How to Play Eight Off Solitaire

This FreeCell relative gives you eight reserve cells to work with, but tableau sequences must stay within the same suit as you dig out buried cards. The goal: Move all 52 cards to the four foundations, building up from Ace to King in each suit.

Setup

1. Four foundation piles are laid out (one for each suit).
2. Eight reserve cells sit above the tableau, with four containing starting cards and four empty.
3. Eight tableau piles contain six cards each, all face up.
4. Only Kings may fill empty tableau piles.

How to play

• Build tableau sequences downward by one rank in the same suit.
• Only the top card of each tableau pile can be moved.
• Use reserve cells to temporarily hold cards you can't play elsewhere.
• Play cards to foundations from the tableau or reserve cells, building up in suit.
• Each empty reserve cell can hold any card until you need it.
• Aces start the foundations, then build up by suit from there.
• Qualifying cards automatically move to the foundations when no other play can be made; you can adjust this in Settings.

How to win

Objective: Move all 52 cards to the four foundations, building up from Ace to King in each suit.

Win by moving all cards to the foundations. You're stuck when no cards can move and cells are full with blocked cards.

Tips

• Treat reserve cells as temporary parking—only fill them when absolutely needed.
• Create empty tableau columns by consolidating cards into single same-suit sequences.
• Use reserve cells to shift blocking cards out of the way one at a time when a pile is stuck.

Play Eight Off free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Eight Off alongside 300+ other games. It saves every move as you play, so you can close the window and pick the game up later, replay any deal, and take on a new Daily Challenge deal every day. Browse every game in the Game Gallery.

Related games

More games from the FreeCell family:

• Eight On — This tougher cousin of Eight Off starts with all eight reserve cells already full, so you have no free storage until you clear one.
• ForeCell — An early ancestor of FreeCell: use four cells and build the tableau with King-only spaces to work all cards onto the foundations.
• FreeCell — All 52 cards deal face-up into eight tableau piles, with four open cells alongside them for shuffling cards while you build the foundations up by suit.
• Sea Towers — Sea Towers is a popular FreeCell variant with a different starting layout and stricter building rules.
• Stalactites — A minimal tableau puzzle where you clear 48 cards arranged in eight columns using only two temporary holding cells.