Outplay us! Flexcell is a one-deck simple open packer-builder solitaire game with the additional mechanic of flexible cells:

• One-deck because it is played with a standard 52-card French deck, sometimes also known as the "International", "Poker" or "Bridge" cards.

• Simple because it begins with all cards distributed into one of the piles on the tableau, without any cards held in reserve (there is no reserve in Outplay us! Flexcell, and for that matter there is no stock either).

• Open means that at the beginning of the game all cards are turned face-up, so the player has complete (perfect) information.

• Packer means that cards can temporarily be arranged in contiguous descending order, King to Ace, on the tableau (this is called packing). In Outplay us! Flexcell, besides being in contiguous descending order, packed cards must alternate colors.

• Builder means that the end goal of the game is to arrange all cards in four piles in ascending order, Ace to King, by suit (this is called building, and the piles above the tableau where the cards are ordered in contiguous ascending order by suit are called foundations).

• Solitaire (synon. patience) game means it is a single-player game, i.e., one player (or a confederacy of allies playing as one) against the cards.

• Flexible cells are special locations on the table where any one card, but only one card (per location) can be temporarily placed in order to help with the packing/building. In Outplay us! Flexcell the number of flexible cells varies between four and six, and is balanced against the number of available columns so that cells plus columns always add up to 12. Consequently you can play in a configuration of six-columns-by-six-cells,

seven-columns-by-five-cells,

or eight-columns-by-four-cells:

The importance of the flex cells lies in the fact that they must be used as intermediate steps whenever stacks of cards move from one column to another in the tableau. So, to move a stack of two cards you need at least one available flex cell: the first card moves from the origin to the available flex cell, then the second card moves from the origin directly to the destination, then the first card moves from the flex cell to the destination:

Similarly, to move three cards you need two available flex cells; to move four cards, three available flex cells; etc. If there are any empty columns, these can also be used as flex cells.

Although similar, there are nuances in the gameplay between the three modes. Eight-by-four, the default variant, is also the easiest, with a maximum rate of success of almost (but not quite) 100%. According to our informal statistical sampling, six-by-six is similarly solvable, perhaps a tad harder, with a few more unsolvable hands than eight-by-four, while seven-by-five is, perhaps surprisingly, the hardest of the three: the extra flexcell doesn't seem to make things as easy as the fewer, deeper columns make them hard, so careful planning is required to avoid painting yourself in a corner. In aggregate, however, the three modes add enough variablity that you will probably find yourself alternating between them.

In Outplay us! Flexcell, moving a card is as simple as first tapping the card you want to move, then tapping the place where you want to move it. For example:

• To move the four of diamonds from the first flex cell to the foundation above the three of diamonds, just tap first the four of diamonds and then the three. Actually, you can tap anywhere on the foundation, even on the Ace of spades, and the four of diamonds will jump to its correct location on the second column.

• If after moving the four of diamonds to the foundation you want to place the five of diamonds on top of it, simply tap the five of diamonds (or anywhere on the first column) and then on the four of diamonds (or anywhere on the foundation).

• When a column in the tableau becomes empty because all its cards have been moved to another column or to the foundation, it can be filled again by moving to it either a single card or a descending sequence of cards alternating color. For instance the fifth column in the last screenshot is empty, so it can be reused with the nine of diamonds plus the eight of clubs from the third column by tapping on the eight of clubs (or anywhere on the third column) and then on the place-holder for the fifth column (the cell with three chevrons).

• A better move, however, would be to first move the 10 of clubs from the third flex cell to the fifth column, and only then move the nine of diamonds and eight of clubs on top of the 10. To do that, tap on the 10 of clubs and then on the place-holder for the fifth column, and after the 10 has jumped tap anywhere on the third column and then again on the 10 of clubs to move the two-card sequence on top of the single card.

• Similarly you can use the tap-tap method to move cards from the foundation back to the tableau, but not from the foundation to a flex cell (the latter is never useful, so it's disallowed).

In devices with little vertical space it is possible for cards in the tableau to extend so far down that they will be placed outside of the viewable area; this is, of course, unfortunate, but not an error or a problem: the app will keep track correctly of both the cards and your taps. For instance, in this game:

The 6 of hearts in the fifth column of the tableau is partially hidden by the control bar. It is still possible, however, to move the 5 of clubs from the first flex cell to the fifth column (below the 6 of hearts) by tapping on the 5 of clubs and then anywhere on the fifth column. This will be the result:

As you can see (or rather, not see!) the 5 of clubs is below the viewable area and therefore seems to have disappeared. Fear not, however, since the card is still there: simply tap anywhere on the fifth column (say, right on the middle of it) and then on the last flex cell, and the 5 of clubs will be back into view:

As for the buttons on the game control bar, these are their functions:

			Abort the current hand.
			Undo last move.
			Redo last undone move.
			About Outplay us! Klondike. (This button can be tapped at any time without disrupting the current hand.)
			Start a new hand. (This button is only available after a hand terminates either by aborting or by winning.)
			Open the settings panel. (This button is only available at the beginning of a hand, before any moves have been made.)

Through the settings panel, you have access to the following options:

• Columns and cells, either six-by-six, seven-by-five or eight-by-four.

• Allow foundation to tableau. Basically no sources mention the possibility of returning a card from the foundation back to the tableau, which is a very convenient and perhaps even necesary move in some hands. We include it as an option here so you can enable or disable it according to how you feel about it being (or not) a valid rule in "proper" Flexcell.

• Play sounds. All the sounds (clicks, chimes, etc.) from the interface can be muted by disabling this option.