Microsoft FreeCell

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FreeCell

FreeCell, also known as Microsoft FreeCell,

computer game included in Microsoft Windows,[2] based on a card game with the same name
.

Development

Paul Alfille implemented Freecell in 1978 for the

CERL; by the early 1980s Control Data Corporation had published it for all PLATO systems. Jim Horne, who enjoyed playing Freecell on the PLATO system at the University of Alberta, published a shareware $10 DOS version with color graphics in 1988. That year Horne joined Microsoft, and later ported the game to Windows.[3]

The Windows version was first included in

thunking layer to ensure that it was installed properly.[5] However, FreeCell remained relatively obscure until it was released as part of Windows 95.[6] In Windows XP, FreeCell was extended to support a total of 1 million card deals.[4]

Releases

Microsoft Solitaire Collection in Windows 10, in FreeCell mode

Today, there are FreeCell implementations for nearly every modern operating system as it is one of the few games pre-installed with every copy of Windows. Prior to

Windows Store as the free Microsoft Solitaire Collection, which is also bundled with Windows 10
.

Legacy

Microsoft created the Entertainment Packs to encourage non-business use of Windows. According to company telemetry FreeCell was the seventh most-used Windows program, ahead of Word and Microsoft Excel.[3]

The original Microsoft FreeCell package supports 32,000 numbered deals, generated by a 15-bit, pseudorandom-number seed. These deals are known as the "Microsoft 32,000",[4] and all but one of them have been completed.[6] Later versions of FreeCell include more than one million deals.[4] When Microsoft FreeCell became very popular during the 1990s, the Internet FreeCell Project attempted to solve all the deals by crowdsourcing consecutive games to specific people. The project ran from August 1994 to April 1995, and only #11982 proved unwinnable.[8] Out of the current Microsoft Windows games, eight are unsolvable.[9][10]

The significance of the "Microsoft 32,000" to many FreeCell players is such that other computer implementations of FreeCell will often go out of their way to guarantee compatibility with these deals, rather than simply using the most readily available random number generator for their target platforms.[4][11]

As an easter egg, Microsoft intentionally includes a few impossible games, with negative numbers. Playing these games do not count towards the statistics recorded by the computer.

See also

References

  1. ^ "FreeCell Stops Responding When You Click Undo". Support. Microsoft. January 23, 2007. Archived from the original on February 6, 2007. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  2. PC Magazine
    . p. 271. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  3. ^
    ISBN 9781101871560
    .
  4. ^ a b c d e Keller, Michael (2005). "FreeCell - Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)". Solitaire Laboratory. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  5. ^ "How to Troubleshoot Win32s Installation Problems". Microsoft. May 21, 1998. Archived from the original on July 12, 2010. Retrieved July 12, 2010.
  6. ^ a b Kaye, Ellen (October 17, 2002). "One Down, 31,999 to Go: Surrendering to a Solitary Obsession". New York Times. Retrieved January 20, 2017.
  7. PC Magazine
    . p. 124. Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  8. ISBN 9781565924864
    . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  9. ISBN 9780470487631
    . Retrieved June 12, 2012.
  10. ^ "FreeCell lists of difficult (and extra easy) deals". Solitaire Laboratory. March 13, 2010. Retrieved February 7, 2018.
  11. ^ "PySol - Rules for Freecell". PySolFC documentation. Retrieved February 3, 2018.
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