Eight Off Objective
The goal of Eight Off is to complete all four foundation piles, ascending from ace to king by suit. You’ll use
the eight free cells as temporary storage to help rearrange cards.
Eight Off Setup
Eight Off uses a standard 52-card deck and is separated into three areas:
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Tableau: The tableau consists of 48 face-up cards arranged in eight columns with six cards each. You
can build sequences here in descending order by suit.
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Free cells: There are eight free cells above the tableau that are used as temporary storage. At the
beginning of the game four of the spaces are filled.
- Foundation piles: Build the four foundation piles from ace to king by suit to win the game.
Eight Off Rules
- Sequence cards in descending order by suit. For example, you could build 6♣, 5♣, 4♣.
- Build foundation piles by suit, starting with ace and ending with king.
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Move same-suit sequences equal to the number of free cells plus one. For example, if you have four
free cells available, you can move a sequence of up to five cards.
- Only kings or sequences that begin with kings can fill empty columns.
- Cards in free cells can be placed in the tableau or foundation piles.
Eight Off Strategies
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Free aces early in the game. This allows you to begin building foundations, which is essential to win
the game.
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Maximize the amount of free cells early in the game. Four of the eight free cells start with cards in
them. Moving these back to the tableau when possible gives you more flexibility in the long run.
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Avoid filling all the free cells. Keeping free cells open helps you maneuver and rearrange cards.
When all cells are full, you’re likely to get stuck.
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Avoid emptying columns until kings are available. Since kings can only be placed in empty columns,
freeing a column without a king available gives you less space to play with.
-
Be careful building long sequences. Since the number of free cells dictates how long of a sequence
you can move, long sequences are risky because you may not be able to move them as a unit.
If you enjoy Eight Off, you’ll likely enjoy similar variations like
FreeCell and
Baker’s Game. Play these and many more
Solitaire games online for free on Solitaire Bliss!
