Play Baker's Game — FreeCell Layout, Same-Suit Building

Baker's Game is the older, harder ancestor of FreeCell. Same eight tableau columns, same four free cells, same goal of building four foundations from Ace to King by suit. The single difference: tableau columns build down by same suit, not alternating colors. That single rule cuts mobility roughly in half and turns the high FreeCell win rate into a serious challenge. The game is named for C. L. Baker, who taught the rules to Martin Gardner in 1968. Free in your browser, no sign-up. Works offline once the page has loaded.

How Do You Play Baker's Game?

Goal: move all 52 cards to the four foundations, building each suit from Ace to King.

Setup

• Tableau: eight columns, all face-up. The first four hold seven cards each; the last four hold six.
• Free cells: four empty spaces, top-left. Each holds a single card.
• Foundations: four empty spaces, top-right. One per suit, built up from Ace to King.

Rules

• Build tableau columns down by same suit. A 7 of hearts goes on an 8 of hearts only.
• Move one card at a time. (Our version moves whole same-suit sequences when there's room — same supermove formula as FreeCell.)
• Any card can fill an empty column. Same as FreeCell.
• Foundations build up by suit, Ace to King. You win when all four are complete.

Baker's Game vs FreeCell

One rule different. The same deal that's almost certainly winnable in FreeCell often isn't in Baker's Game.

Aspect	FreeCell	Baker's Game
Tableau columns	8	8
Free cells	4	4
Tableau building	Down by alternating color	Down by same suit
Empty column fill	Any card	Any card
Solver: winnable deals	about 99.999% (Blake & Gent, 2026)	about 74% of 10 million deals (Freecell Solver)

The same-suit rule cuts each card's placement options roughly in half — every card has one legal target instead of two. The four free cells and any-card empty-column rule from FreeCell still help, but not enough to fully compensate. Baker's Game is harder than FreeCell.

What's the Best Baker's Game Strategy?

• Move Aces and 2s out fast. They serve no useful tableau role. Same advice as FreeCell.
• Build long same-suit chains. A clean K-Q-J-10-9 of hearts is a re-arrangeable block. The same five cards mixed across suits move one at a time and clog the tableau.
• Empty a column when you can. Empty columns matter much more than free cells — they double your moving power, free cells only add to it. Any card fills them, so plan for the empty column more than for the King.
• Don't fill all four free cells. Each cell you keep open adds one card to your supermove power. A cell stuffed full is a cell that no longer helps you.
• Plan before you move. Every card is visible from the start. Trace three or four moves before committing to the first.
• Concentrate on one suit at a time. Splitting effort across all four suits leaves you with four short chains, none re-arrangeable. Build one clean group before opening the next.

A Short History

Baker's Game is named after C. L. Baker, who taught the game to mathematician Martin Gardner. Gardner described it in his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American in 1968. The variant predates that publication — Baker had learned it from his father — but Gardner's column gave it a name and the wider mathematical audience that would eventually inspire FreeCell. Paul Alfille's design of FreeCell on the PLATO system in the late 1970s loosened Baker's same-suit rule to alternating colors, dramatically raising the win rate and making the descendant far more popular than the original.

About This Version

This Baker's Game runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install as an app on your phone or computer; once installed it works offline. Auto-supermoves, unlimited undo, statistics, and a daily challenge that gives every player the same deal that day.

Other Solitaire Games to Try

• FreeCell — the easier alternating-color descendant
• Eight Off — same-suit building with eight reserves and King-only empty-column rule
• Klondike — the seven-column classic with a stock pile
• Spider — two decks, ten columns, suit-based sequences

Frequently asked questions

How is Baker's Game different from FreeCell?

One rule: Baker's Game builds tableau columns by same suit, FreeCell by alternating colors. Everything else — eight columns, four free cells, any card fills empty columns, Ace-to-King foundations — is identical. The same-suit rule gives each card one legal target instead of two.

What can fill an empty column?

Any card — same as FreeCell. Eight Off is different: there, only a King can fill an empty column.

How many cards can I move at once?

The same FreeCell formula: (1 + empty free cells) × 2^(empty columns). Our version calculates this automatically when you move a same-suit sequence — if you have enough empty cells and columns to do the move by hand, it happens in one click.

Where does the name come from?

C. L. Baker taught the game to Martin Gardner, who described it in his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American in 1968. Baker had learned the rules from his father; the variant predates the column. The name has stuck even though Paul Alfille's later FreeCell — which loosened Baker's same-suit rule to alternating colors — became far more popular.