Cell

Cell is a free FreeCell game from Mind Loft, played in the browser. It uses a smaller deck than the classic game: ace through eight in four suits, thirty-two cards dealt face up into six columns. You have a few free cells to park single cards and four foundations to build up by suit from the ace.

The rules are FreeCell's. Columns build down by one in alternating colours, and a run of cards moves as a single move as long as your open cells and empty columns could carry it. Cards that are safe to send home go there on their own and cost nothing. There is no undo, only a restart of the deal, and a hint button is there if you get stuck.

What makes Cell different from an ordinary solitaire is the score. Every deal has been solved, so the page shows the proven minimum number of moves as perfect, with par set a few moves above it. You cannot beat perfect; the game is how close you get. Since all cards are visible and every deal is winnable, the result comes from planning, not from the luck of the draw.

The week changes the deal. Monday and Tuesday give four free cells, midweek has three and from Friday there are two. The Sunday Edition uses a bigger deck, ace through ten, forty cards in seven columns.

A new deal arrives at midnight Eastern time. There is no app and no sign-up, past deals are in an archive, and a daily leaderboard, a timer you can show or hide and a streak are there for those who want them. It plays the same on a phone, where the deal fits the screen in one column of controls. It suits solitaire players who like a single careful puzzle a day rather than endless quick deals.