If you love FreeCell Solitaire, you’ll enjoy Eight Off Solitaire, a similar but more strategic variation. Unlike FreeCell, where you have four free cells to hold cards, Eight Off Solitaire gives you eight free cells, making it slightly easier but still requiring careful planning.
In this guide, you’ll learn the rules, setup, gameplay, and best strategies to master Eight Off Solitaire.
Eight Off Solitaire is a single-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. The goal is to move all the cards to the foundation piles, building them from Ace to King in the same suit.
What makes this game unique is that it features eight free cells where you can temporarily store cards to help rearrange the tableau.
Similar to FreeCell but with more flexibility.
Uses a full 52-card deck.
Eight free cells allow for better card management.
Requires strategic thinking and planning.
Use a standard 52-card deck and shuffle the cards.
Deal 48 cards into eight tableau columns (each column gets six cards).
Leave eight free cells above the tableau to hold temporary cards.
Set aside space for four foundation piles, where you’ll build from Ace to King in suit order.
Place the remaining four cards directly into four of the eight free cells.
Your setup should look like this:
Eight tableau columns with face-up cards.
Eight free cells above the tableau (four occupied at the start, four empty).
Four foundation piles (empty at the start).
Move Aces to the Foundation Piles – If any Aces are available, move them immediately to the foundation.
Build the Foundation Piles – Stack cards from Ace to King in the same suit in the foundation piles.
Use the Free Cells Wisely – You can temporarily move one card at a time to any of the eight free cells to help reorganize the tableau.
Move Cards in the Tableau – Arrange cards in descending order and in the same suit (e.g., a 7♠ can be placed on an 8♠).
Use Empty Columns – If a tableau column becomes empty, you can place a King or a sequence starting with a King in that space.
Continue Until You Win or No More Moves Are Possible – Keep organizing the tableau and moving cards to the foundation until you either:
Successfully move all cards to the foundations (Win).
Get stuck with no available moves (Lose).
Eight Off Solitaire is a game of skill and planning, so here are some key strategies to help you win:
Since you need to build all foundation piles from Ace to King, move Aces as soon as possible.
Don’t fill up all eight free cells too quickly. Keep at least one or two free for emergency moves.
Try to free up tableau columns as soon as possible so you can move Kings or sequences starting with Kings into them.
Since you can only build in the same suit, think carefully before moving a card. Placing the wrong card can block key moves.
Eight Off Solitaire is a challenging yet rewarding solitaire game that requires more planning than traditional Klondike Solitaire.