Play King Only Baker's Game Online — Baker's Game With a King Rule

Baker's Game is FreeCell with the build tightened to suit, and King Only Baker's Game tightens it once more: an empty column takes only a king. The board is FreeCell's — eight open columns of seven and six, four free cells, nothing hidden — and the tableau builds down in suit, so a 7♠ has exactly one host in the whole deck. With spaces reserved for kings, the free cells are the only flexible storage you have, and the game is rated by its source as pure skill.

Setup

• Tableau: eight columns — four of seven cards and four of six — every one face up.
• Cells: four, empty. Each holds one card.
• Foundations: four empty piles, one per suit, built up from ace to king.
• No stock and no waste. All 52 cards are in the columns.

Rules

• The tableau builds down in suit — the 7♠ goes on the 8♠ and nothing else.
• A packed suit run moves as a unit, limited by the free cells and empty columns: (cells + 1) × 2 to the power of empty columns.
• Any single card may be moved to an empty cell, and back to the tableau when it has a host.
• An empty column takes only a king, or a run headed by one.
• Foundations build up in suit from the ace and are one-way.

Strategy

One host per card, so map the suits. Every card has exactly one place it can land in the tableau — the next-higher card of its own suit — and you can see where that card is. Before you start, find the aces and trace each suit's chain upward: the cards blocking the low end of a chain are the cards to move first.

Cells are for digging, not storing. Four cells is plenty until it is not. A card parked in a cell that has no host coming is a cell lost for the game. Park only cards whose host you can free within a move or two.

A space needs a king, so plan the king. Emptying a column is worth a lot — it doubles the run you can move — but only a king may enter it. Choose the king whose suit is best built beneath it, and clear the column that costs the fewest cell moves.

Move the longest suit runs early. A packed run of one suit is the only thing that travels as a unit, and the max-movable rule shrinks as cells fill. Relocate long runs while the cells are still empty.

Where It Sits in the FreeCell Family

The FreeCell family is the open, cell-based line of patience, and every member turns the same few dials: the build, what an empty column accepts, and how many cells there are. Baker's Game is FreeCell built in suit; Seahaven Towers is the suit build with kings-only spaces on ten columns and two pre-filled cells. King Only Baker's Game is the missing corner: the suit build and the king rule on FreeCell's own eight-column board with four empty cells.

Other Games to Try

• Baker's Game — the same board with any card into a space
• Seahaven Towers — the suit build and king rule on ten columns
• FreeCell — the alternating-colour original
• Forecell — FreeCell with kings-only spaces and full cells

About This Version

King Only Baker's Game runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install it as an app on your phone or computer and it works offline. You get unlimited undo, a hint button that names a legal move, statistics that track your wins and times, and seeded deals: every game has a seed you can replay, so a board you enjoyed (or lost) can be played again exactly.