Play Baker's Game Solitaire Online for Free
Baker's Game is the same-suit ancestor of Freecell. The layout and mechanics are identical - eight columns, four free cells, four foundations - but tableau columns build down by the same suit rather than by alternating colour. That single rule change makes Baker's Game significantly harder than Freecell, with a win rate around 45% compared to Freecell's near-100% solvability.
What is Baker's Game?
Baker's Game uses one standard 52-card deck. Cards are dealt to eight tableau columns in round-robin fashion: four columns of seven cards and four columns of six cards. Four free cells and four foundation piles complete the layout. All cards are dealt face-up, giving complete information from the start. The key rule: tableau columns build down by the same suit (e.g. 7 of spades on 8 of spades). One card at a time may be moved, but the free-cell capacity rule allows logical multi-card moves.
Baker's Game and Freecell history
Baker's Game predates Freecell and is the game that inspired it. Martin Gardner described Baker's Game in his 1968 Scientific American column. The alternating-colour variant - Freecell - was later popularised by computer implementations in the 1990s. Baker's Game is named after C. L. Baker who introduced Gardner to the game.
How to play Baker's Game
Rules and objective
Move all 52 cards to the four foundation piles. Foundations build up from Ace to King by suit. Tableau columns build down by the same suit. A card may be moved to a free cell, to a foundation, or to a valid tableau column top. An empty column accepts any card. The effective multi-card move limit is (1 + empty free cells) times 2 raised to the power of empty columns, but cards must be moved one at a time in practice.
Game setup
- Shuffle one standard 52-card deck.
- Deal cards one at a time to eight columns in round-robin order until all 52 are dealt.
- Reserve four free cell slots above the tableau on the left.
- Reserve four foundation slots above the tableau on the right.
Strategies to win Baker's Game
- Keep same-suit sequences intact. Unlike Freecell, mixed-colour sequences have no tableau value. Focus on building and preserving descending same-suit runs from the start of the game.
- Manage free cells tightly. With the same-suit constraint, misplaced cards are harder to relocate. A free cell occupied by a card of the wrong suit can block critical moves for many turns.
- Plan several moves ahead. Baker's Game is 100% open information. All 52 cards are visible at setup. Take advantage of this by planning 5-10 moves in advance before committing to a sequence.
- Prioritise low cards. Aces and 2s reach foundations immediately. Cards of rank 3-5 reach foundations in only a few additional steps. Clearing low cards early frees tableau space and reduces free cell pressure.
- Create empty columns deliberately. Empty columns dramatically increase the number of cards you can effectively move at once. Aim to empty at least one column in the early game.
Baker's Game vs Freecell and relatives
Baker's Game FAQ
Who invented Baker's Game?
Baker's Game is attributed to C. L. Baker, who described it to Martin Gardner. Gardner published it in his Mathematical Games column in Scientific American in 1968. The game's same-suit rule predates the alternating-colour Freecell variant that later became widely known through Microsoft Windows.
Why is Baker's Game harder than Freecell?
In Freecell, any card of the opposite colour and adjacent rank can go on a tableau top, giving up to four valid placement candidates per card. In Baker's Game, only the card of the same suit and one rank higher qualifies. That is one valid placement at most, making every blocked card much harder to relocate.
Is Baker's Game always solvable?
No. Unlike standard Freecell (where over 99.9% of deals are solvable), a significant portion of Baker's Game deals are unwinnable from the start. The same-suit constraint creates configurations where key cards are permanently buried under cards that cannot be moved. Estimated solvability is around 45%.