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March 18, 2008
Why is FreeCell so popular?
“Freecell Ruined My Life…it frequently kept me up until 1.30 in the morning. Sometimes I was going to bed and I could hardly see"
FreeCell is a solitaire 52-card game with “no stunning graphics, no sound and a workmanlike game engine”. But for sheer addictive compulsion and appeal, it deserves a place in the hall of fame.
FreeCell’s origins may date back to 1945 and a Scandinavian game called “Napoleon in St. Helena”. Various versions of the game were developed between 1968 and 1977 but the game remained relatively obscure until it was made a part of Windows 95 and has been included with every version of Windows since.
So why did FreeCell become so addictive? The original Help file remains through modern Microsoft versions: "It is believed (although not proven) that every game is winnable."…Most solitaires (including the most popular ones like Klondike, Spider, Pyramid, Forty Thieves, and Miss Milligan) can be won less than half of the time even with perfect play. Almost every FreeCell deal can be won if played correctly; it has one of the highest win rates of any solitaire.
The original Microsoft FreeCell package includes 32,000 games, known as the "Microsoft 32,000". When FreeCell became very popular during the 1990s it was not clear which of the 32,000 deals in the program were solvable. To clarify the situation, Dave Ring started The Internet FreeCell Project, took on the problem to try to solve all the deals using human solvers.
The project was finished in October 1995, and only one game defied every human player's attempt: #11,982, which has been shown to be unsolvable by several exhaustive-search software solvers.
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March 18, 2008 in Games | Permalink
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Comments
another 3-way chess!
Posted by: stefan at Mar 18, 2008 12:43:53 AM
I hardly ever play games as I would rather being doing something that earns me money instead! However, I can understand why someone would want to play this game so that they could win each one - I know someone who was working his way through sequentially challenging himself to win each game.
Posted by: rachel @ master your card at Mar 18, 2008 7:27:08 AM
I am totally addicted to Minesweeper but I suppose that's a story for a different day!
Posted by: metalchick666 at Mar 18, 2008 7:56:04 AM
I'm addicted to the tycoon games
Posted by: AMyOops at Mar 18, 2008 8:34:24 AM
Why Freecell is so popular? This little clip explains it (you need Windows Media player to see it).
mms://wme.jimh.net/jimh.net/FreeCell.wmv
Posted by: solitaire at Mar 18, 2008 8:39:17 AM
Yes I was hooked on Freecell too for a while. It's amazing how you get a feel quite early on the game for the potential of completing the game.
Needless to say I abandoned quite a few. :)
Posted by: Suze at Mar 18, 2008 4:08:00 PM
Games games games I live for them. So how do you break an addiction to freecell lol?
Posted by: Jon @ free online space games at Apr 11, 2008 2:47:07 PM
Hobi Kamerada bu şekilde güvenlik kamerası seçimlerinizde size yardımcı olmaya çalışıyor
www.hobikamera.com
Posted by: Hobikamera at Apr 13, 2008 9:49:52 PM
I love freecell, too
I think you can maintain your freecell records by using online freecell.
I recommend you Freecell Project site where the address is
Have a good day~
Posted by: dongpal at Sep 2, 2008 8:02:29 AM