About Freecell

FreeCell is a card game designed for a single player - like Solitaire. However, the main difference between the two games is the fact, that luck has no effect on the result of the game. The game is based on long-term strategic planning. Each game of FreeCell has different difficulty levels; there are 8 known games what're considered to be impossible to solve (depending on the different version of MS Windows): 455889, 512118, 517776, 781948, 186216, 146692, 11982, and 495505. FreeCell uses a deck of 52 cards (Jokers no included) that's divided into 8 columns in a way that all cards are visible to the player; only the 1st open card on each deck of the columns can be moved/selected. From 8 columns, 4 contain 7 cards and 4 contain 6 cards. In addition, there are 4 storage cells of cards (home cells) in the game and 4 more blank cells are used as temporary storage for the cards. Victory is can only be achieved, when all game cards are arranged in the home cells - a 4 series of cards.

FreeCell actually was born as a result of the famous Solitaire game, which was included in MS Windows from version 3.1 onwards. Because of that, many started to call it Solitaire-FreeCell. FreeCell comes along with any computer comes with the MS Windows Operating System from version 3.1 onwards. FreeCell originates from a game called Eight-Off. Later the game was developed by C.L Baker who called the new game Baker's Game. Afterwards the game was modified to an easier version - this time by Paul Alfille. He is also considered to be the inventor of FreeCell. It is interesting to know, that Paul Alfille programmed the first computer version of the game in 1978. The current version of the game is mostly known as part of the Games in MS Windows. The current version was programmed by Jim Horn, and since MS Windows 3.1 it's included. Theoretical there are different 52 assembly options to arrange the game cards.

Recommended additional reading :

♦ Freecell FAQ
♦ Wikipedia - The Free Encyclopedia