Eight Off Solitaire: the most winnable deal on the site

Eight Off looks like a strict version of FreeCell. Cards build down in suit only, the way finished runs in Spider must be one suit, and only a King may move into an empty column. That sounds harsh, but Eight Off gives you something in return: eight free cells instead of four. The result is a game where almost every deal can be won.

We asked a solver to play 10,000 deals on this site's exact rules. It won 99.89% of them and proved the other 0.11% impossible, leaving no deal unsettled. That is not a ceiling or a floor; because every card is visible in Eight Off, it is simply the share of deals that can be won. On our Spider-based difficulty ladder, no game we measured had a higher proven share.

Eight Off on the difficulty ladder

The Baker's row is the interesting contrast. Baker's also builds in suit and also allows only Kings in empty columns, but it has four free cells, and on those rules only 31.8% of deals can be won. Four extra cells turn one of the least winnable games on the site into the most winnable.

How Eight Off works here

• Deck: one standard deck of 52 cards, all face up.
• Tableau: eight columns of six cards.
• Free cells: eight. Half of them start occupied: the deal places four cards straight into cells.
• Foundations: four, one per suit, built from Ace to King.
• Building: down by one rank, same suit only: the 9 of clubs goes on the 10 of clubs and nowhere else.
• Empty columns: Kings only, or a same-suit run headed by a King.
• Moving runs: the game will carry a same-suit run in one step as long as it fits your free space — count your empty cells, add your empty columns, add one. Anything longer has to be shuttled through the cells card by card.

What the deals tell you

Two thirds of the time an Ace is ready at once

In 66% of our deals, at least one Ace was immediately playable, either at the bottom of a column or in a pre-filled cell. Send it up first; in Eight Off there is no reason to keep an Ace.

Check the four pre-filled cells

In 28% of deals an Ace starts in one of those cells. Those four cards are the first things to look at, because a cell freed early is worth more than any tableau move.

Solutions are short

The first winning line our solver found averaged about 35 moves. Compare that with 62 for one-deck FreeCell. Eight Off rewards seeing a plan and executing it rather than grinding.

Strategy, the Spider way

If you play Spider, Eight Off will feel familiar in one important way: a same-suit run is the only kind of run that counts. Every mixed pairing is a dead end. That leads to a few simple habits.

• Never bury a card under a different suit. It can only leave again via a cell.
• Treat Kings as column anchors. Only a King can start a new column, so an exposed King near the top of a column is a problem to solve early.
• Keep at least two cells open. With eight cells the temptation is to fill them freely. Each empty cell adds one card to how long a run you can shift, so every cell you fill makes the next move harder.
• Clear the column with the most low cards. Freeing 2s and 3s early keeps the foundations climbing, and a foundation move in Eight Off never hurts you.

Where Eight Off games are lost

With only about one deal in a thousand proven impossible, a lost Eight Off game is almost never the deal's fault. The usual causes are these:

• Filling all eight cells. With every cell full and no empty column, you can move exactly one card, and only onto its own suit.
• Emptying a column with no King to fill it. The gap then sits useless. Line up the King before you clear the column.
• Ignoring the pre-filled cells. Four cells start taken. Playing those cards out early is often the quickest way to regain room.
• Moving a run you cannot move back. Group moves are limited by your free space. If you shift a long run and then fill cells, you may not be able to shift it again.

Eight Off's toolkit

With solutions this short, Eight Off is a good game to replay: Restart deals the same cards again so you can hunt for a cleaner line, and Undo has no limit. Hint and Auto Play are one click away. It costs nothing, needs no account and runs in the browser on a computer, tablet or phone. Big card faces and a zoom slider help you read eight busy columns, you can drag or tap, and a counter keeps wins, time and moves. Sound, fullscreen and felt color are yours to choose.

How we tested Eight Off, step by step

The spidersolitaire.us team ran this test on September 19, 2026.

1. Traced the rules in our code. Eight Off here is a variant of our FreeCell engine: 48 cards in eight columns, four more waiting in half of the eight cells, building strictly in suit, only Kings into gaps, and group moves capped at empty cells plus empty columns plus one.
2. Rebuilt it twice. Once exactly as the site plays it, and once with one-card-at-a-time moves, the version described in the published research, so we could check ourselves.
3. Dealt 10,000 numbered hands for each version, seeds 1 to 10,000.
4. Used a solver. Every card is visible in Eight Off, so a search for a winning line gives a true answer. Each deal got up to 200,000 positions; on the site's rules every deal was settled well within that.
5. Sorted every deal into won, proven impossible or undecided.
6. Checked against published research. Blake and Gent (2026) estimate that 99.8805% of Eight Off deals can be won when cards move one at a time. Our one-card version solved 99.80%, proved 0.14% impossible and left 0.06% open; their implied 0.12% impossible sits inside our range. The two agree. The site's larger group moves rescue only a handful more deals, giving 99.89%.
7. Worked out the margin of error. For 99.89% the 95% range is 99.80% to 99.94%.
8. Named the limits. Our deal numbers are our own seeds, not those of any other program.

Inside the Eight Off solver

The solver is part of freecell2.py, a Python 3.11 module with no outside dependencies that also covers FreeCell Two Decks. It scores positions and always works on the most promising one next, remembering every position it has met. Because building is in suit, any card that can go home can go home at once without risk, so the solver does that automatically. Each 10,000-deal batch, split over 19 processes, finished inside two minutes. The 95% ranges come from Wilson score intervals. Anthropic's Claude assisted with writing and reviewing the solver and with drafting this page; the percentages are the solver's own results.

Eight Off questions

Why are four cells already full?

It is part of the deal. Six cards go to each of the eight columns, 48 in all, and the four left over are placed in cells.

What is allowed into an empty column?

No, only a King or a same-suit run starting with a King.

Which rung is lower, Eight Off or FreeCell?

By share of winnable deals, slightly: 99.89% against at least 99.68% in our tests. By feel, the same-suit rule makes it more demanding move to move.

What is the closest game to Eight Off here?

Baker's Solitaire has the same building rule with half the cells. FreeCell has alternating colors instead.

Does it help with Spider?

Yes. Thinking only in same-suit runs is exactly the skill that two-suit Spider demands.

By Admin, spidersolitaire.us (Solitairen OOD). Research run September 2026.