So let’s be clear this puzzle isn’t highly improbably, likely impossible, or nigh impossible. So there is no clever solution waiting that simply hasn’t been found, because literally everything has been tried, multiple times. There are numerous freecell solving programs out there that do this (despite some concerns above about processing power, this kind of task is exactly what computers do well and far within the capacity of even an older computer to do quickly) and, as mentioned in the article, many have been applied. The simplest, and longest, way is simply to try every possible set of moves at every juncture until you reach a point where there are no moves left to make (or only moves that go in a loop, like moving the same card back and forth), and no solution was found. This is a mathematical problem, and as such absolutely can be proven impossible. I’ve noticed a lot of comments here over the years saying things along the lines of “this can’t be proven impossible”. – A non-trivial algorithm has been used to create freecell game.ītw, sorry for the mistakes I could have done, i’m absolutly not a native speaker ^^ – The Steven Smith algorithm is the good one, then 11982 is theorically possible, but could need like 1000000 plays to be win. – I’m wrong about the “quantity” of impossible starts, then 11982 could be one of them I don’t know the solution of my question, however I think there are “many” impossible starts which could lead to a lose. If it’s about 1/32000 or less, then this algorithm could have been used by Microsoft to create freecell game. Then we should look at the probability to create an impossible game with the second algorithm. However, it seems it’s the only not-sure-to-be-winnable game, for 32 000 games. The second one can obviously create impossible game, and 11982 might be one of them. – The “stupid-one” : put the card in a random way on the board.

– the way explained by Steven Smith, which can’t create an impossible game What’s interesting me the most is not is this game is possible or not, but the way games are created.įreecell games are obviously created in a pseudo-random way, they’re two obvious way to create a game : Comment by Pugs on Decem 11:40 : the problem is that “impossible” is not a political issue, but a mathematical one :-P

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