On Windows, Freecell game #11982 is impossible to beat. But there is a way, albeit unorthodox.
Open up Freecell and hit F3 (or Game -> Select Game) and type in 11982. Hit Control-Shift-F10, then move the 2 of hearts to the 3 of spades and voila, you won the game. At least, that’s what your game statistics will say.
Update: If you think you can beat this game, check again. This is the starting layout.
The FreeCell FAQ declared game 11982 to be impossible after exhaustive research. They wrote, “11982 has now eluded solution by probably thousands of human solvers, and at least eight independent computer programs I am aware of (most of which are designed to search exhaustively for a solution), and I am confident in calling it impossible.”
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Re Game No. 11982, which you say is unwinnable. I just played it and won the first time I tried it! Played in the usual way, without the “trick” you described.
» Comment by Harriet on February 14, 2009 @ 2:38 pmHarriet: Are you sure? #11982 has been proven to be unbeatable. You probably mistyped the game number.
» Comment by Dan on February 14, 2009 @ 3:32 pmYep, if Harriet comes back with step by step instructions, then I would believe her. I’ve been trying to beat this one for awhile. I haven’t given up hope yet. It always seems like I am one cell short
» Comment by Ross on June 25, 2009 @ 2:46 pmI’ve won every game from 1 to 11981 and tried for two mo. to win 11982. Don’t believe it’s possible in the conventional way.
» Comment by SKW on July 3, 2009 @ 7:27 am#11982 is not PROVEN to be unbeatable (extremely hard to prove something like that), but is BELIEVED to be.
» Comment by Frank on October 22, 2009 @ 7:21 am@Frank Correct.
» Comment by Dan on October 22, 2009 @ 10:26 amGame is impossible, i tried it. the only way to win is by cheating or glitching
» Comment by Cody on June 18, 2010 @ 3:40 pmhttp://freecellgamesolutions.com/ds/?g=1982&p=aiq
» Comment by hossi on June 23, 2010 @ 1:19 pm@hossi That’s 1982, the impossible game is #11982.
» Comment by Dan on June 23, 2010 @ 2:59 pmBefore realizing the game was impossible, I came across it at random. I can’t give up on a game without winning, so naturally, I played this hand over and over again. Never won. Is this hand still proven to be impossible? I see that one user posted he/she beat it on first try. Really??
» Comment by Jennifer on November 30, 2010 @ 4:55 pm@Jennifer No one has ever beaten the game and shown how it was done. I can guarantee Harriet didn’t beat it on the first try. She played another game thinking it was 11982. If you do beat it, you’d immediately become a Freecell legend.
» Comment by Dan on November 30, 2010 @ 5:04 pmHow about help on 25450?
» Comment by Ed on July 8, 2011 @ 10:16 pmI have completed 16710 games in a row except 11982 keep going back to 11982, findly went on line to see if possable,glad I did after 500+
» Comment by ralph on August 6, 2011 @ 7:16 amattempts over 2 years time. thanks people
@ralph That’s true dedication.
» Comment by Dan on August 9, 2011 @ 8:54 amThe picture above with the 11982 game won is fake.
» Comment by tibanu on December 7, 2011 @ 1:18 pmTry to open the game, than hit ctrl+shift+f10 , hit abort, than move a card and the cheat is done.
I also tried 11982 but no succes,
best regards,
tibanu
@tibanu Did you even read the post?
» Comment by Dan on December 7, 2011 @ 2:59 pmI play freecell evryday @ work and i beat it with no cheats, it is very easy, i have come across some that were more difficult than that.
» Comment by iplayzharder on December 9, 2011 @ 6:07 am@iplayzharder You played a different game. If you don’t believe you did, what was your solution? Wambooli couldn’t solve it and offered a $25 prize for someone else to solve it, but no one could. The FreeCell FAQ declared it to be impossible after exhaustive research. I quote, “11982 has now eluded solution by probably thousands of human solvers, and at least eight independent computer programs I am aware of (most of which are designed to search exhaustively for a solution), and I am confident in calling it impossible.”
» Comment by Dan on December 9, 2011 @ 8:56 amIf you were able to beat it, how would you ever prove it? Are you expected to remember each move and be able to repeat it?
» Comment by Champswest on February 18, 2012 @ 6:53 pm@Champswest The easiest way would be to record the screen as you play the game.
» Comment by Dan on February 19, 2012 @ 8:17 amhi have yall ever tried #-1 that i think is impossible!!!!
» Comment by raldo on February 28, 2012 @ 12:34 pmI did not know that many people had already written about game no. 11982. I came across this game and was trying for two days, every time hitting the impossible position. Perhaps the reason is that four number sets are piled one on another in this set. They are Black 5, Red 9, Black 4 and Black 7.
» Comment by Nagaraju on April 14, 2012 @ 4:00 amI’ve won games 1 thru 21605 to date but never won 11982. Is it still proven unbeatable?
» Comment by Sam Williams on May 21, 2012 @ 9:39 pm@Sam Yup
» Comment by Dan on May 21, 2012 @ 11:10 pmI doubt that any computer program searches exhaustively; I think that would take far more computational power than anyone has. But it still probably has no solution. What are the odds that there is a solution or class of solutions but only when done by one very precise and unexpected sequence of events? Usually there are a LOT of ways to do them, that’s why it’s so easy to stumble onto one of them.
» Comment by fred on May 22, 2012 @ 3:01 pm@fred Most programs search exhaustively and at least eight independent programs were unable to find a solution. A game like FreeCell isn’t all that complex and with Moore’s law we have access to more and more of it. With today’s processors, a hundred million combinations can be tested in seconds.
» Comment by Dan on May 22, 2012 @ 4:40 pmI have played every game up to 27730 sequentially and the ony one I couldn’t beat was 11982
» Comment by RJGWho on June 12, 2012 @ 10:58 am@Fred Computer’s can be extraordinarily exhaustive at searching. All it takes is for someone with expert level skills at scripting, to create an Algorithm that would explore every possible move, every certain pattern, and every combination in and there of in a single scripting program. Even if there were a million different types of ways to attempt to solve it, a program can run through all of them. Trust me. Hackers do it every day to crack codes, algorithms, passwords.
» Comment by JayOhhEeh on June 13, 2012 @ 8:33 pmImpossible FreeCell Game # 11982 other way
» Comment by cool on July 22, 2012 @ 6:28 am
We should start a collective fund that is payable should someone be able to beat it legitimately and prove it. $25 isn’t enuf, get it up to like $1000000 and we would get some attention!
» Comment by rknell85 on July 27, 2012 @ 5:57 pm@rknell85 That’s a great idea. I would be willing to put up $1,000 for anyone who can beat that game using only legal moves (no tricks).
» Comment by Dan on July 28, 2012 @ 10:36 amJust ran freecell 11982 through a computer program designed to beat these type games. After 20,000 attempts and no success, I pulled the plug. I believe the game is unbeatable,the only free cell game I’ve ever found that can;t be beat and I;ve been playing since 2000.
» Comment by cattrick on January 17, 2013 @ 8:06 pm@cattrick Thanks for adding even more evidence to confirm our theory that game 11982 is unbeatable.
» Comment by Dan on January 18, 2013 @ 8:56 amI wonder if these programs include moves where you would take from the foundation pile to help complete a black red black red pattern. As far as I know this is a legal move in freecell, albeit a bit unorthodox.
» Comment by william on March 7, 2013 @ 2:10 am@William As far as I know the programs are extremely thorough and try all possible legal moves.
» Comment by Dan on March 7, 2013 @ 2:14 amI won it after a few ‘f7′ undos to the beginning. The first time took me 40 minutes. The second time, ten. How do I get my $1000? LOL.
» Comment by Keith on March 25, 2013 @ 7:16 pm@Keith That’s fantastic! Just send me the steps to beat the game. They can be written out, a screen recording, using Microsoft’s Problem Steps recorder, or whatever else works. I’ll gladly send you $1,000 (I’m not kidding).
» Comment by Dan on March 26, 2013 @ 11:38 amObviously, one can easily place the cards into an unwinable hand; that’s trivial. Since unwinable hands have been proven by example to exist, it seems logical that a pseudo-random deal would, eventually, produce such a hand. If I were designing the game, instead of dealing randomly, I would start from a completed game and make a pseudo-random sequence of legal backward moves to arrive at the starting position. Such an algorithm could not generate an unwinable game. If it were able to generate #11982, then it would be solvable.
At least one would be able to say with certainty that all games generated would be winable.
» Comment by Steven Smith on April 6, 2013 @ 11:21 am@Steven Smith (#38) (commenting on my own comment)
I should have thought about that one more deeply. One gains nothing by working backwards… it’s exactly the same complexity. Obviously, I can generate *some* board state by inverse plays. From there, my “deal” algorithm would have to solve the issue of getting all 52 cards onto the board; I’m guessing that this would prove to be equally as difficult as generating a solution in the conventional manner.
» Comment by Steven Smith on April 7, 2013 @ 6:30 pmI’ve been playing FC for years and have even created a log of hard games. I’m stuck on #1941. Just want to know if anyone has won it. Usually I’ve gotten the solution at most 10 tries. I’m stuck after 10 moves on this one.
» Comment by Will on April 24, 2013 @ 5:24 am@Will Here’s a video of how to beat that one. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1J2LOCVQhuI
» Comment by Dan on April 24, 2013 @ 10:27 amThanks Dan I’ll try a little longer before I view the answer. I’ll let you know which way I went.
» Comment by Will on April 24, 2013 @ 11:15 am@Will That’s a tough one. I tried several times, then gave up and looked at the solution.
» Comment by Dan on April 24, 2013 @ 12:59 pmI guess this is the one of the few I’VE BEEN LOOKING FOR!!!!!!(:-))
» Comment by Will on April 24, 2013 @ 5:07 pmTalk to you later.
I’ve just wasted the last two hours trying to beat this Freecell puzzle. I finally decided to search the net and see if anyone else has had as much difficulty with this game as I have… I wish I knew the game was “unwinnable” two hours ago. lol
» Comment by Nat on May 12, 2013 @ 2:46 pm@Nat I know the feeling. I was stuck on the game for quite a while myself
» Comment by Dan on May 12, 2013 @ 8:17 pm