FreeCell supermoves: the formula that decides every game

FreeCell has a reputation for being the fair solitaire — almost every deal is winnable. What trips people up isn't luck, it's not understanding how many cards they're actually allowed to move.

The formula

The number of cards you can move as a single sequence is:

(free cells + 1) × 2 ^ (empty columns)

If you're moving into an empty column, that column doesn't count toward the exponent, so it becomes:

(free cells + 1) × 2 ^ (empty columns − 1)

What that means in practice

| Free cells | Empty columns | Max move |

|---|---|---|

| 4 | 0 | 5 cards |

| 4 | 1 | 10 cards |

| 4 | 2 | 20 cards |

| 2 | 1 | 6 cards |

| 0 | 2 | 4 cards |

Notice the shape of it. Going from zero to one empty column doubles your capacity. Going from three to four free cells only adds one. That's the whole strategic lesson of FreeCell in a single table:

An empty column is worth roughly as much as all four free cells put together.

Why it works this way

A "supermove" isn't a special rule — it's the engine doing what you'd do by hand. To move a five-card sequence with four free cells, you park four cards in the cells, move the bottom card, then unload the cells back on top. Empty columns are more powerful because you can park a whole sub-sequence there and then move it again, which is where the power of two comes from.

Three habits that follow from this

1. Guard your empty columns. Filling an empty column with a random King you don't need is often the losing move. Leave it empty unless the King unlocks something specific.

2. Never fill all four free cells without a plan. With zero free cells and zero empty columns you can move exactly one card. Games end there.

3. Get an Ace out early — but only the Aces. Unlike Klondike, sending Aces and 2s to the foundation in FreeCell is almost always right, because there's no stock to feed you replacements. Middle cards are a different story: a 7 you sent up too early can leave a 6 with nowhere to go.

When you're stuck

Before you restart, check:

• Can you move a card to a free cell to break a blockage, rather than trying to move a sequence?
• Is there a column you could empty with two or three moves, doubling your capacity?
• Have you sent a card to the foundation that you now need in the tableau? (Undo it — our FreeCell allows this.)

Most "unwinnable" FreeCell positions are actually positions where the player emptied their cells at the wrong moment.