FreeCell
Every card visible. Almost every deal winnable. No luck to blame.
Every card visible. Almost every deal winnable. No luck to blame.
FreeCell is the thinking person's solitaire, and the reason is simple: every card is face up from the first move. There is nothing hidden, nothing to draw, no luck of the deal to hide behind. If you lose, you were outplayed by a rectangle of cardboard.
It's also famously winnable — of the original 32,000 numbered Microsoft deals, exactly one (the notorious #11982) is known to be impossible. Everything else can be beaten. So when you get stuck, the solution is in there. You just haven't found it.
As many as you could have moved one at a time using your empty cells and columns. With four cells free and no empty columns, that's five cards. With four cells and one empty column it's ten. The table shows the number live, so you never have to work it out — but understanding why is the difference between a good FreeCell player and a lucky one.
Very nearly. Of the classic 32,000 Microsoft deals, only game #11982 has been proven unsolvable. Across random deals in general, well over 99% can be won. So the honest answer when you get stuck: it's solvable, and undo is right there.
Empty a column early, and defend it. An empty column isn't just somewhere to put a king — it doubles how many cards you can move in one go. Two empty columns and four free cells lets you shift twenty cards at once, which turns a hopeless-looking board into a cascade.
Same engine, different rulebooks. They're all free, and none of them want your email.