Is every FreeCell deal winnable?
Almost. Roughly 99.99% of all 52-card FreeCell deals have a known solution. The famous outlier from the Microsoft 1–32000 catalog is deal #11982 (plus a handful of others like #146692, #186216, #455889, #495505, #512118) that have been verified by computer to be unsolvable. StillDeck supports Microsoft-numbered deals via /freecell/?deal=N.
What makes a FreeCell deal unsolvable?
A deal is unsolvable when no sequence of legal moves reaches a full foundation state. The canonical unsolvable pattern is when a card is buried under every card you'd need to move to expose it — and you don't have enough free cells plus empty columns to break the cycle. The supermove formula (1 + free cells) × (1 + empty columns) caps how many cards you can shift at once, so some positions simply can't be unfolded.
How is FreeCell different from Klondike solitaire?
Four big differences. First: no stock or waste pile — every card is visible from the start, so there's no luck of the draw. Second: four free cells serve as temporary single-card holding slots. Third: empty tableau columns accept any card in FreeCell (Klondike restricts them to Kings). Fourth: FreeCell rewards planning over pattern-recognition; Klondike rewards persistence.
How does a supermove work?
A supermove shifts a run of cards from one tableau column to another in a single click. The run must be a valid descending-alternating sequence on its own, and the number of cards cannot exceed (1 + empty free cells) × (1 + empty tableau columns). When moving onto an empty column, subtract one from the empty-column count because the destination itself can't serve as a helper.
Can I send cards back from foundations to the tableau?
Technically yes — StillDeck's engine supports pulling a card off a foundation via undo. But it's almost always a mistake. The foundations are where cards retire. If you need a card back from a foundation mid-game, you've almost certainly misplayed earlier and should consider Restart instead.
Is the Hint button cheating?
The Hint button shows the best currently-available move as a highlight — it does not play the move for you, and it doesn't reveal the full solution path. Use it when you're genuinely stuck, but try to find the move yourself first. That's where the puzzle-solving satisfaction lives.
What is auto-complete and when does it fire?
StillDeck's auto-complete is conservative — it only fires when the board can be fully finished using foundation moves alone (no tableau-to-tableau or free-cell plays needed). That means you keep full control during the mid-game; the cascade only takes over at the end, when every remaining decision is trivial. Undo interrupts the cascade cleanly.
How do I undo a move?
Click the Undo button in the controls toolbar, or press U on the keyboard. Undo walks backward through your move history — you can undo as many moves as you've made in this game. Undo doesn't decrement the move counter (the historical count stays as your committed effort), but it does restore the exact prior board state.
Are there keyboard shortcuts?
Yes. U for Undo, H for Hint, and R for Restart (replays the same deal from scratch). N (New Game) is intentionally not bound to a key — fat-fingering it instead of H is a common destructive error on QWERTY.
Do my FreeCell stats sync across devices?
Yes, if you sign in on the /stats page. StillDeck uses a passwordless email magic-link sign-in. Stats are keyed per-device if you're not signed in, and merged server-side if you are. FreeCell stats live in a separate bucket from Solitaire (Klondike) — no cross-contamination.
Is FreeCell good for your brain?
There's no clinical study specific to FreeCell, but the game exercises working memory (tracking which cards are where), planning (multi-move lookahead), and opportunity cost reasoning (cell vs column vs foundation). Those are all transferable cognitive skills. Whether that translates to long-term benefit is still an open question — but it's at minimum an enjoyable workout.
Can I play FreeCell offline?
Yes. Install StillDeck as a PWA from the browser menu. Once installed, the game works fully offline. Your stats sync the next time you're online and signed in.