How to play Spider Solitaire

What Spider is

Spider is a patience game played with two decks, 104 cards in all. Instead of sending cards up to foundations one by one, you build complete runs of a single suit, from King down to Ace, on the table. Each full run leaves the table by itself. Clear all eight and the deal is won. It asks for more planning than ordinary solitaire, which is exactly why so many players love it.

Playing Spider on AllFun

AllFun Spider lets you choose the difficulty by the number of suits. With 1 suit every card is a spade, so any run can move. With 2 suits you juggle spades and hearts. With 4 suits you get the full two-deck challenge. On one and two suits you can ask for Winnable deals, which our solver has proven can be won; four-suit deals are always random.

Drag the top card of a run to move the run, or tap a card to send it to the best place. Tap the stock to deal a new row. Hint shows a good move, with three free each deal, and Undo takes back anything, even a deal. The Daily deal gives everyone the same deal each day for the number of suits you choose; win it for a crown on the calendar. Each level has a page of its own with tips: Spider solitaire 1 suit, Spider solitaire 2 suits and Spider solitaire 4 suits.

The rules

The layout

Fifty-four cards are dealt into ten piles: six cards in each of the first four piles and five in the other six. Only the top card of each pile is face up. The remaining fifty cards form the stock, enough for five more deals.

Building

• You may put any card on a card one rank higher, whatever its suit: a 7 on any 8.
• Only a run that is in order and of one suit can move as a group. Where the suit changes, the group ends.
• Any card or one-suit run can go into an empty pile.
• A face-down card turns over when the card above it moves away.

Dealing from the stock

When you are stuck, tap the stock to deal one new card onto each of the ten piles. Every pile must have at least one card before you deal, so fill any empty pile first.

Completing runs and scoring

A full run of one suit from King down to Ace is removed from the table at once. The score starts at 500, loses 1 for every move (a deal counts as a move) and gains 100 for each completed run. Eight runs win the game.

Six tips for Spider

1. Build in suit whenever you can. A mixed-suit stack is easy to make and hard to move. Same-suit runs stay flexible.
2. Turn over hidden cards early. Information is everything in Spider. A move that reveals a card beats one that only tidies.
3. Treasure empty piles. An empty pile lets you take apart a mixed stack and rebuild it in suit. Do not fill it with a lone card unless you must.
4. Prepare before you deal. A new row covers every pile. First make all the useful moves you can, and avoid burying a nearly finished run.
5. Kings are a burden. A King can only move to an empty pile, so a King on top of hidden cards is a problem to solve early.
6. Learn on one suit. One suit teaches the flow of the game; move to two suits when you win most deals.

A short history

Spider is a traditional two-deck patience, played with real cards long before computers. Its name is usually explained by the eight legs of a spider, one for each run you have to build. Playing with only one or two suits, as many players do, makes the same game far gentler.

Spider FAQ