FreeCell has a reputation for being deep, but its rulebook is short. The entire game runs on a handful of clear principles, and once you have them straight, you never have to wonder whether a move is legal. This article lays out every rule in plain English, in the order you meet them during a game, so you can use it as a quick reference whenever a situation feels unclear.
Whether you are settling a friendly dispute or simply want to be sure you are playing correctly, everything you need is here. Keep a FreeCell board open alongside this page and each rule will click into place as you see it in action.
Rule 1: The Deal and the Board
Every FreeCell game begins the same way. A standard 52-card deck is dealt entirely face-up into eight columns, called the tableau. The first four columns receive seven cards each, and the last four receive six cards each. There is no stock pile and no cards left in hand; the whole deck is on the table where you can see it.
Above the tableau sit two special areas. On one side are four free cells, each an empty single-card slot. On the other side are four foundation slots, one for each suit.
- Tableau: eight columns holding all 52 cards face-up.
- Free cells: four single-card slots for temporary storage.
- Foundations: four suit piles you build up from Ace to King.
This full-information setup is the defining feature of the game and the reason FreeCell is regarded as a game of skill rather than luck, a theme we explore in are all FreeCell games winnable.
Rule 2: How to Win
You win by moving all 52 cards to the foundations. Each foundation is built up by suit, starting with the Ace and adding cards in ascending order: Ace, two, three, and so on, ending with the King. When all four suits are complete from Ace to King, the game is won. Every other rule exists to help you reach that single goal.
Rule 3: Legal Moves in the Tableau
Most of the action happens in the eight columns, and two rules govern it.
Build Down in Alternating Colours
Within a column you may place a card onto another card that is one rank higher and the opposite colour. A red six goes on a black seven; a black nine goes on a red ten. Colour alternates at every step, so a legal sequence looks like a striped ladder of red and black.
Only the Top Card Moves on Its Own
In the strictest form of the rules, you move one card at a time. You can only pick up the card at the bottom of a column, the exposed one. Most digital versions let you drag a whole ordered sequence at once, but this is really a shortcut for moving several cards one by one using your free cells and empty columns, as we explain under the supermove rule below.
Rule 4: The Free Cells
Each of the four free cells holds exactly one card. You may move any exposed card, from the top of a column or from a free cell, into an empty cell. A card sitting in a free cell is out of play until you move it somewhere legal, either onto a tableau column or up to a foundation. Free cells are your temporary parking spaces, and using them well is the heart of the game. Our guide on using the free cells wisely covers the tactics in depth.
One subtle point often trips up newcomers: a free cell is not a discard pile. A card placed there is merely resting, and it still counts as being in play. You cannot win the game while any card sits in a cell, so every card you park must eventually find its way onto a tableau sequence or up to a foundation. Treating the cells as short-term loans rather than permanent storage is the mindset that keeps a game flowing.
Rule 5: The Foundations
The four foundation piles are where suits are completed. The rules for them are simple:
- Start with an Ace. Each foundation must begin with the Ace of its suit.
- Build up by suit. Add cards of the same suit in ascending order, one rank at a time.
- Promotion is optional. You are never forced to move a card to a foundation; you may keep it in the tableau if it is useful there.
- Foundation cards usually stay put. Standard rules do not require pulling cards back down, though many apps allow it, and knowing when to keep a card low is a mark of skilled play.
Rules 6 & 7: Empty Columns and Supermoves
Empty Columns
When you remove the last card from a column, that column becomes empty. An empty column is extremely valuable: you may place any single card into it, of any rank or colour. Empty columns also multiply how many cards you can shift in one sequence. Because they are so powerful, we devote a whole article to the power of empty columns.
The Supermove Rule
Digital FreeCell lets you drag an ordered run of several cards at once, but there is a limit rooted in the rules. You can only move as many cards as you could have moved one at a time using your available free cells and empty columns. The formula is (free cells + 1) multiplied by 2 raised to the number of empty columns. With all four cells free and no empty columns you can move five cards; add an empty column and the limit doubles. The full maths, including the twist when you move onto an empty column, is explained in how many cards can you move in FreeCell.
How These Rules Differ From Other Games
FreeCell's rules produce a very different feel from its cousins. In Klondike, cards start face-down and you draw from a stock pile, so hidden information and luck matter. In Yukon, every card is face-up as in FreeCell, but you may move a group of cards even when the cards on top are not in sequence, and there are no free cells at all. Comparing the rulebooks side by side is a great way to understand each game, and our piece on FreeCell versus Klondike does exactly that.
Knowing the rules of each variant also helps you transfer skills between them. The alternating-colour build and the Ace-to-King foundations are shared across FreeCell, Klondike, and Yukon, so once you internalise them here they carry over everywhere you play. What changes from game to game is the supporting cast of rules, the free cells, the stock pile, the grouped moves, and it is those differences that give each variant its distinctive character and difficulty.
Conclusion
The rules of FreeCell fit on a single page: deal all 52 cards face-up into eight columns, build down in alternating colours, use the four free cells as single-card storage, and build each suit up from Ace to King on the foundations to win. Empty columns and the supermove limit add the strategic depth. Now that the rulebook is clear, put it to work on a real FreeCell game, or browse every game on the freecellsolitaire.info homepage to see the rules in action.