FreeCell

FreeCell uses one standard 52-card deck with all cards dealt face-up, making it a game of pure strategy with no hidden information.

• Deal all 52 cards face-up into 8 tableau columns (first 4 columns get 7 cards, last 4 get 6).
• Four free cells (top-left) can each hold one card temporarily.
• Four foundation piles (top-right) build up by suit from Ace to King.
• Build tableau columns in descending order with alternating colors.
• How many cards you can move at once depends on your free cells and empty columns: (1 + free cells) × 2^(empty columns).
• Any card can be placed on an empty tableau column.
• The game is won when all four foundations are complete. Nearly every FreeCell deal (99.999%) is solvable.

• Keep free cells as empty as possible — they're your lifeline for complex moves.
• Empty tableau columns are even more valuable than free cells — guard them carefully.
• Plan your moves in reverse — figure out where cards need to end up, then work backward.
• Look for opportunities to cascade: moving one card often enables a chain of subsequent moves.
• Don't fill free cells early in the game. Wait until you absolutely need the flexibility.

Nearly always. Out of the original 32,000 numbered FreeCell deals in Microsoft FreeCell, only one (deal #11982) is proven unsolvable. Overall, 99.999% of random FreeCell deals can be solved.

Standard Klondike, FreeCell, and most variants use one 52-card deck. Spider Solitaire and Forty Thieves use two decks (104 cards).

Klondike is a specific variant of Solitaire. When people say 'Solitaire' they usually mean Klondike, but there are hundreds of Solitaire variants including Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, Golf, and many more.