Baker’s Game Solitaire: rules and how to play
Baker’s Game is a solitaire played with one deck, all 52 cards dealt face up into eight columns. You win by moving every card to four foundations, built up by suit from Ace to King, with the help of four free cells that each hold one card. In the columns, you build down in the same suit: the 7 of spades goes on the 8 of spades, and nowhere else.
If you know FreeCell, you already know almost everything. Baker’s Game is the older game that FreeCell grew out of, and the one rule above is the whole difference: FreeCell builds by alternating colors, Baker’s Game by suit. That small change makes it a noticeably harder, more thoughtful game. You can play Baker’s Game here.
A little history
The game is named after C. L. Baker, who described it to the writer Martin Gardner. Gardner published it in a 1968 puzzle column, and FreeCell followed later as its alternating-color variation.
The layout
When a new game starts, you see three areas.
- The tableau is the main playing area: eight columns of face-up cards. The first four columns hold seven cards each and the last four hold six, which accounts for all 52 cards. Nothing is hidden, so you can plan from the very first move.
- The free cells are four empty spaces at the top. Each one holds a single card of any kind, as a temporary parking spot.
- The foundations are four empty spaces where you build each suit upward, Ace first, then 2, 3 and so on to the King.
There is no stock and no draw pile.
How to play
On this board you select a card, then select where it should go. If the move is not legal, nothing happens.
The legal moves are:
- Column to column. The top card of a column can go onto the top card of another column if it is one rank lower and the same suit. The 9 of hearts goes on the 10 of hearts. It cannot go on the 10 of diamonds, even though that card is also red.
- Into a free cell. The top card of any column can go into an empty free cell.
- Out of a free cell. A card in a free cell can go back onto a column, following the same-suit rule, or up to its foundation.
- Into an empty column. When a column is cleared, any single card may be placed there. It does not have to be a King.
- To a foundation. An Ace can always start a foundation. After that, each foundation takes the next card of its own suit: the 2 of clubs on the Ace of clubs, then the 3 of clubs.
Rule books vary on two points. Here is the rule our game engine follows, and what the play page offers today:
- Moving runs. The rules let a descending same-suit run move as one unit if there is room to do it card by card in theory. The limit is one more than your empty free cells, doubled for each empty column. If the run is going into an empty column, that column does not count. With two free cells and one empty column open, you could move six cards onto another column, or three into the empty one. The play page does not offer whole-run moves yet, so there you shift a run card by card.
- Taking cards back down. The rules allow the top card of a foundation to return to a column, onto the same-suit card one rank higher or into an empty column. The play page has no control for this, so once a card goes up, it stays there.
Winning and losing
You win when all 52 cards are on the four foundations, each running from Ace to King in a single suit.
When no move is possible at all, the board tells you so. More often a game stalls before that, with free cells full and every column blocked. Start a new deal, or use Undo to try a different line.
Some deals cannot be solved however well you play, so a loss is not necessarily your fault.
A worked example from a real deal
Here is the opening of a real deal produced by this site’s game engine (deal number 1). The columns, read from the bottom card to the top card, include these:
- Column 2: 6♠ 4♣ 8♣ 8♥ 9♠ 7♦ A♣
- Column 3: J♦ 10♣ 9♥ 9♦ 3♥ 4♠ A♥
- Column 4: J♥ 10♦ 2♦ 4♦ 5♦ 6♦ 7♣
- Column 5: 5♠ 2♠ 5♥ K♥ A♠ K♠
- Column 7: Q♠ Q♥ 7♠ J♣ 3♦ A♦
Three Aces are sitting on top, so the first moves are free: the Ace of clubs, the Ace of hearts and the Ace of diamonds all go straight to the foundations. That leaves the 7 of diamonds on top of column 2 and the 3 of diamonds on top of column 7.
Next, the fourth Ace is just under the King of spades in column 5. Move the King of spades into a free cell, and the Ace of spades goes up too. One free cell used, four foundations started.
Now look at column 4. Under the 7 of clubs sits a tidy diamond run: 6, 5, 4, then the 2 of diamonds. Put the 7 of clubs in a second free cell. Then move the 6 of diamonds onto the 7 of diamonds in column 2, the 5 of diamonds onto the 6, and the 4 of diamonds onto the 5. Each move is one card, one rank lower, same suit. That uncovers the 2 of diamonds, which goes to its foundation. The 3 of diamonds on column 7 follows it, and then the 4, 5, 6 and 7 of diamonds come back off column 2 and up to the foundation in order.
After about fifteen moves, diamonds are built to the 7, column 4 is down to just two cards, and you still have two free cells open. The 6 of diamonds could only ever go on the 7 of diamonds. In FreeCell it could also have gone on the 7 of clubs or the 7 of spades. That is Baker’s Game in a nutshell: fewer choices, so each one counts for more.
Tips for your first games
- Keep free cells open. With all four full, most deals stall.
- Aim for an empty column. It holds any card, and makes moving a run card by card far easier.
- Use Undo freely. Try a line, then step back if it fails.
Ready to play?
Baker’s Game rewards a calm look before the first move. If you would like an easier start, our FreeCell rules explain the alternating-color variation.