FreeCell Opening Decisions

Mark the lows before a ready run

At the deal, scan the eight columns and note the Aces, twos, and threes. The deeper they sit, the later the foundations start, and the tighter every landing stays.

Read burial first, not the cleanest cascade

Which columns hold the lows, and whether a short or long chain covers them, decides the first breaks. A ready alternating run looks comfortable and often sits nowhere near an Ace. Remember the burials so each later move tells you whether you advanced or only neatened the tableau.

If both moves are legal, uncover a low sooner

You do not flip every Ace on sight. Take the line closest to exposing an Ace, two, or three. Foundations that start early usually loosen later landings. The later you wait, the more often a free cell has to rescue a card.

Break the column that is worth the moves

Do not start with the prettiest cascade. Start with the one that buries a low and is only a few cards from empty.

Burial plus length beats a tidy run

Ask whether the column is shorter after the move, and whether its bottom card is closer to the light. If yes, a briefly messier tableau is still better than extending a run that only looks good.

A ready run is not automatically profit

Building a whole run feels good. Check whether it uncovers a key card or only buries a low one rank deeper. If it also spends a landing, it is cosmetic. Opening the road matters more than lining the cards up.

Pave the first empty column

The valuable opening work is often not a long build. It is getting one column close to empty. An empty column takes any rank, not only a King.

Name the column most likely to clear

One or two columns are usually a move or two from exposing the bottom card. Find that lane. Shortening it, protecting its build, and skipping a pointless refill are the opening moves that count. Even if you win no card this turn, a column closer to empty is usually not a wasted move.

An empty column is still a cascade

Once it is clear, do not wait for a King the Klondike way. It still takes one card or one already-built run. Use it in the opening to reshuffle and uncover lows. Do not drop a card that has no next landing. How empty columns build is on the rules page.

Do not send a handy card home yet

Aces and twos matter. Legal is not the same as now. In many openings a low card is still the landing another column needs.

Check the hole it leaves

Sending it home looks like progress and can cut the only route on another column. See whether anything can still land after it leaves. If that is unclear, loosen the cascades first. A foundation card cannot be dragged back. Undo is the only return.

Auto takes every legal card

Auto repeatedly homes every card that currently fits a foundation. It will not spare a landing, and it does not promise the deal stays solvable. Do not let it choose the opening. One Undo restores the batch and the move count. The timer does not roll back.

Park in a free cell only briefly

Each of the four cells holds one card. In the opening you may use one: park, uncover, take it back.

If the next landing is unclear, wait

The stable use is a temporary lift. If you cannot name the next landing after it enters a cell, that cell is not helping the opening. It is spending the sequence cap early. With every cell full and no empty column, you can move only the bottom card.

A free cell is not a ninth cascade

Cards in cells do not build in alternating colors and are not part of a cascade run. Returning to a column, they face the same bottom-card test. Using the cells as storage in the opening is how the midgame suddenly cannot drag.

Neatening versus progress

Neatening makes a cascade look smoother without uncovering a key card, adding a landing, or approaching an empty column. Real progress leaves a visible gain.

At least one of four things should happen

A low is uncovered, a column is shorter, a landing is kept, or an empty column is closer. If none of those happened, you probably only neatened. A few ready runs in a row look fine for five or six moves, then the table tightens. The opening fails from false progress more often than from a messy tableau.

• Did this move advance the deal, or only make it look tidier?
• Does it uncover an Ace, two, or three, or shorten the column that buries them?
• Did you send a needed landing home too soon?
• If a free cell filled, is the next landing already named?
• Is any column closer to empty?

When two lines are both legal

Uncover a low sooner, then approach an empty column, then keep free cells and landings. Compare in that order. Move one is the valuable line, not the smoothest one.

Practice openings on this table

Deals 1–1,000,000 match Microsoft numbering. Hint, Undo, and Replay can check the first round. They do not replace reading the tableau.

Hint solves, then marks

Hint runs Freecell Solver in the browser, then a local heuristic. The first press only marks origin and landing. A second press while that suggestion stays selected plays it. The line is not unique and not guaranteed shortest. If the position cannot be finished, Hint says so. Solving stays on the device.

Unsolvable names the deal, not your first move

An unsolvable start shows Unsolvable beside the table. Eight deals in this million-deal set start that way. A solvable start can still be played into a dead position; Hint reads the position after your moves. Undo restores cards and the move count, not elapsed time. Replay returns to that number's start. The daily deal maps the UTC date to a number, skips those eight starts, and uses the same rules as the home table.

Opening choices