The Freecell Blog of Ultimate Doom

Playing the Variants

One of the interesting things about the Freecell rules is that they scale across a pretty wide range of combinations of columns and cells. There are some combinations that have pretty distinct "personalities", making them in effect completely different games albeit with the same exact rules as standard 8x4 Freecell.

We support 70 odd variants here and in addition to the Standard 8 columns 4 cells we have 6 variants that we give names to and another 9 that receive Special Consideration.  First the named variants as they are the most popular (possibly because we gave 'em cute names and present them first in the game itself).

As a general rule if you sum the number of columns and the number of cells, if it's greater than or equal to twelve (like the standard game) it will be naturally pretty winnable. Not always, though, more about that in a minute.

Difficulty Levels

First a quick note about our difficulty levels. In all the variants when you play in streak mode (competitive mode) we, by default, deal games which are statistically easier to start with, and then as you build your streak, the deals trend more and more to straight random deals (difficulty equals 10).

This makes is pretty easy to get a streak (multiple wins in a row) going. Difficulty levels have been a nearly endless topic of discussion here as there are some very tricky difficulty level 5 games and some darn easy level 10 games. The analogy has been made before that difficulty levels are like "climate" whereas individual games are like weather.  So overall you can expect easier deals at level 5 but there's no guarantee so you always need to be on your guard not to blow a trickier lower level game. There has been discussion about moving the games in and out of levels to get those tricky games out of level 5 but if you stop and think about it, that would be a never ending proposition as the level 5 games are typically played by less experienced players and so a game that might be lost by a beginner might be cake for a veteran.

Variant: Nine to Five

A tip of the hat to Dolly Parton's famous movie of the same name, this variant has 9 columns and 5 cells. This is a fun variant that's always pretty easily winnable. You can get yourself into some tight spots but in general the games in this variant fly by without a lot of deep thinking.  Good for just relaxing, because this is a 14-sum game it's pretty darn easy.

Variant: Ten to Six

Not really a cute name, just descriptive, this game has 10 columns and 6 cells making it a 16-sum game. To my knowledge, this game is not losable. Someone tell me if I'm wrong but I frankly don't think you can construct a position in this game that you can't wiggle your way out of. Because of that fact (I think it's a fact) this game is often described as a "click fest" implying that it's more a matter of just relaxing and making the right mouse clicks as opposed to needing to have a reasoned strategy.

Variant: Lucky Thirteen

This game has 13 columns and 0 cells making it a pretty distinct type of challenge.  First and foremost you need to clear a column so you will be able to move more than one card.  This can make this game frequently a matter of finding that first set of moves.

The name stems from the fact that this game is almost entirely winnable. At difficulty level 5 it's about 98% winnable so people would attempt to build streaks in the variant but ultimately would be frustrated by getting dealt one of those unwinnable deals, making building a streak more a matter of luck than of pure skill, hence the name.

These days we take pains to make sure you're never dealt an unwinnable hand in this variant so that "luck" never applies any more, but we've stayed with the name.

This game is a fun challenge because it forces you to think a bit differently and winning often comes down to finding those first opening moves.

Variant: Slurpee

OK the name of this game is a pretty bad pun.  It's got 7 columns and 4 cells, making it an 11-sum game and the name comes from (wait for it) the drinks you often buy at Seven Eleven: Slurpees. Kinda a reach, eh? But we've used that name for decades and it's probably here to stay.

This is a fun variant because, being only an 11-sum game, it's a bit tricker than standard 8x4, but still largely naturally winnable. And it's one of the games where we eliminate the element of luck and only give you deals that are known to be solvable. (Thanks to cellmate for providing the exhaustive data as to the winnability of a particular deal).

This game is naturally about 99% winnable at level 10 and about 99.9% winnable at level 5, and with our special "always winnable" magic it's great for streaking if you're a more skilled player and looking for that additional bit of challenge.

Variant: Bakers Dozen

This has 12 columns and 1 cell, hence the name. Being a 13-sum variant it's pretty straight ahead. This game is effectively always winnable although there are a handful of landmines that we weed out when dealing for you.

Great for streaking, relaxing and not too challenging, this is a great variant if you're looking for something just a tad easier than standard 8x4.

Variant: Summer of Love

This game has 6 columns and 7 cells (1967 was widely described as the "summer of love"). It's a very fun variant because it's just starting to slip into what we call "the narrows" which have a reduced number of columns. But it has a commensurate larger number of cells letting you work out fairly complex moves using that greater number of cells.  This is a 13-sum game but it's probably a little trickier than most 13-sum games as there are a fair number of deals which are winnable but put you though some pretty tight spots.

It is entirely winnable except for 1 land mine at level 10 but your chances of stepping on that deal are miniscule so we don't make any special efforts to weed that one deal out.

Other Variants

There are a number of other variants that are well-loved by certain players and might almost be worthy of getting a cute name.  The 10 column games with 2 or 3 cells are super fun. You get more access to the cards from the slightly increased number of columns but you have to be really careful about your use of cells as they are a more limited resource.

And there are tons of other variants.  Feel free to comment- what's your favorite and why?  

Special Consideration

There are 12 variants total which receive "special consideration" in that we carefully weed out the non-winnable deals, allowing you to streak to your heart's content.  These variants are typically ones which are naturally pretty close to being "streakable". On the scores page they are listed below the long list of variant scores. Look for the asterisk. Again, thanks for cellmate for providing the data that lets us guarantee the winnability of these games. Here's the list: 13x0, 5x7, 6x5, 4x10, 9x2, 11x1, 7x4, 8x3, 5x8, 6x6, 10x1, and 12x1.

Tournaments

Playing the tournaments is a great way to get exposure to the other variants.  Every tournament has a "theme" which dictates the nature of the mix of games and there are only a few tournaments which are 8x4-centric. With the additional exposure to the wide range of variants maybe you'll discover the 11x1 or 5x9 is your cup of tea.  Again, feel free to comment about your favorite(s).

Summary

In any case, if you find yourself getting bored playing the Standard 8x4, there are a bunch of other flavors you can try, each with its own unique personality.  Warning: not all variants lend themselves to streaking so it's advisable to be looking at some other metric for those variants, e.g. percentage wins or something. And yes it would be fun to have per-variant Elo ratings but Elo is a topic for another day.

Do you do this?

Sometimes even when I know there aren't enough free cells and/or open columns I'll still click hopefully. I know it's not gonna go. It never does. But endlessly naively hoping I still click. And then I click Save and come back later when I'm stronger and click Quit.

MrFixit

User authentication

This is super boring stuff but here goes.

In the early days of the Internet it was fine to have a nickname and a password and just store 'em in the database.

But it's a much more security-conscious world now and it's considered really bad boogie to store passwords "in the clear" in the database. Not because a silly game login might be hacked but because a lot of people use the same passwords for silly game logins as they use for important stuff like financial information.

Also, these days we try to protect against somebody making a bunch of different nicknames like we allowed back in the early days.  I asked repeatedly for folks to stop abusing our rather forgiving policy and to avoid the political nicknames. But it was not to be. Folks kept creating nicknames like HillarySucksThis and TrumpSucksThat.  So finally I gritted my teeth and started enforcing one nick per email.  There were still ways to get around this of course but it shut down the flow.

But then requiring a confirmation email was too much friction for silly games and folks were just going to other sites where they didn't have to do the whole registration procedure.

So then I created a sort of semi-anonymous user where the username was randomly generated so folks couldn't poke in political stuff and I made those not require any authentication.  That helped quite a bit with the folks who just wanted to play the game without a lot of hassle.

And then folks were asking for the undo version of the game to come back but that can't be allowed in a competitive environment because folks could just hit undo until they got back to where they wanted to try different route. And then they'd never have to lose.

All of this added up to a fair amount of work for silly games so finally I broke off the user authentication mess into a separate service and now all my games will use that service.  That way I implement all this nuisance stuff once and then can get back to the fun part of doing the games.

So as of today we're using my new service www.gexhub.net to handle the user auth portion of things. I'd already moved Jezzball and Winnable Solitaire over and it seemed like it was behaving pretty well. This handles all that stuff alluded to above and if I need to fix something or enhance something, all the games benefit.

I'll be watching the Discussion Board for issues as I'm sure I've missed a few little things. But hopefully this will allow me to start work on some other games.  Stay tuned...

MrFixit

Do horrible layouts mean easier games?

Sometimes you get a board where no aces immediately pop out and are in fact all pretty darn buried. I find that actually after a lot of grumbling and maybe making a small burnt offering, the games unravel pretty easily.

The aforementioned grumbling may contain some mild “beseeching” and humble prostrate begging, and even promises to make substantive changes (all pretty pathetic stuff) but for whatever the reason these games often play out rather straitahead.

Why is this?

MrFixit

Why I play tournaments

Why I play tournaments.

I've been playing FreeCell since around the year 2000. It was a welcome diversion from a stressful job. I was never a great streaker, and I switched to Tournaments because I liked the competition. I also liked the fact that if you lost a game, you had another chance.

I have improved in speed and ability to solve games over the years. (As you would hope after all that practice!)

I have a job where I can play some tournaments during the day, thanks to working from home. The advantage is I have more opportunity to play, the downside is that interruptions can cause losses.

I tend to avoid the longer harder tournaments an hour or more, I find my concentration isn't as good and I'm not as good at solving difficult games.

My preference is playing the speed tournaments, so my opinions come from this perspective.

I have played for years with enhanced mouse settings, so the drag time is shorter. I minimize the screen also for the same reason. I play on a 17-inch laptop and my game screen is minimized to about 10 inches wide. I've found any smaller I have more trouble seeing the cards.

The fractions of seconds saved seem to add up on the speed tournaments.

I also play by instinct, a second or two to survey the layout and then just start moving cards. My brain seems to work better and recalibrate as to next moves once cards are moved, rather than take time to analyze several moves before moving cards as you would when streaking. 

 -----------------------------------------------------

Lightnings, Supers, quickies, some AIO's -

I play fast, by instinct and without forethought.

Wide, Zany, Traditional and Potluck

I play the easier games first and then the harder ones, which for me are the 10 x 1 games, last. The rational being that if a game is unsolvable, there is lass chance of wasting time on a game that may affect your overall placement.

Skeet, Streaker, Twelve

For the deadlies I must slow down and likely play like everyone else, with forethought and try and plan a few moves ahead by freeing up lower value cards and building columns.

Masters

I play easier ones first by speed and instinct and then play the harder games with planning and forethought of moves. My strategy being that I can use speed tactics initially and then make a conscious decision to slow down for the more difficult games. My brain often turns to mush however after 60-90 minutes, and I usually get stuck on the harder games.

Narrow and Potluck

This doesn't work at all well for the deadly tournaments. In those I do have to slow down, analyze and then move cards. Once I am surer of the correct path, I then move cards more quickly.

I try and start on time, though that doesn't always happen of course when life gets in the way. Overall, I play on my laptop and usually while watching TV, either shows, movies, or Soccer. Over the years my health and mobility have diminished, and FreeCell is a welcome way to veg and I have very much enjoyed the site, the games and comradery.