FreeCell

[HAIRY41]

I've been hooked on FreeCell these past 3 weeks .Now that I've learned to slow down and analize the cards before I make my first move I'm disapointed if I can't complete 5 games in a row every evening. How does that compare to you folks ?

[A girl]

I love FreeCell! I used to play all the time. My record was 7 wins. I don't play it much anymore, but it's a great game.

A girl

[SPOOFE]

I don't play Freecell (in fact, I pretty much avoid any game that doesn't require at least 32 megs of RAM... I'm a loser, sue me), but what I'm wondering about the game is this... with the billion or so (it's a lot) number of combinations possible in that game, it'd be possible to have a few combinations that would have you win right when it begins, right? They probably removed those particular combinations right off the bat... but what about combinations that have you lose right when you start? How many of these combinations can there be?

Oh, and for some fun... in Freecell, when selecting a game number, insert "-1" or "-2" (without the quotes). It's fun (no, it won't crash your computer).

[Flyhalf]

14 in a row.

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When you know that your time is close at hand
Maybe then you'll begin to understand
Life down here is just a strange illusion

[Zor]

From the FreeCell help files...

It is believed (although not proven) that every game is winnable.

I remember having a string of 56 wins until I accidnetally deleted the record. If you're willing to just sit there and stare at the screen for long hours, it can be done. I can also attest that I've never played a game that was unwinnable too...

[techchick68]

During my MCSE classes and the same time working as a receptionist, I became somewhat an expert on Free Cell...

< sigh > I am not as good at it anymore, but still can kick some butt on it...I just spend too much time on the internet to play games anymore.

[AWB]

Of the 32000 legitimate (1-32000) games, only 1 has proven unwinnable. As reported once in Games magazine, a group of players kept track and only one game eluded them. Wish I could remember which one...

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Wrong thinking is punished, right thinking is just as swiftly rewarded. You'll find it an effective combination.

[WillGolfForFood]

I'm afraid I'm a genuine FreeCell addict. I play 100 games (no, not all in one session!) of which my goal is to win 90+, then I clear the score and start over. Like Zor, my best streak was in the 50s.

I gotta get a life...

[DVous Means]

A workmate and myself between us had a string of 32 consecutive wins in FreeCell, on the computer provided at the Ambyulance station where I work. Unfortunately, one of our colleagues, who is somewhat less skilled at the game than we are, came along and stuffed the whole thing up with his first aborted game.

Who knows just how big the record could have been if he had played Minesweeper instead...?

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Knock softly but firmly, 'cause I like soft firm knockers...

[Johnny L.A.]

I won 76 consecutive games. I was hoping to make it to 100, but on game 77 I made a stupid mistake. I haven't had the interest to start over.



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"I must leave this planet, if only for an hour." -- Antoine de St. Exupéry

Are you a turtle?

[divemaster]

I like the game, but it is too easy as described. I play my own version where you can only fill in open columns with a King or a string headed by a King (provided there are enough "free" cells).

Of course, the computer must think I'm an idiot because I have to start over games that I've lost by my definition when there are legal options left by the computer's definition.

Just my opinion; but any game you can win 50+ times in a row ceases to be a game and starts becoming busywork.

[Johnny L.A.]

Divemaster
IMO, Free Cell, Solitaire, etc. are "busywork". Something to keep a person occupied while they're on hold, waiting for a n extremely slow page to load, finishing a cup of coffee...



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"I must leave this planet, if only for an hour." -- Antoine de St. Exupéry

Are you a turtle?

[Mullinator]

I loved that game until I heard (and tried) the button combo that allows you to win every game regardless of the card setup.

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We went right out there and refused to do accoustical versions of the electrical songs that we had refused to record in the first place.

[SoMoMom]

Originally posted by SPOOFE Bo Diddly:
Oh, and for some fun... in Freecell, when selecting a game number, insert "-1" or "-2" (without the quotes). It's fun (no, it won't crash your computer).

How did you know about that?

[Myron Van Horowitzski]

My goal is to play each game in numerical order. I discovered that if you lose a game the first time you play it, you can replay (and lose) the same game over and over, and it will only count the first loss. Therefore, I keep playing each game until I win it.

I'm up to 3425, with 78% wins, 24 game streak.

Some games it took me many tries to win: 617, 1689, 1767 and 1941.

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Imbibo, ergo sum.

[Kiki]

Originally posted by Mullinator:
I loved that game until I heard (and tried) the button combo that allows you to win every game regardless of the card setup.



OK... spill it. What's the button combo?



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That John Denver's full of shit man!

[tanstaafl]

According to the FreeCell FAQ at: http://members.aol.com/wgreview/fcfaq.html only one of the standard FreeCell games cannot be solved (11982 if you care).

There is also a list of the solutions for all of the games at: http://members.aol.com/wgreview/catalog.html

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"Sometimes I think the web is just a big plot to keep people like me away from normal society." --- Dilbert

[yabob]

You can add another dimension by attaching a "score" - it's easy enough to win, but I decided you got a numerical score in the game corresponding to the number of cards still not "up" at the point where all the cards are automatically played by the program. This means you want to "play to" a particular ace or deuce that you leave buried, and you have to decide what you can get away with, and still win. If you get a game with 2 aces buried somewhere, and you can leave them buried to the end, you can score a "48" (actually, higher scores are possible, but you need a really fortiutous layout).

[Mullinator]

I am about to post the key sequence to win every game, since Rachelle asked. Feel free to skip down if you don't want it.

At any point in the freecell game, hit Ctrl+Shift+f10. Then, choose the abort button. Move any card, and watch all of them shoot to the top.

[Nen]

Mullinator, that's just flat out mean. I sporadically endure periods of the infamous "FreeCell addiction" and have managed to get my winning streak up to 62, but it just won't ever be the same knowing that there is a cheat.

[bibliophage]

No one here has mentioned that the 32,000 games in the Microsoft version are not the only games possible. There are (52 factorial) games (=52*51*50*...*3*2*1 =8.07E67).

According to the link mentioned above, http://members.aol.com/wgreview/fcfaq.html
10 million games have been analyzed and 126 of them appear to be unsolvable.

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Work is the curse of the drinking classes. (Oscar Wilde)

[bibliophage]

No one here has mentioned that the 32,000 in the Microsoft version are not the only games possible. The number of possible games is 52-factorial (52*51*50* . . . *3*2*1), about 8*10^67.

The first 10 million have been analyzed and 126 of them are unsolvable. At that rate, there should be about 10^63 total unsolvable games. See the link given above.

[manhattan]

:: Test Post. Please ignore this post. If there are multiposts above, please ignore them too.::

[Ruffian]

I smell a move to MPSIMS coming.

But anyhoo, my record is 38 straight wins. My average is around 15 or so.

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Teaching: The ultimate birth control method.

Laura's Stuff and Things (http://members.aol.com/lrconaway)

[HAIRY41]

Holy smoke it's back to the drawing board for me.. I really thought I was hot stuff

[Smeghead]

I had a friend who didn't know about the cheat. He won a contest with his friend by building up a 150 game winning streak. How? He solved one game and played it 150 times in a row. No points for honesty, but plenty for persistance.

[Luckie]

well, i know it's not a world record, but it seems to beat whats been posted so far...
average = 96% won
streak = 154
all fair and square.
I switched to freecell after minesweeper was starting to give me a Repetitive Stress Injury (now there i had some good scores!). for a while i played Freecell pretty hard, now it's just a time killer when i'm waiting for things to download. but i never give up on a game; when i lose one, i keep retrying it till i get it right (i've never run across the infamous 11982 by chance).
-luckie

[CurtC]

I programmed the game of FreeCell for the HP 200LX palmtop PC, and it's being used widely around the world. At the time I first did it, I didn't have access to the shuffle routine in the MS version, so I created my own, with one million possibilities. (I've since added the choice to shuffle a la Microsoft).

I don't know how many of my one million games have been attempted/solved, but users have found one of them to be unsolvable, which was confirmed by the guy who maintains the FreeCell FAQ. He told me that it's the only version he's seen outside of MS FreeCell and their own FreeCell Pro which has been found to be unsolvable.

By the way, my version allows you to undo moves, all the way back to the beginning if you want. Many people have solved several hundred in a row, and one guy has done over 2000.

[Mister Pink]

Another much easier way to change your statistics (easier than winning the same game x times) is just to change the registry entries. They're stored (in hex) at:

HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Applets\FreeCell