FreeCell is one of the most popular solitaire games. This is probably because a version of it has come with Windows for over 20 years, and also because nearly every game is winnable, but the game is often a challenge.
But for some people FreeCell is too hard, and for others it is too easy. Fortunately, Pretty Good Solitaire has a number of games that are very close the FreeCell but are easier or harder. Here are a few of them.
1) Baker's Game
Baker's Game is actually an older game than FreeCell. It is played exactly like FreeCell except that you build cards down by suit instead of down by alternate color. This makes the game much harder, as there are fewer choices for each move. Baker's Game blocks much more often than FreeCell and there are many more unwinnable games, but it provides more of a challenge to the expert player.
2) Challenge FreeCell
Challenge FreeCell is another game more difficult than the standard FreeCell. In Challenge FreeCell, all of the Aces and Twos are dealt first to the bottom of the 8 tableau piles, then all the other cards are dealt out on top of them. With the Aces and Twos completely buried, you have to clear all of the cards on top of them in order to get them out to start the foundation piles. This makes the game somewhat harder (although not nearly as hard as Baker's Game).
How to Play Challenge FreeCell
3) Eight by Five
Eight by Five is an easier game than the regular FreeCell. It is just like FreeCell, but instead of 4 free cells, it has 5. This gives you an extra cell to store cards in and makes the game considerably easier. If FreeCell is just too much of a challenge sometimes, you'll find that the extra cell makes many tough games easy.
4) Three Cells
Three Cells is another game slightly harder than the regular FreeCell. Instead of an extra cell, Three Cells takes one away. As the name implies, it has only three cells. One less space to store cards makes for a harder, more challenging game.
5) ForeCell
ForeCell is another old game that may pre-date FreeCell, as Baker's Game does. ForeCell is just like FreeCell except four cards are dealt to the four cells at the start of the game, meaning that the player has to move them either to the foundations or into the 8 tableau piles in order to use the cells. This again makes the game somewhat harder than regular FreeCell, at least at the beginning until the cells are cleared.
Baker's Game is tough to play. I would suggest a unlimited group moving version or more cells version.
ForeCell is not bad if you try to clear the cells first...just as long there isn't any high cards (King, Queen or Jack for example) in the cells which can be frustrating.
Posted by: Jason Andrews | March 03, 2017 at 08:33 AM
I wish there was a version that dealt only winnable hands...
Posted by: Nic Lavroff | June 16, 2019 at 09:33 PM