FreeCell (Microsoft, Windows, 1991)

FreeCell
Developer: Microsoft Publisher: Microsoft Platform: Windows Released in US: September 12, 1991 This game has debugging material.

FreeCell is another all-time favorite among lazy workers. It managed to spawn quite a lot of clones seeking to improve upon the original.

Debug Menu

Unlike its sister game Solitaire, the debug menu is still accessible here. Press Ctrl + Shift + F10 to trigger a dialog box offering three options: Ignore, Retry, and Abort. Ignore just closes the message box, Retry causes you to lose when you make your next move, and Abort induces an instant win.

The menu was likely there to check whether the win/lose stuff works properly, as there doesn't seem a point in cheating in a game like this.

Special Games

The game lets you specify the seed for the RNG used to shuffle the cards. The game has a few trick seeds that result in special deals.

• -1 - the unwinnable deal shown in the above screenshot.
• -2 - another unwinnable deal.
• -3 - rigged so that making a single move will lead to the game automatically wining itself. Not all versions have this seed.
• -4 - automatic win again. Again, not all versions have this seed.