# What does a FreeCell deal number mean?

Every FreeCell game on Card Lounge shows a deal number, such as #1 or #11982. What does that number tell you, and does a higher number mean a harder game?

## A number that names a layout

Card Lounge shuffles every deck with a seeded generator, and the deal number is what fixes the shuffle. The same number always produces the same shuffle, so it always produces the same layout.

FreeCell deals are numbered 1 to 32000 and use the same numbering and shuffle as the classic Microsoft FreeCell. A given number therefore puts the same 52 cards in the same places here as it did there, and as it will in any other program that follows that classic numbering.

The number is a name, not a rating. Deals are not sorted by difficulty, so #2 is not harder than #1 just because it comes later.

## How the cards are laid out

All 52 cards are dealt face up into eight columns, row by row: the first four columns get seven cards and the last four get six (4 × 7 + 4 × 6 = 52). The first row dealt sits at the base of the columns, underneath everything else, and the cards you can play at the start are the last ones dealt.

For deal #1, the first row is J♦ 2♦ 9♥ J♣ 5♦ 7♥ 7♣ 5♥. The cards on top at the start are 6♠, 9♣, 2♥ and 6♥ in columns 1 to 4, and 6♣, 3♦, 8♣ and 10♣ in columns 5 to 8.

## Worked example: the first moves of deal #1

None of those eight top cards can go onto another. The 9♣ would need a red 10, the 2♥ a black 3, the 6♥ a black 7 and the 3♦ a black 4, and none of those is on top anywhere. So deal #1 opens with the free cells.

Column 6 holds, from the base up: 7♥, Q♣, A♠, A♣, 2♣, 3♦. Two Aces sit just two cards down:

1. 3♦ to a free cell.
2. 2♣ to a free cell.
3. A♣ to its foundation.
4. A♠ to its foundation.
5. 2♣ from its cell onto the A♣.

After five moves, two Aces and a 2 are home, only one free cell is in use (by the 3♦), and column 6 is down to 7♥ and Q♣. Because the number fixes the layout, anyone looking at deal #1 sees exactly this position.

## Using deal numbers to practise

- **Replay before you move on.** Undo is unlimited and goes all the way back to the deal, so when a round goes wrong you can take it back to the start and try a different plan on exactly the same cards. Pressing New deal instead ends the unfinished round, which then counts as abandoned.
- **Note the numbers that beat you.** A number is the only short way to name a layout. It lets you talk about a particular deal with a friend, or compare how many moves each of you needed on the same cards.
- **Compare plans, not luck.** When two players have the same deal number, any difference in the result comes from the play, not the shuffle. That makes numbered deals a fair way to test an idea, such as using fewer free cells; see [FreeCell cell economy](freecell-cell-economy.html).
- **Use Hint to study, not just to escape.** The Hint button shows one legal move without making it, which helps when you are stuck on a deal you want to understand. There is more in [hints and undo](hints-and-undo.html).

## Deal #11982

Deal #11982 is included among the 32000. It is widely reported as the only one of the original 32,000 deals with no solution. If those reports are right, no sequence of moves wins it, so a loss there says nothing about your play. It suits a different kind of practice: noticing how quickly a position runs out of useful options, and what that looks like on the table.

## Try it

After the five moves of the worked example, the 3♦ is sitting in a free cell. It can leave by going onto a black 4. Find the black 4 closest to the top of its column, and the three moves that put the 3♦ on it.

**Answer:** The 4♠ in column 3 is covered by only two cards, the 8♦ and then the 2♥ on top, while the 4♣ in column 1 has three cards above it. Move the 2♥ to a free cell, move the 8♦ onto the 9♣ in column 2 (a red 8 on a black 9), then move the 3♦ from its cell onto the 4♠. You have swapped one occupied cell for another, but column 3 now ends in a proper run, 4♠ 3♦, and the 8♦ has found a home.

Play it out in [FreeCell](../play/freecell.html), and see the [glossary](../glossary.html) for terms such as free cell and foundation.