Baker's Game Strategy Guide

In Baker's Game every card has exactly one card it can be placed on. That makes good play less about feel and more about counting: which card will get stuck where, and how many cards one free cell is really worth.

September 23, 2026 · 8-minute read

One home per card

In FreeCell, ♥7 can go on ♠8 or ♣8. In Baker's Game it goes only on ♥8, and the same holds for every card but the Kings, which can only go into an empty column. So a card that has to move has just four options:

1. the next-higher card of its suit, if that card is on top of a column;
2. the foundation, if its suit has reached the rank just below;
3. a free cell;
4. an empty column.

The first two are free; the last two spend resources. So ask of every card: "Where is the card that takes it, and how far up is its foundation?" If the answers are "deeply buried" and "a long way off", that card will occupy a cell or column for a long time.

Before the first move: a 30-second read

All 52 cards are face up, so read the deal before you touch it:

1. How deep are the Aces and 2s? Count the cards covering each. The suit with the fewest is your opening direction.
2. Same-suit traps — a low card under a higher card of its own suit in the same column, such as ♥8 somewhere above ♥2. See ways to get stuck.
3. Cards sitting on their own home. If ♣7 is above ♣8 in the same column with other cards between, ♣7 can never reach it directly and will almost certainly need a cell or empty column. Count these to see how tight the cells will be.
4. Where the Kings are. A King at the bottom of a column is already home, and that column is the natural place to build its suit. A King on top of other cards has nothing to go on, so it locks them in until it moves to a cell or an empty column, or its suit reaches the Queen.
5. Short columns. The easiest six-card column to clear is your first empty-column candidate.

Counting move capacity

You can move (empty free cells + 1) × 2^{empty columns} cards at once, as in FreeCell, not counting an empty column you're moving into (the FreeCell rules explain why). Runs are rare here, so whether you can move the ones you have often decides the deal.

With two empty cells and one empty column you can move (2+1)×2 = 6 cards onto ♠9, but only (2+1)×1 = 3 into that empty column. Two lessons:

• Spending a cell to clear a column usually pays: four cells and no column move 5 cards; three cells and one column move 8.
• Runs into an empty column are short: even with all four cells free, the limit is 5.

When a free cell is affordable

A card in a free cell is a loan. In Theodore Pringle's analysis, 75.01% of deals are winnable with four cells but only 28.90% with three, so a cell blocked for long leaves you playing something close to the three-cell game. Use one when:

• it uncovers a card for the foundation — best when more follow it up;
• the card has a way back — the card that takes it will surface within a move or two, or its foundation is one rank below;
• it empties a column, which usually pays;
• it untangles two cards blocking each other, like the cross-block below.

But parking ♠J while ♠Q sits at the bottom of a seven-card column and spades are stuck on 3 ties up that cell for ages. And the fourth cell is almost never worth filling: with no empty cell or column you move one card at a time, and even your hard-won same-suit runs are stuck.

Planning back from the foundations

If it can go up, send it up

In FreeCell you hold back ♥5, because a black 4 may still need it. In Baker's Game the only card that could sit on ♥5 is ♥4, which is already up. As Blake and Gent prove, when building is by suit, moving a card to its foundation is always safe, from a column or a cell.

One quirk on this site: automatic play uses the FreeCell test. Aces and 2s go up at once, but higher cards only when both opposite-colour suits have reached one rank below. With hearts on 4 and clubs on 2, ♥5 is safe but stays put. Tap it — a tap tries the foundation first, and it costs the same one move automatic play would have.

Distance to the next card

Each suit needs exactly one card next — with diamonds on 3, it's ♦4. The cards on top of it are that suit's distance. If ♦4 is under two cards and ♠2 under five, start with diamonds. That is how to "pick a direction early".

A same-suit run is a foundation queue

♣9-♣8-♣7 is stacked in exactly the order it will go up, ♣7 first. Once ♣6 is up, the whole run can follow card by card; a mixed-suit FreeCell run can't. So grow same-suit runs where they cover nothing important — ideally down from a King that sits alone at the bottom of a column.

Three ways to get stuck

The same-suit trap

A column has ♥8 somewhere above ♥2, and you build ♥7 down to ♥3 on the ♥8. Now ♥2 is under a six-card run. Four free cells alone move only 5, so even onto an exposed ♥9 you'd need, say, an empty column plus two free cells ((2+1)×2 = 6); moving it into an empty column needs at least two of them. Moving it piecemeal ties up cells and columns for a long time. Seahaven Towers guides use this example, and it applies equally here. Don't grow a run on a card that covers a lower card of its own suit.

The cross-block

Column 1 has ♥5 on top, ♠8 directly beneath. Column 2 has ♠7 on top, ♥6 directly beneath. ♥5 waits for ♥6, which is under ♠7; ♠7 waits for ♠8, which is under ♥5. Each blocks the other, so no move is possible between the two columns.

The fix costs one cell and three moves: ♥5 to a cell (uncovering ♠8), ♠7 onto ♠8 (uncovering ♥6), ♥5 from the cell onto ♥6. A cell that comes straight back is the kind you can afford. In FreeCell ♥5 would have two targets, ♣6 and ♠6, so one buried card ties it down less often.

A card sitting on its own home

If a column holds ♣8, ♦K and ♣7 from the bottom up, ♣7's only column spot is under its own feet. ♦K can't move until ♣7 does, so ♣7 must leave for a cell, an empty column or the foundation. Two or three such cards fill the cells fast — which is why you count them first.

What to unlearn from FreeCell

A tap tries, in order, the foundation, a column with cards, an empty column and a free cell. With one possible column per card, taps are predictable — but a tap uses an empty column before a free cell. To park a card, drag it to a cell; tapping again moves it on, at the cost of another move.

Here the same number gives different layouts in FreeCell and Baker's Game, so you can't compare the two rules on one deal.

Common mistakes

• Thinking in colours. FreeCell habits drag ♥8 onto ♠9; the card bounces back with "That card cannot go on top of this one."
• Waiting for auto-play. It uses the FreeCell test, so safe cards can sit around. Tap them up.
• Spending an empty column on one card. Three empty cells and one empty column move 8 cards. A card in a cell cuts that to 6; in the column, to 4. Use a cell — unless more of that suit is about to follow and the column can start a new run.
• Building on a trap — a long run on a card covering a lower card of its suit.
• Filling the fourth cell without seeing what goes up next.
• Rushing a King into an empty column. A King can't go on any other card, so that column is effectively gone until its suit goes up. Move it when the cards beneath are needed now, or its Queen and Jack are ready to follow.
• Blaming the deal. Every deal here can be solved. Undo back to the last real decision — usually the move that filled your last cell.

Practising with deal numbers

The same number always opens the same deal, so you can replay one and measure progress. Enter a number with "# Deal" in the menu; the screen shows which numbers are open.

1. Pick a number — one a day, say from #101 onwards.
2. First play: read, then solve, undoing freely. Note which card held a cell the longest.
3. Second play: cut moves. Find a line that doesn't park that card. The leaderboard keeps only your best, so replays cost nothing.
4. Compare with first place under "By deal". Every solve includes 52 foundation moves, so moves minus 52 is what you played elsewhere: 90 versus 110 is really 38 versus 58, over 50% more.
5. Third play: time, straight through without undo.
6. Try other people's deals. "All deals" in the rankings lists the best records anywhere, and "Try it" opens that deal.

Chasing the rankings: fewest moves vs fastest time

Each number has two leaderboards. Your best time and best move count are kept separately and can come from different plays.

Fewest moves

• A multi-card move is one move. Five cards at once count as 1; the same by hand through the cells is 9. "Cards moved" on the result screen, which counts every card, is only for reference.
• A trip through a cell costs at least two moves. A direct route saves one.
• Undone moves don't count, so experiment freely.
• The 52 foundation moves are fixed; only the rest can shrink.

Fastest time

• Undo doesn't give time back. Learn the line in one play, race in the next.
• Turn up the card speed. The game won't take your next move while cards are moving, so "Fast" or "Instant" cuts the waiting.
• Tap rather than drag — quicker, and rarely surprising here. Just watch for empty columns.

Ties on the time board go to fewer moves; ties on the moves board go to the faster time — so where several players share the fewest moves, speed decides.

Sources

1. FreeCell FAQ — "What is a supermove?" — Michael Keller, Solitaire Laboratory
2. The Winnability of Klondike Solitaire and Many Other Patience Games — Charlie Blake and Ian P. Gent, arXiv 2019 / JAIR 2026
3. Baker's Game — Solitaire Win Rates — Mark Masten (win rates by number of free cells, from Theodore Pringle's analysis)
4. Baker's Game — Pretty Good Solitaire help — Goodsol (Internet Archive copy)
5. Play Baker's Game Solitaire — Goodsol (Internet Archive copy)
6. Seahaven Towers Solitaire — BVS Solitaire
7. Seahaven Towers (Sea Tower Solitaire) — Solitaire Paradise

Keep reading: How to Play Baker's Game — Rules and Tips · Baker's Game: History, Records and Competitions · FreeCell Strategy Guide · Solitaire Glossary