How to Play Baker's Game Solitaire
Bakers Game Solitaire is a harder variation of FreeCell where cards are built by suit. The game gets its name from its inventor, mathematician C. L. Baker.
Objective
Your goal is to move all 52 cards to 4 foundation piles by suit from Ace to King in ascending order. You do this by moving and organizing cards in the tableau and using 4 free or open cells.
The Setup and Play Area
Foundation piles:These are the 4 piles where you aim to move playable cards in ascending order from Ace to King by suit.
Tableau piles: This is where all 52 cards are placed face-up in 8 columns. The first 4 columns have 7 cards, and the last 4 columns have 6 cards.
Free cells: These are the 4 open cells where you can place any card.
Available moves
- The last card of each tableau column can be moved to a foundation.
- Tableau cards or cards in the free cell can be moved on top of cards of the same suit one rank higher. For example, a Queen of Clubs can be placed on top of a King of Clubs.
- Any card at the bottom of the tableau can go into the free cells, as long as there is no card in the free cell.
- You cannot move groups of sequenced cards. To move groups of cards, you can use the available free cells to move them one at a time. As a rule of thumb, the number of sequenced cards you can move is equivalent to the number of available free cells plus one.
- Any card can be placed in an empty tableau column.
- You win when all cards have been moved to the foundation.
Strategy
- Move Aces to the foundations as soon as they’re available. This will clear the card from the tableau, enabling you to build more.
- Try to free up lower-ranking cards. Because foundations are built starting with Aces, try to make low cards available so you can move them out of the tableau into the foundation and make other cards playable.
- The first visible sequence may not always be the best one. Plan out your moves to remove as many cards as possible from the tableau.
- Use free cells only when you cannot make any moves. Sequence as many cards as you can, then use the free cells.
- Try to empty the tableau columns quickly. You can move any card to an empty column, allowing you to build more cards.
- Move Kings to free cells carefully. Kings can only be moved back to an empty tableau column given they are the highest-ranked card.
- If you get stuck, use the undo button. You may not always make the right moves, and you may need to reverse some to win the game.
Check out our FreeCell Solitaire strategy guide to learn more.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are some games similar to Baker's Game?
FreeCell, Double FreeCell, Eight Off, Squadron, Baker's Game, and SeaHaven Towers are similar games with a face-up tableau and free cells.
What are the odds of winning?
When looking at 13,942 random games played, 1,561 were won, making the win rate 11.20%. This makes Baker's Game similar in difficulty as Double FreeCell, which has a win rate of 11.94%, and harder than classic FreeCell, which has a win rate of 41.86%. It's harder because you have fewer sequencing opportunities as cards must be built by suit instead of alternating colors.
What are other popular Solitaire games?
Here are some good games to play:
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