| FreeCell | |
|---|---|
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 FreeCell on Windows 7 | |
| Original author | Jim Horne |
| Developer | Microsoft |
| Initial release | 1991; 34 years ago (1991) |
| Operating system | Microsoft Windows |
| Platform | IA-32,x86-64 (and historicallyDEC Alpha,Itanium,MIPS, andPowerPC) |
| Successor | Microsoft Solitaire Collection (Windows 10) |
| Type | Computer game |
FreeCell, also known asMicrosoft FreeCell,[1] is acomputer game included inMicrosoft Windows,[2] based on acard game withthe same name. It is one of the most widely used Windows programs, estimated to be ahead ofWord andMicrosoft Excel.[3] It has been included with every release of the Windows operating system since 1995, which has greatly contributed to the original game's popularity.[4]
Paul Alfille implemented Freecell in 1978 for thePLATO computer system atCERL; by the early 1980sControl Data Corporation had published it for all PLATO systems. Jim Horne, who enjoyed playing Freecell on the PLATO system at theUniversity of Alberta, published ashareware $10MS-DOS version withcolor graphics in 1988. That year Horne joinedMicrosoft, and later ported the game toWindows.[3]
The Windows version was first included inMicrosoft Entertainment Pack Volume 2 and later the Best Of Microsoft Entertainment Pack.[5] It was subsequently included withWin32s as an application that enabled the testing of the32-bitthunking layer to ensure that it was installed properly.[6] However, FreeCell remained relatively obscure until it was released as part ofWindows 95.[7] InWindows XP, FreeCell was extended to support a total of 1 million card deals.[5]
Today, there are FreeCell implementations for nearly every modern operating system as it is one of the few games pre-installed with every copy of Windows. Prior toWindows Vista, the versions for Windows were limited in their player assistance features, such as retraction of moves. The Windows Vista FreeCell implementation contains basic hints and unlimited move retraction (via the Undo menu choice or command),[8] and the option to restart the game. Some features have been removed, such as the flashing screen to warn the player of one move remaining. FreeCell is not included in theWindows 8 operating system, but is available in theWindows Store as the freeMicrosoft Solitaire Collection, which is also bundled withWindows 10.
Microsoft created the Entertainment Packs to encourage non-business use of Windows. According to companytelemetry FreeCell was the seventh most-used Windows program, ahead ofWord andMicrosoft Excel.[3]
The original Microsoft FreeCell package supports 32,000 numbered deals, generated by a 15-bit,pseudorandom-numberseed. These deals are known as the "Microsoft 32,000",[5] and all but one of them have been completed.[7] Later versions ofFreeCell include more than one million deals.[5] When Microsoft FreeCell became very popular during the 1990s, the Internet FreeCell Project attempted to solve all the deals bycrowdsourcing consecutive games to specific people. The project ran from August 1994 to April 1995, and only #11982 proved unwinnable.[9] Out of the current Microsoft Windows games, eight are unsolvable.[10][11]Speedrun.com records the fastest time to solve a game is 7 seconds.[12]
The significance of the "Microsoft 32,000" to many FreeCell players is such that other computer implementations of FreeCell will often go out of their way to guarantee compatibility with these deals, rather than simply using the most readily availablerandom number generator for their target platforms.[5][13]
As aneaster egg, Microsoft intentionally includes a few impossible games, with negative numbers. Playing these games do not count towards the statistics recorded by the computer.
