# Play Eight Off Solitaire Online for Free

Play unlimited free games of Eight Off Solitaire. Play daily challenges, compete on leaderboards, and use hints to help you win.

## How to Play Eight Off

To win Eight Off Solitaire, you have to move all the cards from the tableau to the four foundation piles in ascending order from ace to king and separated by suit. You can use the eight free cells to help you rearrange and sequence cards in the tableau.

![Eight Off Solitaire setup](https://defbnszqe1hwm.cloudfront.net/images/Eight-Off-Setup.webp)  

## Eight Off Solitaire Setup

Eight Off Solitaire uses a single 52-card deck and is set up into three main areas:

* **Tableau:** Serving as the main gameplay area, the tableau contains 48 cards dealt into eight rows with six cards each. You arrange cards into descending order by suit into this space.
* **Free cells:** The eight open spaces, called free cells, span across the top of the tableau, and you can use them to temporarily store a card. The game begins with four cells filled with the remaining four cards from the deck.
* **Foundation piles:** The four foundation piles are set off vertically to the left of the tableau, and you build these piles in ascending order by suit, from ace to king.
![Eight Off Solitaire setup](https://defbnszqe1hwm.cloudfront.net/images/Eight-Off-Rules.webp)  

## Eight Off Solitaire Rules

* **Tableau cards must be sequenced in descending order by suit.** For example, you can place a 6♣ on a 7♣ or a 10♥ on a J♥.
* **Foundation piles must be built by suit,** starting with an ace and ascending in order to king.
* **Cards in free cells can be moved to the tableau or foundation piles.**
* **Any card or sequence can fill an empty column,** regardless of rank.
* **Sequences can only be moved if their length equals the number of open free cells plus one.** For example, you can move a sequence of 10♦, 9♦, 8♦, 7♦ if you have three available free cells.

## Eight Off Solitaire Strategies

* **Prioritize freeing aces,** since they can be moved to the foundation piles and are needed to win the game. This also creates extra space in the tableau, making it easier to move other cards around.
* **Empty columns for extra space.** You have free cells for individual cards, but columns give you extra space to build entire sequences. So move cards out of columns as often as possible.
* **Use free columns to build long sequences.** Although you can move any card to an empty column, try to start those columns with a king or higher ranking card like a 9 or 10\. Doing so gives you the opportunity to play more cards into that column.
* **Have a plan for moving cards out of free cells.** The key to moving cards around the tableau is having enough free cells open to move sequences. So use the free cells only temporarily for storing cards and have a plan to move them back into the tableau quickly.
* **Avoid placing cards in all the free cells at once.** If you fill all of the cells, you have no way to move more than one card at a time in the tableau, and that can get you stuck quickly.
* **Split longer sequences across columns.** You only have four suits but eight columns in the tableau to work with, so use the columns to break up longer sequences. Unless a sequence is being built in an empty column, it will have to be moved at some point, and long sequences could end up stuck if you don’t have enough free cells to move them.

If you like playing Eight Off but want a bit more of a challenge, you can try similar variations, like [Baker’s Game](https://solitaired.com/bakers-game) and [FreeCell](https://solitaired.com/freecell). You can explore even more Solitaire games for free on [Solitaired](https://solitaired.com/)!