Rules for The Towers Easy

Family FreeCell
Categories Popular, Thinker's, Rewarding
Variants The Towers
Also known as

The Towers is an immensely popular game, but we’ve had requests to create a version that is easier to win. So here it is!

Layout

Shuffle the deck and lay out fifty cards in ten tableau piles, face up and fanned down, so that there are five cards in each tableau. Above the tableaus, on the left, are four piles called the towers, and to their right are the four foundations. The two remaining cards are placed face-up in two of the towers; the remaining towers and the foundations begin the game empty.

Play

Tableaus build down in suit. Full builds are available for play on other tableaus, while top cards of tableaus are available for play on other tableaus, on foundations, or on towers. Only Kings or builds whose bottom card is a King may be played to an empty tableau pile.

Foundations build up in suit from the Ace.

An empty tower can hold any card, but each can hold only one card at a time; and of course such cards can be removed only by correctly playing them back onto tableaus or foundations.

Goal

The goal is to move all cards to the foundations.

Tips

As in all games of this type, empty piles are tremendously important. You have four towers to start with, but two are already filled at the start of the game. It’s best to fill a tower only when you already know how to get that card out of the tower again. Of course you won’t always be able to do that, and sometimes you’ll have to leave a card in a tower “until further notice.” When you have to do that, it’s a good time to place a bookmark in case you never find a way to remove the card again.

A good player should be able to win 50% or more of all games, at least if you are willing to make patient use of bookmarks. We recommend that this game be treated as a puzzle: feel free to back up and try a different approach whenever you get stuck.