FreeCell Two Decks: the long-haul FreeCell

FreeCell Two Decks takes everything people like about FreeCell (every card face up, nothing left to luck) and doubles it: 104 cards, ten columns, eight free cells and eight foundations. It is the FreeCell to open when you want a proper sit-down puzzle rather than a five-minute one.

How long is "long"? The routes our solver found averaged about 148 moves, against about 62 for ordinary single-pack FreeCell. And it is still very winnable: our solver cracked 88.0% of deals and could not prove a single one impossible.

What we found, at a glance

So somewhere between 88% and 100% of deals can be won. Our search simply ran out of room on the rest; it never showed that any of them are lost.

The rules on solitaire-online.nz

Ten deep columns and eight cells

• Ten columns: four of 11 cards and six of 10, all face up.
• Eight free cells, each holding one card.
• Eight foundations, two for each suit, built up from Ace to King.

How cards and runs move

• A card may go onto one a rank higher of the opposite colour: a red 9 on a black 10.
• Any card can be parked in an empty free cell.
• Any card, or a run, can go into an empty column.
• Runs can be moved together. The biggest run you can move at once is the number of empty free cells plus empty columns, plus one. You can always move a longer run one card at a time instead.

You win by moving all 104 cards to the eight foundations.

Why a two-pack game takes so long

With twice the cards, you would expect twice the moves, and the numbers bear that out: about 148 moves against about 62 in the single-pack game. Each column is also deeper. Four columns start with 11 cards, so reaching a buried card can mean shifting ten others first. That is a lot of careful work, but none of it is guesswork, since every card is on show.

On the plus side, you have eight cells rather than four, and two of every card. A red 6 has two black 7s it could go on, and an Ace that is buried has a twin that may not be.

Keeping a long game under control

Start with the Aces you can see

In 55% of our deals at least one Ace was sitting ready at the bottom of a column. Play those first, then look for the 2s.

Treat eight cells as four

Eight free cells feels generous, but ten deep columns fill them quickly. Try to leave at least half empty, so you can still move a run when you need to.

Aim for one empty column early

An empty column takes any card and adds to the run you can move. With six 10-card columns, pick the one with the fewest awkward high cards and clear it first.

Plan in stages

A 148-move game is easier as several short puzzles. Set yourself a small goal, such as freeing one Ace or emptying one column, finish it, then look again.

Lean on Undo when you stall

Our search never proved a deal impossible, so when you get stuck, the odds are that a different order works. Step back a few moves and try another line.

Playing on a phone, tablet or computer

Ten columns of up to 11 cards is a tall, wide layout. On a phone, turn it sideways and use the zoom control, and tap cards rather than dragging them. On a laptop or desktop the whole table fits easily. Your time and moves are tracked for the game you are playing, so you can see how your long games compare.

Breaking a long game into sittings

You do not have to finish FreeCell Two Decks in one go. Because every card is face up and nothing is timed, a game can be picked up and put down. A few habits make that easier:

• Stop at a tidy point. A good moment to pause is just after you have freed an Ace or emptied a column, when the next goal is clear.
• Count what is home. With 104 cards, knowing you have 40 or 60 on the foundations tells you how far through the game you are.
• Keep the same device. Your wins are kept in your own browser, so carry on in the same browser if you want your record to stay together.

For comparison, single-pack FreeCell routes averaged about 62 moves and Eight Off about 35. FreeCell Two Decks is the one to choose when you have the time to settle in.

How we did the research, step by step

In September 2026 we added FreeCell Two Decks to the solitaire-online.nz study to answer two questions: how many deals can be won, and how long a winning route is.

1. Rules from the site. We read the game code behind this page: 104 cards, ten columns of 11, 11, 11, 11, 10, 10, 10, 10, 10 and 10, eight cells, eight foundations, alternating colours, any card to an empty column.
2. A copy of the game. We wrote those rules into a program. Because any card can fill an empty column, the limit on moving runs cannot change whether a deal is winnable, so the solver moves single cards plus runs within the limit.
3. Numbered deals. We used deals numbered 101 to 500. Deals 1 to 8 had been used to tune the solver, so we left them out to keep the test fair.
4. A solver that sees everything. All cards are face up, so the solver plays the same game you do. It always explores the most promising position next.
5. A limit per deal. Each deal got up to 150,000 positions. Deals not settled by then were marked undecided rather than lost.
6. Published results. We found no published figure for two-deck FreeCell, so this one is ours alone.
7. Error bars. The 88.0% has a 95% range of 84.4% to 90.8%. With 400 deals the range is wider than for our 10,000-deal games.
8. Limits. 400 deals is a smaller sample, chosen to keep the run to a sensible length. The 148 moves is the first route the solver found, not the shortest possible.

The technical side

This game runs in freecell2.py, a Python 3.11 module (standard library only) that also covers Eight Off. The solver is a best-first search: it scores each position by how many cards are not yet home and how many sit on top of lower cards, always expands the best position next, and keeps a record of positions it has already seen so it never searches the same one twice. It also makes automatic foundation moves only where they can never hurt. runner.py spread the 400 deals across multiple processes with Python's multiprocessing, and the run took around 10 minutes. The ranges are Wilson score intervals. Claude, an AI assistant built by Anthropic, helped us write and review the code and draft this page. The figures themselves come only from running the code.

By Admin, solitaire-online.nz. Study date: 19 September 2026.

Short answers before your next deal

How many moves does FreeCell Two Decks take?

The routes our solver found averaged about 148 moves. People usually take more, because they explore and undo.

Can a FreeCell Two Decks deal be impossible?

We did not find one. 88.0% were solved and the other 12.0% were simply too big to settle within our search limit.

Is the two-pack game tougher than FreeCell?

It is longer, not necessarily harder. Ordinary FreeCell is a shorter puzzle with fewer cells.

What is the biggest run I can shift in one go?

Empty free cells plus empty columns, plus one. Longer runs can still be moved a card at a time.

Which other games fill a long evening?

Try Solitaire Double or Eight Off, or see every game on the games page.