Eight off is a single deck solitaire card game. It is very similar to Freecell game and normally come under Freecell Group in many latest Solitaire game products. But Eight Off is a very old game compared to Freecell and even Freecell is a modified version of Eight Off.
Object of the game is to move all cards to the foundation cells. Eight off contains 8 tableau piles and during the initial deal 48 cards are played to these piles. There are eight free cells or reserve cells in eight off layout compared to four in free cell. This is the major difference between freecell and eight off. In eight off first four cells are filled with cards during initial deal.
Four foundation cells on the right hand side of the play area. Base card of the foundation is Ace. So player has to build foundation cells starting with Ace. A foundation cell is said to be complete when it is filled with all 13 cards.
Foundation has to be arranged in suit i.e. a two of clubs can be put on top of an Ace of clubs. So a diamonds foundation starts with Ace of diamonds and finish with King of diamonds.
Tableau card arranging order is down in suit. This is another major difference with Freecell. In free cell it is down in alternating color. In eight off you can play a five of spades on top of 6 of spades but not any other card with number five. A group of cards can be moved to another matching pile if there is enough space in free cells or tableau piles. Empty space may be filled with a King or King sequence. This is another difference with Freecell. In Free Cell you can move any card to an empty cell.
Free cells can contain only one card at a time. You can move any top card from the tableau to an empty free cell. These cells act like temporary storage spaces to rearrange cards in tableau.
Game is finished when all cards reach foundation cells. Since this is a very old solitaire game there are many variations of eight off exist today both in standard forms as well as original forms.
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