FreeCell is a type of solitaire. Compared with classic Klondike, it deals every card face up, replaces the stock pile with four free cells, and gives you eight tableau columns instead of seven.
The main differences at a glance
People often use “Solitaire” to mean Klondike, the familiar game with seven columns and a stock pile. FreeCell belongs to the same family, but its layout changes how you plan each move.
- Cards and columns: both use 52 cards. Klondike deals 28 cards into seven columns and puts the remaining 24 in the stock. FreeCell deals all 52 into eight columns.
- Visible information: Klondike starts with seven face-up tableau cards and 21 face-down cards. Every FreeCell card is visible from the start.
- Extra space: Klondike has a stock and a waste pile. FreeCell has four free cells, each able to hold one card.
- Empty columns: in standard Klondike, an empty column takes a King or a sequence led by a King. In FreeCell, it can take any card, or a legal sequence if enough temporary space is available.
- Goal: both games build four foundations by suit, from Ace to King. On the tableau, both build downward in alternating colors.
How the same move changes your plan
Suppose a red 7 is available and a black 8 is exposed. Placing the 7 on the 8 follows the tableau rule in both games.
In Klondike, that move may uncover a face-down card. You gain information only after turning it over, so your next decision may change. Drawing from the stock can also reveal a new option.
In FreeCell, you already know which card sits beneath the 7. Before moving, you can check whether exposing that card helps reach an Ace, clear a column or release a card from a free cell. There is no stock to draw from if the board becomes blocked.
Free cells and moving a sequence
An empty free cell is temporary storage, not a foundation. Put one card there, then move it back to the tableau or onto a foundation when a legal destination becomes available.
Moving a whole sequence in FreeCell must be possible as a series of legal single-card moves. The available free cells and empty columns determine how many cards can be transferred together.
For example, with two empty free cells and no empty tableau columns, a three-card alternating sequence can be transferred onto a suitable occupied column. A four-card sequence cannot. Empty columns can provide additional working space, but a column used as the destination cannot also count as temporary storage.
The FreeCell beginner guide explains how to keep this space available.
Luck, skill and winnable deals
Both games require planning, and the initial deal matters in both. The difference is that FreeCell reveals the entire puzzle immediately, while Klondike asks you to make decisions with hidden information.
FreeCell is not automatically winnable. In the original Microsoft collection of 32,000 deals, number 11982 is the one unsolvable deal, as documented by Solitaire Laboratory. That result describes that particular collection; it does not guarantee that every possible shuffle, or every numbered deal on another website, has a solution.
In either game, reaching a position with no useful moves does not by itself prove the original deal was impossible. An earlier choice may have blocked the route.
Which should you try first?
Choose Klondike if you enjoy revealing cards gradually and adapting your plan as new cards appear. Start by checking moves that uncover face-down cards, and avoid clearing a column without considering which King will use it.
Choose FreeCell if you prefer seeing the full position and working through a puzzle. Locate the Aces, choose a short route to one of them, and leave free cells empty whenever you can. Before parking a card, identify how you will move it out again.
Try a Klondike game or a FreeCell game, then compare how often you reveal new information versus rearrange information you already have.