Spider Solitaire rules
Spider uses two decks, 104 cards. Ten columns get 54 of them: six cards each in the first four and five in the other six, with only the top card face up. The other 50 wait in the stock, enough for five deals of ten.
- Goal: build eight complete runs, each from King down to Ace in a single suit.
- Placing cards: any card can go on a card one rank higher, whatever the suit. A 6 of hearts can sit on a 7 of spades.
- Moving groups: you can only pick up several cards at once if they're in order and all the same suit. A stack that changes suit has to be moved in pieces.
- Face-down cards turn over when you uncover them.
- Empty columns take any card or same-suit run, not just a King.
- Dealing: tap the stock to put one new card face up on each of the ten columns. You can only deal when no column is empty.
- No foundations to build and no waste pile. Aces stay in the columns until their run is complete.
1, 2 or 4 suits: how the difficulty changes
The rules never change. What changes is how many suits are mixed into the 104 cards, and that decides how often your stacks can move as one piece.
- 1 suit: all spades, eight full sets. Every ordered stack is already in suit, so it moves together. This is the place to learn, and a careful player wins most deals.
- 2 suits: spades and hearts, four sets of each. A heart 7 on a spade 8 is a legal place to park a card, but the stack breaks there and won't move as one. It's the popular middle ground: real planning, fewer dead ends than 4 suits.
- 4 suits: all four suits, two sets of each. Mixed stacks pile up fast, empty columns become precious, and even strong players lose plenty of games. A four-suit win is a real result.
Dealing a new row: no empty columns allowed
You can't deal while any column is empty, so before you tap the stock, put something in every gap. The best thing to drop in is a King or a run that starts with one, since nothing will ever need to go underneath it. Failing that, use the card you'll miss least.
A deal covers every column with a new card, which usually breaks the top of your runs. Make every useful move first. Same-suit runs survive a deal best: once you move the new card off, the run is whole again and still moves as one.
Completed runs and how you win
As soon as a column ends in a full King-to-Ace run of one suit, the run leaves the table on its own and the counter shows how many of the eight are done. If that uncovers a face-down card, it turns over. A King-to-Ace stack with a suit change in it doesn't count and stays put until you sort it out. Clear all eight runs and you've won.
Spider strategy that makes a difference
- Build in suit whenever you can. A same-suit run moves as one piece and a mixed one doesn't. If a 5 could go on two different 6s, pick the one in its own suit, even if the other looks handier right now.
- Go for an empty column early. It's the strongest thing you can have in Spider. Short columns with few face-down cards are the quickest to clear.
- Use an empty column to sort, not to store. With a free column you can take a mixed stack apart and rebuild it in suit. Dropping a lone card there for no reason throws that away.
- Get your empty column before you have to deal, and fill it last. Do all the sorting you can while it's free, then put in a King or the card you'll miss least, and deal.
- Don't break a same-suit run for an off-suit move. Splitting a heart 9-8-7 to put the 7 on a spade 8 only makes sense if it uncovers a card or empties a column.
- Uncover cards before you tidy up. A move that turns over a face-down card is usually worth more than one that just makes a neater stack.
- Watch your Kings. A King can only move into an empty column. One sitting on top of face-down cards blocks them until you clear a space, so plan a column for it.
- In 4 suits, slow down. Undo is unlimited, so test a line and back out if it goes nowhere. Replaying a lost deal by its number is a good way to find the plan that works.
How winnable is Spider?
With 1 suit, careful play wins most deals. Four suits is another matter. Computer solvers that are allowed to see every card win nearly every Spider deal they're given, but you can't see the face-down cards, and estimates of how often people actually win vary too much to quote one number. Expect to lose a good share of four-suit games while you learn, and enjoy the ones you crack.
A little history
Spider is an old patience game, but most people met it on a computer: Microsoft added it in the Plus! 98 pack and then shipped it with Windows Me and XP, with the same 1, 2 and 4 suit levels. The name is usually explained by the eight completed runs, like a spider's eight legs.