[3] It has been included with every release of the Windows operating system since 1995, which has greatly contributed to the original game's popularity.

Jim Horne, who enjoyed playing Freecell on the PLATO system at the University of Alberta, published a shareware $10 DOS version with color graphics in 1988.

The Windows Vista FreeCell implementation contains basic hints and unlimited move retraction (via the Undo menu choice or command),[8] and the option to restart the game.

According to company telemetry FreeCell was the seventh most-used Windows program, ahead of Word and Microsoft Excel.

[3] The original Microsoft FreeCell package supports 32,000 numbered deals, generated by a 15-bit, pseudorandom-number seed.