Hints for playing Freecell
Description: Tips on how to play freecell
Keywords: Freecell, tips, hints, howto, help, losing, lose, winning, win

Freecell help

I keep losing!

Learning how to play freecell is easy, but winning can be quite hard. Here are a few tips which might help.

Try not to use your free cells
  If you fill up all your free cells at the start of the game, you're not likely to get anywhere. Aim to use only one or two to start with. Look for moves that allow you to clear your free cells.
Stack the aces as soon as possible
  Without your aces on the stacks, you really can't make any progress. Try to get at least one of each colour on the stack as soon as you can.
Don't trap low-ranked cards
  It's important not to build long sets of cards in columns with low-ranked cards behind them. If you can't get at your twos, threes, and fours, it will be impossible to start moving cards to the stacks. Try to avoid building on top of anything lower than an eight.
Use free cells to move several cards
  You can move more than one in-order card from column to column, if you have a free cell to use temporarily. If you have one free cell, you can move two cards; if you have two, you can move three cards; and so on.
Use empty columns to move even more cards
  For each empty column you have, you can double the number of cards you can move! This is particularly useful if you have two free cells and a column with one card in it. With two free cells you can move three cards, but if you move the almost-empty column into one of those free cells, you can move four cards!