FreeCell: the supermove formula, and why your first ten moves decide the game
Nearly every FreeCell loss traces back to the same mistake: filling free cells early, before you have anywhere to put the cards back.
How we got these numbers
Move limits described here follow the implementation in src/lib/freecell.ts as shipped on 3 August 2026: eight tableau columns, four free cells, four foundations, all cards face up from the deal.
FreeCell is a game of visible information
Every card is face up from the first moment. There is nothing hidden and nothing random after the deal. That makes FreeCell unusual among solitaire games: you are not managing uncertainty, you are solving a fixed puzzle. The overwhelming majority of deals are winnable with correct play.
Which means when you lose, you almost always lost to a decision rather than to the deal. Usually one specific decision, usually in the first ten moves.
The formula that governs everything
You can only ever move one card at a time. Moving a sequence of cards is a convenience the game performs for you by shuttling cards through free cells and empty columns. So the size of the sequence you can move is exactly the number of temporary slots you have, multiplied out.
| Free cells open | Empty columns | Cards you can move at once |
|---|---|---|
| 4 | 0 | 5 |
| 3 | 0 | 4 |
| 2 | 0 | 3 |
| 1 | 0 | 2 |
| 0 | 0 | 1 |
| 4 | 1 | 10 |
| 4 | 2 | 20 |
| 2 | 1 | 6 |
Maximum sequence you can move = (empty free cells + 1) x 2 to the power of (empty columns).
An empty column is worth far more than a free cell
Read the last three rows of that table carefully. An empty column doubles your capacity, while a free cell only adds one. An empty column is worth vastly more than a free cell, and this single fact should reorder your priorities for the whole game.
It also explains the standard trap. Players park four cards in the free cells to dig out something they want, arrive at capacity 1, and can now move precisely one card at a time forever. The position is not lost by the rules, but it is lost in practice.
Play for an empty column, early
The strongest opening plan in FreeCell is to identify the column that is closest to being emptied and commit to emptying it, before you spend free cells on anything else.
In the standard deal, the first four columns hold seven cards and the last four hold six. So your empty column will almost always come from the right hand side of the board. Scan those four short columns first and ask which one has the fewest genuinely awkward cards.
Once you hold one empty column with free cells still open, your capacity is 10 rather than 5, and most of the deal opens up at once.
- Look at the four six-card columns first. One of them is usually your target.
- A column is a good target if its buried cards have obvious homes: a red 7 when a black 8 is exposed, a low card that can go straight to a foundation.
- A column is a bad target if emptying it requires parking three cards you cannot get back out.
- Once you have an empty column, protect it. Do not fill it just because you can.
Free cells are a loan, not a resource
The mental model that fixes most players' results is this: a card placed in a free cell is a debt. You have removed it from play and you must eventually put it somewhere. Before you park a card, name the specific place it is going back to.
If the answer is a foundation, that is an excellent park. If the answer is a specific tableau card that is currently exposed, that is a fine park. If the answer is a card that is itself buried under three others, you have just made the position worse in a way that will not be obvious for another eight moves.
The practical rule of thumb: try to keep at least two free cells open at all times during the opening. Going to one open cell should be a deliberate, calculated move, not the accumulated result of small conveniences.
Do not rush the foundations
It feels productive to send every ace and two straight up. It is not always right. A low card sitting in the tableau is a useful landing spot for the next card down, and once it goes to the foundation that landing spot is gone forever.
The usual guidance is safe and easy to apply: send a card to the foundation freely if both of the opposite colour cards one rank below it are already on their foundations, because nothing in the tableau can still need it. Otherwise, hold it if the board is tight.
Aces and twos are a reasonable exception. They almost never serve as useful tableau targets, so sending them up early is close to free.
The question to ask before every foundation move: does any tableau card still need to land on this one? If yes, and the board is tight, leave it.
A checklist for the first ten moves
FreeCell rewards backing up. Because every card is visible, an undo is not a way of getting lucky, it is a way of correcting a calculation. There is no information you gain by pressing on into a position you can already see is short of capacity.
- Send aces up. Send twos up if their aces are already placed.
- Scan the four six-card columns and pick an emptying target.
- Make every move that is free: sequences that already fit, cards that go straight onto an exposed opposite-colour card one rank higher.
- Only then start parking. Each park must have a named destination.
- Stop and recount your capacity whenever you drop to two open free cells. If capacity is 3 or lower and you have no empty column in sight, consider undoing back to the branch point rather than pressing on.
Frequently asked questions
Are all FreeCell deals winnable?
The large majority are. In the classic numbered deal set only a handful of thousands are known to be unsolvable. If you lose, the realistic assumption is that a different line existed.
Why can I move five cards sometimes and only two other times?
Because the limit is computed from your current workspace: (open free cells + 1) doubled once for each empty column. Filling free cells silently shrinks the number, which is why moves that worked earlier stop working later.
Is an empty column really worth more than a free cell?
Yes, and it is not close. A free cell adds one to your capacity. An empty column doubles it. With four free cells and no empty column you can move five cards. With four free cells and one empty column you can move ten.
Should I use hints?
Hints are useful for spotting a move you have overlooked, but they will not teach you capacity management. If you are losing repeatedly, the more valuable habit is to pause at two open free cells and recount.