Eight Off: eight free cells for 52 cards, the mirror image of FreeCell Two Decks
Eight Off and FreeCell Two Decks both give you eight free cells. The difference is what those cells have to serve. In FreeCell Two Decks, eight cells cover 104 cards. In Eight Off, eight cells cover a single deck of 52, although four of them start filled. Same cell count, half the cards: comparing them shows what the second deck does to your working space.
On this site's rules our solver settled all 10,000 Eight Off deals: 99.9% won (9,989; 95% range 99.8%–99.9%), 11 proven impossible, none undecided. On FreeCell Two Decks the solver won 88.0% of 400 (84.4%–90.8%), proved none impossible and left 12.0% open. Eight Off's first winning lines averaged 35.5 moves; the two-deck game's, 148.0.
At a glance: eight cells, one deck vs two
| Measure | Eight Off (1 deck) | FreeCell Two Decks |
|---|---|---|
| Cards / columns / free cells | 52 / 8 / 8 (4 pre-filled) | 104 / 10 / 8 |
| Building rule | same suit, Kings only in spaces | alternating colors, any card in spaces |
| Solved | 99.9% (99.8–99.9%), 10,000 | 88.0% (84.4–90.8%), 400 |
| Proven impossible | 0.1% (11 deals; 0.06–0.20%) | 0.0% (0.0–1.0%) |
| Undecided | 0.0% (0.0–0.04%) | 12.0% (9.2–15.6%) |
| First winning line | 35.5 moves (35.3–35.7) | 148.0 moves (145.9–150.1) |
| Ace playable at once | 66.4% (65.5–67.4%) | 55.0% (50.1–59.8%) |
The rules differ in more than deck size, and the search budgets differ (200,000 positions against 150,000), so this is a comparison of games, not a controlled test of the second deck.
How cells and deck size trade off
| One-deck game | Cells | Solved | Deals |
|---|---|---|---|
| Baker's Solitaire (same suit, Kings only) | 4 | 31.8% (30.9–32.8%) | 10,000 |
| Eight Off (same suit, Kings only) | 8 | 99.9% (99.8–99.9%) | 10,000 |
| Eight Off, one card at a time (published rule set) | 8 | 99.8% (99.7–99.9%) | 10,000 |
With the same strict building rules, doubling the cells from four to eight turned a mostly lost game into an almost always won one. Blake and Gent (2026) report 99.8805% for the one-card-at-a-time version, in line with ours.
Eight Off rules on this site
- Deck: one deck, all face up.
- Tableau: eight columns of six.
- Free cells: eight, four starting with the leftover cards.
- Foundations: four, Ace to King.
- Building: down in the same suit.
- Empty columns: Kings or King-headed runs.
- Group moves: a same-suit run moves if it fits in empty cells plus empty columns, plus one.
Playing Eight Off
Empty the pre-filled cells
In 28.1% of deals (27.2–28.9%) an Ace starts in one of them. Every card you release is space regained.
Aces go up immediately
Same-suit building means a foundation move never hurts.
One copy, one right place
Unlike the two-deck game, each card has exactly one legal parent: the next card up in its suit. Find it before you move.
Keep cells for runs
Each free cell adds one card to the run you can shift.
Short and clean
35.5 moves per solution. Practice precision here before tackling 148-move two-deck games.
Eight Off on freecell-two-decks.com
Free in any modern browser on computer, tablet or phone, no download or account. Hint, unlimited Undo, Restart, Auto Play, zoom, drag or tap, a count of wins, time and moves, and sound, fullscreen and table color settings.
How we measured it
The freecell-two-decks.com team ran these tests in September 2026 on this site's game code.
- Rules from the code for Eight Off, Baker's and FreeCell Two Decks.
- 10,000 Eight Off deals (seeds 1–10,000) in two versions: the site rule and one card at a time.
- A best-first solver with up to 200,000 positions per deal; every site-rule deal was settled.
- Published check with Blake and Gent (2026).
- 95% Wilson score intervals.
Python 3.11, standard library only. Claude, an AI assistant by Anthropic, helped write and review the code and draft this page; every figure comes from running the code.
Eight Off questions
Is Eight Off easier than FreeCell Two Decks?
For our solver, yes: 99.9% settled wins against 88.0%, and far shorter solutions.
Why do four cells start full?
Eight columns of six use 48 cards; the other four go to cells.
What next?
Try one-deck FreeCell, then the site's main game, FreeCell Two Decks. All games are on the games page.
By Admin, freecell-two-decks.com (Forty Media). Research run September 2026.