Is there a free cells patience with a numbered deal?
Yes. Open Cells in Games by Zaweba has every card face up, four free cells and a numbered deal, and nearly every game can be won with thought.
There is. Open Cells, one of the card games in Games by Zaweba, deals every card face up, gives you four free cells to park cards in and uses a numbered deal. It's free, it runs offline, and nearly every game can be won if you think it through.
That combination is what draws people to this kind of patience. With nothing hidden, luck plays very little part. The challenge is working out the order of moves, and a numbered deal means a particular layout isn't lost the moment you close the window.
How Open Cells plays
There are eight columns of cards, all face up. You build the four foundations up by suit from ace to king, and on the columns you build down in alternate colours. Any card can wait in one of the four free cells. Any card, or a run of cards, can go into an empty column.
Runs move as a group when there are enough free cells and empty columns to shuffle them across. That's the heart of the game. The more space you keep open, the longer the runs you can move in one go, so the free cells and empty columns are the real resource you're managing.
You'll find Open Cells on the Cards shelf of Games by Zaweba. Drag cards, or click one to send it where it fits best. Z undoes a move and H gives a hint.
Why a numbered deal matters
Every layout in Open Cells has a number. A deal you couldn't solve isn't just a vague memory of a bad game; it's a specific puzzle with its own identity. That suits the way many people play this sort of patience, as a puzzle to crack rather than a hand to get through.
Combined with every card being face up, it also means you're always playing with full information. If you lose, it was the plan, not the cards.
A way to approach each deal
Look before you move. Spend a moment finding the aces and twos and seeing what's sitting on top of them. The first few moves often decide whether those low cards come free easily.
Treat the free cells as precious. It's tempting to drop a card into a cell whenever it's in the way, but each one you fill reduces how many cards you can move as a run. Try to fill a cell only when it leads somewhere, and empty it again soon.
An empty column is worth even more than a free cell, because any card or run can go there and it greatly increases how much you can move at once. If a column is nearly clear, it's often worth the effort to finish it off.
Use the hint when you're stuck rather than giving up, and lean on undo. Because nothing is hidden, stepping back a few moves and trying another line is a fair way to learn the game.
Other patience to try
If Open Cells appeals because there's no luck, Classic Patience is the familiar seven-column game with hidden cards to uncover. Spinner Patience is a two-pack, ten-column game where you build eight complete runs. Pyramid Thirteens and Fairway are quicker games with their own twists, pairing to thirteen and playing one higher or lower.
Games by Zaweba keeps your plays, wins and best score on each game's tile, and the scores stay on your PC. Esc pauses, F1 explains the rules again, and F11 gives you a full-screen table when you want the cards larger.
