# FreeCell
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Created:** [November 20, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865 "2005-11-20T01:51:32Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2005, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865/1 "2005-11-20T01:51:32Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@metj](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/metj)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2005, 1:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865/2 "2005-11-20T01:57:47Z")
I started at number #1 and got to #623 or something before I quit. I kept at it for months, but then I got sick of it.
Someday I will win them all, but it did get old at the same one.
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### Author:  [@Emily\_Litella](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Emily_Litella)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2005, 2:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865/3 "2005-11-20T02:06:32Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2005, 4:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865/4 "2005-11-20T04:12:56Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> _snip_
>
> I understand that all games are at least theoretically winnable – but I don’t have the patience to try all possible permutations.
Actually, game 11982 is reportedly unsolvable.
> [@twickster](#):
>
> 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.
Try [Freecell Pro](http://www.solitairelaboratory.com/fcpro.html) – 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.
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### Author:  [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2005, 4:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865/5 "2005-11-20T04:14:14Z")
> [@twickster](#):
>
> I understand that all games are at least theoretically winnable
All but two, I believe. However, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freecell) 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.
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### Author:  [@Rodgers01](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodgers01)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2005, 4:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865/6 "2005-11-20T04:30:59Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@MisterThyristor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterThyristor)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2005, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865/7 "2005-11-20T04:51:35Z")
> [@Lute Skywatcher](#):
>
> All but two, I believe. However, [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freecell) 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.
Yes, but the original (Microsoft) Freecell game only went up to 32,000 so it depends on which Freecell game you are talking about.
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### Author:  [@GusNSpot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GusNSpot)
#### Post date: [November 20, 2005, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865/8 "2005-11-20T05:19:29Z")
I am on # 9603.
I do the original 30K+
I do them in order,
I do not use a helper.
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.
[I have no life.](http://members.aol.com/gusnspot/freecell.jpg)
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### Author:  [@Myron\_Van\_Horowitzski](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Myron_Van_Horowitzski)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2005, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865/9 "2005-11-21T19:34:34Z")
Unsolvable? Hehehe. Go to “Select Game” and enter “-1” or “-2”
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### Author:  [@Meeko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meeko)
#### Post date: [November 21, 2005, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/freecell/331865/10 "2005-11-21T19:45:48Z")
Darn you Myron! 😉
Here I was about to suggest the negative games.