Where did FreeCell come from?

FreeCell is older than most people think, and its rise from a university mainframe to every office computer is a genuinely good story.

Quick answer: FreeCell was invented by Paul Alfille in 1978, who programmed it for the PLATO educational computer system. It stayed a niche computer game for years until Microsoft included it with Windows 95, which introduced it to hundreds of millions of people.

Paul Alfille and PLATO

In 1978, a medical student named Paul Alfille built FreeCell on PLATO, an early computer network used for education. His version even let players change the number of cells and columns. For years it lived quietly on those terminals, loved by a small circle of players who could reach the system.

The Windows explosion

Everything changed when Microsoft bundled FreeCell with Windows 95. Suddenly the game was one click away on nearly every PC on Earth, and its 32,000 numbered deals became a shared challenge for millions of coworkers and students. That is when FreeCell became a household name.

A lasting classic

Decades later, FreeCell is still going strong because its core idea - a fully visible, almost always winnable puzzle - never got old. You can play the same classic game right here on the main board, or scale up to the two-deck Double FreeCell.

Play the classic FreeCell

Related questions

What is FreeCell?

FreeCell is a solitaire game played with one 52-card deck dealt face up into eight columns. You have four free cells - open spaces that each hold a single card - and the goal is to build all four suits up from Ace to King on the foundations. Because every card is visible from the start, FreeCell is almost pure strategy.

How is FreeCell different from Klondike?

The big difference is visibility. Klondike hides most cards face down and gives you a draw pile, so luck plays a large role. FreeCell deals all 52 cards face up with no draw pile and four free cells, making it a near-pure skill game where almost every deal is winnable.

Is every FreeCell game winnable?

Almost, but not quite. About 99.999% of FreeCell deals can be solved with perfect play, which is why the game feels so fair. Of the classic 32,000 numbered Microsoft deals, only one - deal number 11982 - has been proven impossible to win.