How to Play Free Cell

If you have a little bit of free time and a deck of cards, you can learn to play free cell. It takes just a minute to set up, and many find it more stimulating than a traditional solitaire game. So, if you've always wanted to learn to play free cell but never knew where to start, grab your deck of cards and keep reading.

Instructions

Difficulty: Moderate

1. Deal your deck. Shuffle your cards and lay them out face up on the table in front of you. Create four columns with seven cards each and four columns of six cards, laying them out in such a way that each card is visible.
2. Create an area for your foundation and free cell cards. There should be room for four foundations and four free cell cards. Typically, the foundations go to the right above the columns, and the free cells go to the left.
3. Understand the goal. The goal of the game is to move all of your cards from the columns to the four foundation piles. You need one foundation pile for each suit with the cards going in sequential order from ace to king. In order to win, you must move the cards around, using the free cells as holding places when needed.
4. Begin play. Using the columns, you can move cards around as long as they remain in descending sequential order, alternating colors. You can put a black 7 on a red 8, for example, or you can put a red 3 on a black 4. Continue to move cards around until you can begin building on your foundations. If you can't use a card, place it in one of the four free cell positions until you can play it either in the foundation pile or in your columns.