Intermediate difficulty
Seahaven Towers
A FreeCell relative played with ten tableau columns and only two free cells.
- One-Deck Games
- Four-Suit Games
- FreeCell Games
- Mobile-Friendly Games
- Strategy Games
- Card Puzzle Games
- Tableau Builders
- Foundation-Building Games
| Decks | One deck |
|---|---|
| Suits | 4 |
| Typical length | 15 min |
| Difficulty | Intermediate |
| How much skill matters | High |
| How much the shuffle matters | Low |
| Family | FreeCell family |
There is no playable version of Seahaven Towers on this site yet — this page covers its rules and strategy. The game suits a touchscreen well, so it is a good candidate once a build exists.
About Seahaven Towers
Seahaven Towers is the widest of the FreeCell relatives and the most miserly with cells: ten columns of five, everything face up, and only two places to park a card. Building is strictly by suit, and an emptied column will take nothing but a King.
The shallow columns are what make it work. With only five cards in each, nothing is buried far, and ten landing places mean a suited card usually has somewhere to go — which is just as well, because the two cells will not save you. It was popularised by Art Cabral's 1988 Macintosh version, and good players reportedly clear more than three in four deals.
How to play
Ten columns of five cards are dealt face up, with two cells alongside for parking single cards. Columns build down in suit — the strict rule — and foundations build each suit up from Ace. Only a King, or a run headed by a King, may go into an emptied column, so clearing a column is only useful if you have a King ready for it. Everything is visible from the start.
Strategy
Two cells and suit-strict building is a very tight budget, so the cells should be treated as a last resort rather than a working area. Ten shallow columns of five is the compensation: cards are never deeply buried, and there are ten places a suited card might land. Look for the suit runs already partly assembled in the deal and build around them rather than starting fresh ones. Getting a King into an emptied column is the manoeuvre that opens the game up, so it is worth planning several moves out. Good players are reported to win over three-quarters of their games, so the position is usually there to be found.
What works
- Ten shallow columns mean no card is ever buried deep
- Over three-quarters winnable for good players
- Fully open layout with no hidden information
What to know
- Only two cells, which is very tight for suit-strict building
- Emptied columns accept only Kings
- Ten columns make for a wide layout, awkward on a phone
Frequently asked questions
- How many decks does Seahaven Towers use?
- Seahaven Towers is played with a single standard deck.
- Is Seahaven Towers good for beginners?
- Seahaven Towers is generally better suited to players who already know the basics of solitaire, as it involves more planning than a typical beginner game.
- Is Seahaven Towers based more on luck or strategy?
- Seahaven Towers rewards careful planning — skilled play meaningfully improves your odds of winning.
Others in this family
- Baker's Game
The predecessor to FreeCell — identical rules, except tableau sequences must build by suit rather than alternating color.
- Eight Off
A roomier FreeCell cousin with eight free cells and stricter suit-based tableau building.
- FreeCell
Nearly every deal is winnable with the right plan — four free cells give just enough room to maneuver every card into place.
- Penguin
A seven-cell FreeCell relative where the first card dealt sets the starting rank for every foundation.