A sis, you are doing it correctly. Just go ahead and enter your favored player name, and then it will ask if you are a new player, and give you a chance to choose a password.

Hope that helps,
JeffMo

p.s. I just thought of one more thing which may be holding you up. If you are trying to enter a player name, and then it asks you for a password, then you have a chosen a name already in use by another player. In that case, you will have to pick a new (and hopefully unique) name.

A Have you tied the Cache Clear operation described on the Problems page? It cures 95% of such browser flakiness.

If that doesn't get it, read the part about what info to provide when reporting a bug and pass it along by posting on the Discussion Board.

A Did you register? You have to sign up to play. Just put in your e-mail addy and a little more info, then you can play, no problem.

julia

p.s. Click here for more information on tournaments at freecell.net.

A islandgirl, there is no way to undo moves. WHY? Because NetCELL is competitive Freecell at it's very core: People compete head-to-head in tournaments, over the course of a day for the "Streak of the Day" and over the long term for the "All Time Best Streak".

If you want to be able to undo moves, you will need to switch to any one of the off-line (non-competitive) versions of Freecell, which include Microsoft Freecell. See freecell.org and Michael Keller's Freecell FAQs for others.

Sigmund

A :WHERE ARE THE GAME NUMBERS LISTED????

That is a quite reasonable question, so I will try to give you a reasonable answer. It seems like you are asking about the online game at freecell.net, called NetCELL, so let's cover that first:

FOR NETCELL

- Game numbers are NOT shown while you play the game.
- The game number is shown on the little window which pops up at the end of the game, whether you win or lose. Along with the "OK" button, you should see a line of text that looks something like this: (8x4 #23359-5) Elapsed: 3:29 Streak: 10
- In the above example, "8x4" indicates the number of columns and freecells you selected for your game (8x4 is the "standard" game), and "23359" is the game number about which you are asking. "5" is the difficulty level, "3:29" is the time it took to win (or lose), and "10" is the number of consecutive games won so far (drops back to "0" when you lose).
- If you happen to be in the chat area at the same time you are playing, a similar message will be displayed THERE each time you complete a game, primarily to elicit the "oohhs" and "ahhs" of your fellow players. :-)

Since there seems to be constant confusion here between the Windows version and the NetCELL version of the game, let's answer that question, as well:

FOR WINDOWS FREECELL

- Game numbers are shown while you play the game.
- The number of the game which you've been dealt will appear in the "title bar" of the FreeCell game window.

I hope that helps, brolin.

JeffMo

A Yes, assuming you are playing under Windows, you will have to change your screen resolution. In the control panel, click on Display, and select the Settings Tab.

With Small Fonts, you will have to set the screen area to at least 800x600. This is what I use. The 10-column games don't quite fit, but you can see at least part of all of them.

WRAC

WRAC's solution will show all columns of the
game board. Then to see the top and bottom
including the handy buttons at the bottom,
do the following:

1) Click "View" on your browser

2) Click "Toolbars" or "Show"

3) click toolbars that are checked

When you finish playing, repeat the
process clicking on unchecked toolbars
in step 3)

Buckaroo

A Hello, asparagus,

First, let me say welcome on behalf of NetCELL addicts everywhere.

You're doing anything wrong, BUT, the "easy" games don't contribute to winning streaks. You must play a "standard" or "variant" game for these to show under your name, or add up to a streak.

So, use the easy games as warm-ups or mindless entertainment, then move onto more challenging games. Variants with more freecells and more colmuns are also easier, and some of our more distinguished netcellers have streaks totalling over 10,000 wins in those. You can have streaks running in all variants at once if you like.

But, not to worry, some of us have barely any streaks over 100 games in any variants, and spend more time in netcell chat than in netcell games. Perhaps we'll see each other sometime there.

Most important, have fun, and happy NetCELLing.

.smile

lafate_the_imposter

A Dear no:

Have a look at Denny's explanation of difficulty levels on the NetCELL Instructions page. As you can see, games of difficulty level 10 are completely random deals. So there will be easy and difficult games at level 10. Games at other difficulty levels employ an algorithm that changes the likelihood that high cards will be buried in the columns. Games at difficulty level 1 receive the most tweaking. In general, the games with lower numbered difficulty levels will be easier than the those with higher numbers; however, none of this guarantees that a particular game number at difficulty level 1 will be easier than one at difficulty level 2 or 3, or even 10. Here's an counter-example: Suppose game #n-10 is the following random deal:

A As the one who wrote that email to Dennis, I would like to add some comments. After facing this game I wrote a program, too, in order to solve netcell games. It also became rather complex, so I have the same problem like MLisia, I don't know, whether it is bug free or not. Usually this program is not able to give the solution of a game because of limited resources in memory and time. However, for the game in discussion it told me that it is unsolvable. Freecell Pro also reports that it is impossible.

It seems that we have three independent programs running giving the same answer. But that is not a proof, I fear. How can we proceed? Which way did they proof that the Microsoft Freecell game #11982 is not solvable? (For those not knowing, yet: there is a difference between the Microsoft Freecell game #11982 and the Netcell game 8x4 #11982-10. They are not identical. :-)) ).

In case we definitely find out that the game 8x4 #27171-10 is not solvable, how do we proceed? Should we vote for a replacement of this strike stopper, or should it be taken out of the random competition?

Nat_King_C.

A Hey, Tom, we miss you, too!

I am assuming from your description that you used to connect to freecell.net from the same employer and that, beginning sometime after navymom started playing, you stopped being able to connect.

If that is correct, then the problem is at your end, not at freecell.net's. (It has been many months since freecell.net changed its physical location and firewall.) So, it would seem that your employer has either recently changed or reconfigured the firewall there and, in so doing, has blocked UDP applications, including Chat, or certain Java applets, including the NetCELL game. (You didn't say whether you can still play the game.) Most modern firewalls that can block these applications can also be configured to allow selected applications through. I guess you can but ask your employer if a hole can be made in the firewall to let freecell.net applications through!

jcj

A It's a rack mount single proc 700 mHz with 256 meg of mem, 18 gig of SCSI hard disk. While it's not ultra top end, it's the necessary industrial packaging to co-loc at our main ISP, and therefore costs an appropriate arm and a leg more.

The important thing is we no longer share with a bunch of other shopping sites. Seems to be doing pretty good so far....

A Cyndy:

This question gets asked often enough to warrant going into the Freecell Discussion Forum FAQs. So I'll try to give you the most complete reply I can.

According to Michael Keller's Freecell FAQs lthe first purpose-built handheld electronic Freecell game has just been released, but isn't very well-executed. So, the least expensive good handheld option remains a Palm Pilot or clone with appropriate software. Not surprisingly, the most feature-rich software available at the moment was written by our own Dennis Cronin, creator of freecell.net! Please click here for details.

For additional possiblities, see Michael Keller's Freecell FAQs.

jcj

A Hi Tom,

The following works for Windows 95. I assume the 98 steps are similar or identical.

1. Click on start, choose Settings, and then Control Panel from the ensuing menus.

2. When the Control Panel window opens up, double click on the Add/Remove Programs icon.

3. Select the Windows Setup tab, and double click on Accessories from the menu that appears on that tab.

4. Scroll down, check Games on the menu, and click OK.

5. You may need your original Windows CD-ROM if the program has been erased from your hard disk.

That should do it!

WRAC

A I found the link below at freecell.org, which says it's a Win 3.1 version of Freecell. I can't vouch for it personally, but it's worth a shot.

If you have easy access to the Web, though, I highly recommend playing NetCell right here at freecell.net. It offers lots of addictive variations to your basic 8x4 game, and the crowd in chat always welcomes new players.

FreeCell Plus v3.0 for Windows 3.1

-- Laffman --

A You're not at all stupid, Per! To find the answer to your question, I once again consulted the font of all Freecell wisdom, WGR (World Game Review) Freecell FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) by Michael Keller:

The help file for Microsoft FreeCell contains the claim, "It is believed (though not proven) that every game is winnable." When [Jim] Horne wrote this, he already knew that unsolvable deals could be constructed (see Hans Bodlaender's example). As a joke, the Windows 95 version includes two unsolvable games, numbered -1 and -2. Horne purposely made his claim ambiguous in order to challenge people to find such impossible games, but intending it to mean that all of the 32,000 included deals were winnable. This comes as close as possible to being true...

...because it later turned out that 11982 was, in fact, also impossible.

jcj

A Yes, see FreeCell -- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for information about FreeCell Pro and Autofree.

jcj

A Shucks, thanks gang. I've pondered the idea of trying to offer a for-pay site or options at the site that would command a small fee. But frankly since I run this as a hobby and part time, I can't afford the overhead of admin'ing that sort of thing, or the committment. I do have this pesky day job you know.

Things are not totally bleak wrt to ad revenue. We'll make it. But I just wanted to put up another little reminder that those clicks do count. With our ad provider, individual clicks don't gen revenue, but our "click thru rate" does affect how much folks will pay for ads on our site. Higher click thru obviously makes our site a more attractive advertising vehicle.

While I need that ad revenue, I'm also holding the line on annoying popups and the like. I've removed the one occasional popup we ourselves did (every 25 wins on average you got the Take-A-Break page), and I managed to opt out of the popup campaigns our ad agency began to provide.

I want to keep the site clean as possible while still maintain high quality hosting and offer interest-builders like our modest little $50 tournaments.

I think we'll make it just fine, but hey, if'n you wanna visit a sponsor every once in a while, heck, who am I to stand in your way. Also getting your friends hooked is cool too! "Freecell.net -- draining workplace productivity since 1996"

A Denny produced an excellent document describing the Chat commands used here, including changing text color, .gossip, .emote, .tell, .go, .who, .look, .exit, .connect, and the .socials.

Madam Speaker

A When you first connect to NetCELL chat, you will get a welcome message, followed by a list of people currently in the main chat room with you, and finally instructions to get you started:

If you then type.help into the text box, you will see a list of the special chat commands:

As you can see, typing .ignore Anon235 will enable you to ignore anything Anon235 says (whether by .tell, .gossip or ordinary chat) or does (whether by .emote or a social). Some additional information:

1) Typing .ignore Anon235 again, will enable you to see Anon235's actions and words once again. This can be thought of as an "unignore" command.

2) Typing .ignore by itself will give you a list of people you are currently ignoring.

3) You cannot ignore a Moderator. So, if you feel that a Moderator is behaving inappropriately, please send me an email.

4) The .ignore command in all its variations is transparent. People may guess that you have .ignored them by your silence, but this will not be confirmed by any system message.

5) Finally, I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank dave once again for implementing the .ignore command.

jcj

A Actually, if you right click on the card, MS Freecell will identify it for you - no need to guess!

WRAC

A Yes and yes. There is a clickable (interactive) map to the Chat Rooms at freecell.net, located here. A clickable area in the lower right hand corner of the interactive map will lead you to a printable map.

jcj

A Matt Wright's WWWBoard freeware, as customized by Dennis Cronin, is used.

Q What are some of the best features of WWWBoard?

A Obviously, the price of WWWBoard has made it extremely popular. My guess is that it is the most-widely used Web-based bulletin board software on the planet. This means that many of our community come pre-trained in its use, having already been exposed to other implementations. Plus, its large user-base has helped to iron out problems elsewhere and thus contributed to a very stable system here.

Q In what order are contributions posted?

A New threads are posted in reverse chronological order. Replies to messages are indented beneath the message being followed-up. Multiple responses to a given message are posted in reverse chronological order beneath the original.

Q Occasionally, threads seem to move higher up on the main index page after they are originally posted. Why is that?

A Every so often, a posting is found to have an error. The cleanest way for me to make the correction is to copy the entire thread and delete the entire original. This has the effect of moving the whole thread up.

Q If copying the entire thread is the cleanest way to make a correction, why don’t you always do that?

A Since I have to copy each message by hand, it is only practical for me to fix messages in short threads using this technique. Also, if much time has passed before the error is detected, it would be too confusing for regular reader to re-post the entire thread.

Q What happens if a correction is made without copying the entire thread?

A Even after it is deleted, the original message will appear in the followup list of all messages preceding it in that thread. See the final question below for a link to an example of the resulting error message.

Q Why can’t postings stay up forever?

A I’m forced to delete old postings when the size of the main index page grows too big for people with slow modems. This is the worst part of my job! Since mid-January 2000, I have found ways to soften the blow. First, after they have been up for about a month, I copy questions and answers to frequently asked Freecell/NetCELL questions to this thread (Frequently Asked Questions) on the main index page. Next, I archive funny threads after about a month and add links to them to the Vintage Threads: Table of Contents and Index. This significantly reduces the size of the main index page, but prevents further followup to the threads in question. Complaints normally stay up for about a month, are noted and deleted.

Q If I discover that I’ve made a mistake in one of my postings, or wish it to be deleted for any reason, what can I do?

A Send an email to me at FreecellDiscussion@yahoo.com. Unfortunately, there is no way for you to amend the posting yourself.

Q Is there censorship here?

A This Forum is moderated, and we reserve the right to delete messages for any or no reason. In practice, the main reasons why postings disappear are: (A) old messages are deleted periodically – currently after about a month or as my pesky day job permits; (B) postings that are illegal, obscene, or that slander or reveal information about the private lives of individual members of our community will be removed; (C) if the majority of authors of a given thread request it, the thread may be removed; (D) advertisements and commercial postings are normally removed; (E) obvious multiple copies of postings will be deleted; (F) postings that are detrimental to freecell.net or the community it serves will be removed.

Q Are all these posters real?

A It is certainly true that the names on the postings here include many famous living and dead people, as well as some very original characters, such as Lumber Jack. Suffice it to say that these are all the genuine alter egos of, or identities assumed by, real contributors. Remember that you can normally assume that these names are used just for fun. Contact me if you have any questions.

Q How do you add an optional image to the top of a new or follow-up posting?

A Images cannot be added to the top of a posting unless they already exist on a World Wide Web Server, nor can images be added after the posting is made, other than in the form of a follow-up posting. That is, there is no way to upload an image to the Discussion Forum Server, but you can include any GIF or JPEG image that already has a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) on another server. Just make sure that you copy the URL exactly into the box labeled “Optional Image URL” at the bottom of the posting form. (Since it is so easy to make a mistake when typing a URL, I always like to open the image I wish to add in another browser window, then cut the name from the Address Bar and paste it into the posting form.) For example, Figure 1 below is a screen shot of an example posting that would place in the top center the picture of Sigmund Freud’s couch:

Q How do you add an optional link to another URL to the bottom of a posting?

A Figure 1 above is an example that would add a link labeled “Freecell FAQs” to Michael Keller’s Freecell FAQ sheet. The link would appear at the bottom of the new posting. This method of linking to another URL is very flexible: you can point to a page of HTML, a single GIF or JPEG image, an audio file, etc. See previous postings in this forum for examples of links to these different file types.

Q Why does the optional image I tried to add appear blank in the new posting?

A The most common reason for this is a typo in the URL, but a small, but increasing number of sites are blocking direct links to images from HTML documents outside their domain. Please send me an email if this happens to you.

Madame Speaker