Introduction:Freecell Solitaire is one of the most popular solitaire card games being played today. It is easy to play, requires some strategy, but is usually winnable. For people who like strategy in their solitaire games, this one is a must.
FreeCell Reserve is an interesting variation of FreeCell. This is only one freecell pile, but it can contain up to 18 cards. Only the top one is available. There are 9 tableau piles, and cards may be moved only one at a time.
Goal: Build up all cards in sequence, from ace to king, on the four foundation piles.
Time: About 20 minutes
Wins: Usually
Decks: One Deck
Layout: After shuffling, 9 tableau piles are created. The left-two columns and the right-two columns each contain 8 cards. The 3rd and 7th columns each contain 4 cards, and columns 4 and 6 each hold two cards. The middle tableau column has no cards at the initial deal. The reserve pile, in the upper left, initially holds 8 cards, fanned out so you can see what cards are in the reserve. And, there are 4 areas for foundation piles to be build at the top right part of your layout. The initial layout for the Freecell Reserve Solitaire will look like this.
Play: The goal in Freecell Reserve is to build each foundation pile in suit from ace to king (Ace, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jack, Queen, King). So, when you come across an Ace, you may place it in any foundation pile that hasn't been started yet. Then when you uncover a 2 in the same suit, it may be placed on the ace, followed by a 3, etc.
The top face-up card on the each tableau pile is available for play. Also, the top (or right-most) card in the reserve is available for play. In order to build up the foundation, you need to uncover the covered-up cards in the tableau, to get them into play. You do this by moving tableau cards onto the foundation and onto the reserve, and onto other columns in the tableau. The reserve pile can hold up to 18 cards.
Cards on the tableau are build down in alternating colors. So, in this way, either red queen may be placed onto either black king. And, either the red six of hearts or the red six of diamonds may be placed onto either the black 7 of spades or the black 7 of clubs. These cards are all overlapped, so that you can see what they are. The high card is a king and the low card is an ace, so a king may not be placed on an ace in Freecell Solitaire. When a card becomes uncovered, and hence, becomes the top-most card in a column , that card is now available for play.
Cards may be moved only one at a time. This may seem to be restrictive, but since the reserve may contain up to 18 cards, cards in a sequence can be moved, one by one, to the reserve, and then back to the tableau again.
The reserve can hold only a total of 18 cards, but only the top (right-most) card in the reserve is available for play. It is best to keep as few cards in the reserveas possible. This allows you to move more cards in sequence, and allows flexibility in moving cards around the tableau. If at all possible, try to move cards onto the reserve only when necessary, and only when you can move them back off the reserve back onto the tableau piles, or foundation, as soon as possible.
Cards may not be moved from the foundation back to the tableau or onto any of the freecells. Because of this, it may make more sense to keep cards on the tableau and in the freecells, and available for play, rather than moving them early on to the foundation.
Gaps in the tableau may be filled with any available card. Creating a gap is usually a good move in FreeCell Reserve.
Continue playing in this manner. Move cards from the reserve to the tableau and the foundation, and from the tableau to the foundation and to the reserve, and within the tableau, trying to uncover tableau cards and move them to the foundation.
When no more moves can be made on the tableau, reserve, and foundation, the game is over and lost.
Gaps: Gaps in the tableau in Freecell Reserve are made when all of the cards are moved out of a column of the tableau. When this happens, the gap may be filled with any available card.
Redeals: In Freecell Reserve, There are no redeals.