I started playing FreeCell again recently – damn, it’s Tetris-like in its addictive properties.
I understand that all games are at least theoretically winnable – but I don’t have the patience to try all possible permutations. I wish there were an interim save button, so you could play to a particular point, then save, and if you hit a dead end, go back to the save point instead of having to start all the way over.
Anyone else still play this? How many times do you try a tricky layout before giving up and getting a new deal?
I didn’t go through the numbers sequentially, just played them at random. I usually give it about 4 or 5 tries before going to another one. I wish it had a hint button or something.
Try Freecell Pro – it saves ganes, has the same numbering for the first 32,000 as Microsoft Freecell and has many more features besides, including a solver program. (It is now freeware and no longer supported.)
Disclaimer: I haven’t run it on XP yet, it’s on my older computer with Win98, so I can’t actually vouch for its stability. But it is supposed to run fine.
All but two, I believe. However, Wikipedia doesn’t agree and says that there are 8: games No. 11,982, No. 146,692, No. 186,216, No. 455,889, No. 495,505, No. 512,118, No. 517,776, and No. 781,948.
For a brief period in college I think I literally was addicted to FreeCell. I could not sit down at my computer without playing it. I was seeing red and black patterns everywhere. I just couldn’t stop.
It’s gotta be the dorkiest thing to actually get addicted to. I can control my drinking just fine. Cigarettes I smoke occassionally when I go out, but I’ve never gotten hooked. I’ll buy the occassional lottery ticket, but I’m not a compulsive gambler. But FreeCell – that’s the thing that finally got me.
I only advance after I have completed the one I’m on.
At first, it might take me 30-50 time to get one but I seldom go over 4-5 times no and maybe a max of 30 minutes if they are really hard for me.
I have a BIL that can do them in seconds. My brain does not work that way and I have to work harder.
Where you go to 500K, programs work them out so they can fine the ones that are not solvable but I know of no one what has actually worked all 30K of the original batch.
