- 1 Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire
- 2 Play Solitaire Social
- 3 How to play Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire?
- 4 Variations of Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire
- 5 Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire vs Solitaire Social
- 6 Examples of Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire
- 7 Conclusion
- 8 Play Solitaire Social
- 9 Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire: FAQ
Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire
Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire builds up on one of the more popular yet challenging versions of Solitaire – FreeCell. The Double Deck version uses twice as many cards and slight modifications to the existing rule set to offer a new experience while also making the game harder on average. Most of its rules are practically unchanged from the original FreeCell card game, so it should not be difficult to pick up for anyone with at least some basics in FreeCell’s rules.
How to play Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire?
The rule set
The rule set of the original FreeCell Solitaire is simple by itself, but that does not make the game easier. The primary goal of the game is to stack a certain number of cards in their respective places in a specific order (from Ace to King). The part of the playing board with these places is called Foundation, and a single Foundation placement can only hold cards of a specific type (spades, hearts, clubs, diamonds).
Another element of the playing board is a section that hosts the Free Cells – the exact part that the game is named for. Free Cells exist to store any card from the playing field, and the number of these fields varies from one game version to another. These Free Cells are used to create more complex combinations, allowing for a much more strategic approach to the game itself.
Last but not least, we have one more element of the playing field – the Tableau or the Layout. This is where most of the actions are performed, and it stores a specific card combination at the beginning of each game.
The original FreeCell uses eight columns as the Tableau, with all 52 cards from the deck (no Jokers) placed. The leftmost four columns hold seven cards each, while the rightmost four columns store only six cards per column.
The 2 Deck FreeCell uses ten columns instead, with 104 cards in total being placed on the field. The four leftmost columns store 11 cards each, while the rest of the columns only hold 10 cards per column.
It is also worth noting that all cards are revealed by default in FreeCell games, a stark contrast to other Solitaire versions such as Klondike Solitaire.
The gameplay itself is similar to how the aforementioned Klondike Solitaire works – cards can only be moved one by one or in a sequence (only in ascending order with alternating colors per card), and the original goal of the game is to put all cards in their respective Foundation placements in a specific order.
Variations of Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire
Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire is a variation of the original FreeCell Solitaire in the first place, so the potential for variations is slightly limited here. However, several factors can be changed within the game to make it easier or more difficult.
- Double Deck Yukon changes the overall rule set to allow per-suit card combinations within the Tableau instead of the original rule set with alternating colors.
- Double FreeCell Duplex offers 8 Free Cells instead of the original setup with 6 Free Cells, making the game slightly more manageable.
- Double Build FreeCell only uses four Foundation placements instead of eight, forcing its players to fill each Foundation with twice as many cards (once a single card suit has been placed, the count can start again with Ace and go further up until King).
It is also possible to alter the total number of Tableau columns. None of these changes are mutually exclusive, and plenty of card game websites and resources use multiple deviations from the original Double Deck FreeCell formula without acknowledging them whatsoever.
The latest boost in popularity that Solitaire games received as a whole is considered to spawn because of multiple Solitaire games being added to various Windows versions over the years. This spawned hundreds of different websites and resources that offer the ability to play Solitaire variations with no downloading required.
There are many different Solitaire versions that could be found on the Internet, and plenty of those tend to differ from one another. For example, there is a resource called Solitaire Social that offers the Klondike Solitaire rule set with a multiplayer twist to it – working as a nice alternative to a more complicated FreeCell Solitaire.
Solitaire Social offers a multitude of different challenges and approaches to the same concept of a card game. The platform has daily challenges, leaderboards, collectibles, power-ups, and even a customizable garden.
One of the most significant additions to Klondike Solitaire that Solitaire Social offers is power-ups. Players can earn or purchase them using the in-game store. Here are some examples of power-ups:
- Magic Wand reveals a card.
- Freezer prevents opponents from playing for 20 seconds.
- Shuffle creates new moves.
- Joker works as another card.
- Freeze Shield prevents the player from being frozen.
- Time Bubble is the ability to skip the waiting time after losing a card game.
All of Solitaire Social’s changes revolve around the multiplayer aspect. This includes identical card setups, scoring systems, power-ups, and the overall layout.
Examples of Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire
Solitaire Social is far from the only player on the market of websites that offer Solitaire games in some way, shape, or form. Here are several different examples of Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire on different resources that can be played for free.
solitaire-games-free.com
Despite its lack of a fancy name or theme, solitaire-games-free.com remains a very functional card game website with plenty of capabilities. There are 18 card game variations to choose from, including Spider, Klondike, Pyramid, FreeCell, Golf, Forty Thieves, Easthaven, and Baker’s Game. It does use several advertisements in different parts of the screen, but they are not particularly intrusive and rarely interrupt a game session to begin with.
The Double Deck FreeCell game screen is extremely simple, but it offers several different customization options – be it card backs, field backgrounds, etc. The website uses a relatively simple setup with 8 Free Cells and 8 Foundation placements, making it slightly less complicated than it could have been. A separate section of the menu offers the basic rule set of the game (the same logic applies to all games located on this website).
247freecell.com
247freecell.com is one of many websites connected into a single platform that hosts dozens of games that can be played online. This specific version offers multiple variations of the FreeCell Solitaire, including basic FreeCell, Double Deck FreeCell, and even versions with three, two, or just one Free Cell per game.
The game field itself is extremely simple, it has a single customization button that turns the sound on or off, and the setup itself uses four Foundations and six Free Cells. Additionally, there are some tips about the specific version of the game that is chosen, as well as a simple explanation of what the game itself is.
Solitairen
Solitairen provides the ability to customize card backs and card sets – but not field backgrounds. It is a relatively basic website with numerous games and no flashy animations to offer, but there are plenty of different buttons – including Hint, Restart, Auto Play, Undo, etc.
The game field itself uses a simple Double Deck FreeCell setup with 8 Free Cells and 8 Foundation fields. The game itself tracks time, number of wins, and number of moves. There is an option to use the game in full screen, turn the sound on or off, and plenty of other options.
OllGames.com
OllGames.com is a very simple website that covers card games, puzzle games, bubble games, and many others. It serves as something of a hub for all these games with a search function. The total number of card games specifically is around 100, ranging from basic Klondike and FreeCell Solitaire to puzzle games, complex and rare Solitaire variations, and more.
When it comes to the Double Deck FreeCell version specifically, the game itself uses 8 Foundations and 8 Free Cells, it has some customization options, as well as score tracking, game selection, and even a separate section for rules and general advice. What’s interesting here is that the game itself looks identical to the one that we saw at solitaire-games-free.com.
Solitaired
Solitaired is a well-known card game collection website that hosts dozens of different games in a rather interesting package. It is a stylized web resource with many different games split into categories – Solitaire (Klondike), Spider, Pyramid, FreeCell, Mahjong, and so on. Each category holds several different card games that share some or most of their rule sets and configurations.
That way, the FreeCell category has Alternations, Two Cell, Baker’s Dozen, Eight Off, and Double FreeCell as possible alternatives. This website’s Double Deck FreeCell version is also slightly different from the rest, as it uses four Foundation placements and six Free Cells – but also puts a single Ace of a different type in every single Foundation field from the get-go. The rest of the setup changes accordingly, with the Tableau consisting of 10 columns with 10 cards per column.
Other than that, it is a relatively standard Solitaire card game website with a respectable variety of options to choose from.
Conclusion
Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire is a card game that can be considered relatively unpopular compared to other Solitaire variations. It can be customized to a certain degree, but the overall challenge is still much higher than with other versions of the same game, such as Klondike Solitaire.
Nevertheless, Double Deck FreeCell is one of many options available for users who may be somewhat tired of the original formula or just looking for something new in their card game journey. Not all of these journeys have to be between different card game variations, either – Solitaire Social is an excellent alternative to the existing Klondike Solitaire formula with a multiplayer twist and a multitude of exciting additions to it.
Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire: FAQ
Is Double Deck FreeCell Solitaire the most difficult variation of Solitaire?
While it is true that FreeCell games are generally considered to be more difficult than popular variations such as Klondike, none of the FreeCell variations are nowhere close to being as difficult as some of the most complicated Solitaire variations. Some versions of Spider and Scorpion Solitaire are widely considered to be the most difficult card games Solitaire can offer as a genre.
How many different variations of FreeCell are there?
It is difficult to say for sure how many FreeCell variations out there due to how some changes and versions can be combined (more columns in the tableau with lower number of Free Cells, for example), but it is safe to say that there is at least a dozen different FreeCell Solitaire options to choose from, with most of the alterations of the original FreeCell being more difficult than the “original” game version.
Is FreeCell difficult to understand as a card game?
FreeCell is regarded as a card game with a moderately steep learning curve – it is not particularly difficult to get into, but it can take some time before an average player is capable of reliably winning some of their games. In all fairness, some of the most popular Solitaire variations such as Klondike are much easier to understand and get into – meaning that FreeCell would be considered difficult when compared with these game types.
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- March 26, 2024