FreeCell for Mac

FreeCell is a card game like Solitaire, but where we can move only 1 card at a time.

How to play

In the game we find 8 card stacks, 4 free cells and 4 home cells. To win, we must move all the cards to the home cells, using the free cells as temporary storage.

The rules are:

1. Move 1 card at a time.
2. Move a card from one stack to another if:
   • the card value is 1 less than the value of the card on top of the destination stack.
   • the card we are moving and the card on top of the destination stack have different colors.
3. Move a card to an empty stack or to a free cell. We can only move aces to an empty home cell.
4. Move a card to a home cell if its value follows the value of the card on top of the home cell and they are of the same suit.

Two hints:

1. Use carefully the free cells. There are only four of them and hold only one card at a time.
2. Look for trouble spots, like aces under kings or two cards of the same value and color hidden under higher value cards.

System requirements

1. PowerMac
2. System 8.6 or later or Mac OS X 10.x
3. CarbonLib 1.1 or later

Using the program

To move a card, click on it to select it. The program will highlight the card. Then click on the stack or cell you want to move the card to.

FreeCell for Mac provides a shortcut to move several cards with only two clicks. Simply click on the stack where the cards are and click on the stack where you want to move them. If there are enough free cells and empty stacks, the program will move them for you, otherwise it will show a warning.

Sometimes the program may incorrectly tell you that there is no enough space to move the requested cards. This is because the algorithm used to move the cards only takes advantage of one empty stack, ignoring the fact that there may be more empty and not empty stacks that can be used as temporary storage.

If the option AutoMove is checked, the program automatically moves the unneeded cards to the home cells.

If the option Hints is checked, when you select a stack and move the cursor around it will change its shape (a gloved hand) whenever it is on a stack, free cell or home cell that can be used.

All the games have a number associated to each of them. This allows you to replay a game that you couldn't solve or that was very challenging. To specify the game, choose New game in the Game menu, and type the desired game number.

When you quit an unfinished game, the board and undo buffer are saved, so that you can continue to play later. The program will automatically load the saved game the next time you run it.

History

Version 1.5

• Hints! When a stack is selected, the program shows where you can play by changing the cursor's shape.
• If you don't want the program to automatically move the unneeded cards, you can uncheck the AutoMove option.
• A button to clear the stats

Version 1.2

• Carbon version! And because of this, Freecell for Mac can no longer be run on 68K machines.
• Board and undo buffer are saved when quitting an unfinished game.
• Using CFPreferences instead of a resource file to store the game preferences.

Version 1.1b

• Tested under MacOS 8.1
• Minor dialog change

Version 1.1a

• Tested under MacOS 8
• Changed menus layout

Version 1.1

• Undo! Up to 1024 levels.
• Saved stats.
• Support for less than 256-color graphics. When the program detects that there are less than 256 colors available, it uses B&W graphics.
• Support for required Apple Events.
• Fixed some memory leaks.
• The game number now is added to the window's title.

Version 1.0

• First version!

Make a donation

If you enjoy this program and use it regularly, please consider a donation. $10 or more would be fine.

Alberto Hung Ma

E-mail: albertohm@mac.com