From fomalhaut@earthlink.net Wed Apr 24 11:44:38 CDT 2002 Article: 131680 of sci.math Path: news!husk.cso.niu.edu!vixen.cso.uiuc.edu!news.uchicago.edu!newsfeed.cs.wisc.edu!newsfeed.mathworks.com!news.maxwell.syr.edu!news-xfer.newsread.com!bad-news.newsread.com!netaxs.com!newsread.com!newsfeed2.earthlink.net!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Michael Keller Newsgroups: sci.math Subject: Re: the card game FreeCell Organization: Solitaire Laboratory Reply-To: fomalhaut@earthlink.net Message-ID: <3rhccuc78vq2bjnf7v3nd7u44o191ir8qj@4ax.com> References: X-Newsreader: Forte Agent 1.91/32.564 MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Lines: 43 Date: Wed, 24 Apr 2002 05:53:21 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 63.208.185.154 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread1.prod.itd.earthlink.net 1019627601 63.208.185.154 (Tue, 23 Apr 2002 22:53:21 PDT) NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 23 Apr 2002 22:53:21 PDT Xref: news sci.math:131680 FreeCell -- Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) -- Condensed version A full version of this FAQ, with hyperlinks, is at . * What is a supermove? How does it help in playing? Every good computer version of FreeCell allows the player to move a sequence of cards all at once using vacant freecells as momentary storage locations. But even longer sequences can be moved using a combination of empty columns and empty freecells. Normally a sequence one card longer than the number of empty freecells can be moved from one column to another, but this is doubled for every empty column (except for the destination column -- if you are moving *to* an empty column, that column does not count). Long sequence moves using empty columns as well as freecells have been called supermoves. FreeCell programs vary in their ability to use supermoves. Microsoft FreeCell uses it correctly when there is one empty column and at least one empty freecell, but fails to make the maximum use of more than one empty column. * Is it possible to get all 52 cards to the homecells at once? Yes. In March of 1998, Andy Gefen found the ultimate: a 52-card flourish. After noticing that deal number 18492 had four aces at the bottom of column six, he realized that if he could get all of the other cards in order without moving the seven of diamonds which covers the aces, he could achieve the 52-card flourish! He was able to do so after considerable effort, and his solution is now available in the solution catalog (indexed at ). Dave Leonard later found a second 52-card flourish, 22574 (with a different arrangement of aces). Brian Barnhorst found a third, 7239, Dave found a fourth, 23190, and Kenneth Goldman found a fifth, 16508. All of the solutions to these 52-card flourishes are found in the catalog. Michael Keller Solitaire Laboratory