, I assume you're talking about playing this on a computer, so this will be easier (maybe).

At the top of the screen are 4 spaces, or cells, where you can put cards during your game. The only places you can move cards is either, like you do in solataire, red/black/red... or you can move cards up to the free cells so you can move cards underneath them. You can only have one card per cell at a time.

So, the first thing to do is uncover the aces, so you can start stacking them in the other 4 spaces on the other side of the screen. Then duces and so on. You win just like in solataire.

It takes a lot longer than solataire, but the best thing about it is that when you have no more legal moves, you can start over with the same one.

I hope this is helpful.

thanks greyrose, I now know how to play. I am not good so far but atleast I know how so thanks.

You're welcome, Siguy.

Actually it doesn't take me as long to win at Freecell as it does solitare. The bonus with FreeCell is that -every- one of the 32,000 games is winable, if you use the correct strategy for that layout. (Well, that's the theory, but I have a project going to prove it, keeping track of the game numbers ... And I have a team of volunteers, too, but I double check their findings before adding it to the final tally. )


'Nonnie

So do you have any strategy tips? I find myself playing for hours on end, and I win occasionally but not half as much as I'd like!

I'd say the most important thing is to keep your freecells open. Think hard before you start using up space.

Uncovering Aces is not necessarily your main priority. In fact, often that gets so distracting that you miss obvious moves. I've won games (though admittedly not many like this) where I place the first Ace and the rest of the deck follows. No, not because they were all layed out right at the beginning of the game, but because I simply concentrated on getting my Kings on clear spaces and getting the piles ready first.

Nonny, I do believe that there is at least one game of freecell which is impossible, (in the microsoft version anyway).
Try 11982, if you manage it, then you're a better mouse than many others...

And to add, I generally prefer spider (or arachnid or whatever you want to call it) as a two deck patience game.

YEAH!!
Well as I said earlier I still stink at FreeCell since I just learned it but I finally won two games. It was a little weird because I there were like 15 cards left and I got one up there and the computer quickly and automatically did everything else. Very satisfying feeling but I have better success rate at solitaire.