I'll admit it, I'm really an addict to the game. I've used it to help me deal with depression in a prior life, and now just as an enjoyable game and a way for me to keep up with my mental situation. Both sides of my family suffer from Altzheimers disease, or maybe just old-age dementia, but playing freecell gives me a chance to check on my mental status, since it keeps track of the statistics for me. And since I'm on dial-up for the internet, I have a lot of free time. I'm pretty good at it, but I don't win every time, and I'll offer a few tips below the fold.
I saw a diary here a few weeks ago that spoke of Freecell, and it got some positive comments, so I'll offer a few tips from an old hand. I started playing, at times heavily, back in '96 when I first got Windows. At first I couldn't win shit, almost gave up, but started to pay more attention since it was more fun than the other games offered. I've continued to play since then, off and on, but aside from reading the "daily news" here on Daily Kos and other websites, Freecell is an important recreation at times.
These are just a few tips for how to win a game, or a series of games. The "statistics" section is below the "new game" button, not hard to find.
I first look to try to free the aces, paying attention to the dueces, etc. There are times, though, when the aces, etc, seem out of reach, but all is not lost.
The best luck I have had with alternative strategies is to try to open a column, sacrificing a freecell or two to do so if I must. This allows you to "flip" a longer series of cards on the board. For example, if you have two freecells open you can flip three cards, but with one freecell and one column open, you can flip four cards. With three freecells open you can flip four cards, but with two freecells and one column open you can flip six cards. That's very handy, at times. With more freecells open, and especially more columns open, you increase the advantage. Neat stuff, and you win more games.
Perhaps the most important move you make is the first one, although I've lost more than a few from not paying attention to the later moves. Look over the board, do some analysis of where the aces are, what their cost would be, and decide if you wish to pursue them. If not, see if you can open a column on the board. My first move is often to open a column that gives me some aces, with the loss of one or two freecells, or even three of them, if I get enough aces, but this requires an open column following the move, and then it is risky. If that's not an option, see if you can open a column at the cost of one or two freecells, aces included are always a bonus.
At times, even those strategies seem out of reach. Then you must simply analyze the board to find the most strategic moves. Find the option that offers the most moves at the least cost of freecells, paying attention to aces and columns. It's not unusual for me to load the freecells to get one successful move that then clears, or almost clears, the freecells available, hopefully to open a column also. I often spend five minutes on the first move, and tough games may take fifteen or twenty minutes, but most only a require a few minutes. Aces are important, but I often win when an ace is the last card uncovered. I've also lost when I had all four aces up. Be aware of the location of dueces, too. I recently lost a game because I could not get to treys, aces and duces up.
It's also important to never give up, until the board forces it, either through the "you lost" screen, or simply that you have no other option. Many games seem hopeless, but that last move may pay off, even for experienced players. I won one or two of those games today. Play it down to the last move, forced or otherwise. Often the winning move is one of the last you make.
You need some free time and concentration to play the game successfully. If you get distracted, put it on hold and come back to it. If you only have a few minutes, hope you get lucky. You can win a lot of these games in a row if you just pay attention, and it is an enjoyable pastime, win or lose. As I said, I've been playing now for over ten years and I enjoy it as much as ever. I should be good at it, since I live in no-stress, distraction free environment, aside from reading DK and being so poor that I have to depend on DK and freecell to provide my entertainment. Not that I'm complaining, I'd much rather be here than there. Generally, my winning percentage is over 90 percent, and a couple of times I've won over 100 games in a row, which was an unreached goal of mine for years.
I commented above that to win, you need to never give up. Somehow that seems to fit in to what we try to do here on DK. If we want to win this election cycle, we have to refuse to quit, to keep trying, trusting in our own efforts to make it happen. Kudos to those who work actively for the Obama campaign, many thanks and blessings be upon you for your efforts! It may be time for me for me to give up freecell and reading DK to do some phone banking.