Spider Solitaire looks like Klondike with more columns, but it plays very differently. You cannot send single cards to a foundation, you can stack cards of any suit while only same-suit runs move together, and the stock does not cycle: it is dealt five times and then it is gone. Most lost games are not lost to bad cards. They are lost to a habit, such as dealing too early, filling an empty column with the wrong card, or building on whatever fits. This guide covers the rules first, then the habits that win.
The rules in two minutes
- Spider uses two full decks, 104 cards. With one suit all 104 cards share a single suit; with two suits there are 52 of each; with four suits it is simply two ordinary decks.
- Ten columns are dealt: the first four get six cards, the other six get five. Only the top card of each column is face up. That is 54 cards; the other 50 stay in the stock.
- You may place any card on a card exactly one rank higher, whatever its suit: a 7 of hearts can go on an 8 of spades.
- A group of cards moves together only if it is a run of the same suit in descending order. A 7♥-6♥-5♥ run can move as one unit; 7♥-6♠-5♥ cannot.
- Any card or same-suit run can be placed in an empty column, not only a King.
- When a column holds a complete run from King down to Ace in one suit, the run leaves the table. Clear eight runs and you have won.
- Clicking the stock deals one card face up onto each of the ten columns. You cannot deal while any column is empty, and after five deals the stock is empty.
Spider is an old two-deck patience game, and Microsoft first shipped its version in the Plus! 98 add-on pack before it became part of Windows Me and Windows XP (Wikipedia). The one-, two- and four-suit levels used by most modern versions come from that edition.
Why Spider is harder than it looks
The rule that you can build on any suit is a trap. It lets you tidy the table quickly, but a mixed-suit stack is frozen: a 9♠ with an 8♥ on it cannot move as a pair, so everything underneath stays buried until you take the stack apart card by card. With one suit the trap does not exist, because every stack is automatically a same-suit run. Each extra suit makes it bite harder. That is the real difference between the levels, not the number of colours on screen.
Eight habits that win more deals
1. Turn face-down cards over before anything else
Every hidden card is information you do not have and a card you cannot use. When you have a choice of moves, prefer the one that exposes a face-down card. Among the columns, attack the one with the fewest hidden cards first: emptying it gives you an empty column, the most valuable thing in the game.
2. Treat empty columns as tools, not parking spaces
An empty column lets you take apart a mixed stack, move a run that has nowhere else to go, or reorder two runs. If you drop a King into it just because a King can go there, you have spent your best tool for nothing. Keep an empty column free as long as you have useful moves without it, and use it as a temporary hold: move a card or run in, make the move it unlocks, then bring the cards back out.
3. Choose same-suit builds whenever you can
If a 6♥ could go on either the 7♥ or the 7♠, the heart is almost always right: the result is a run that can move later. When you have no same-suit option, an off-suit build is still fine if it exposes a face-down card or empties a column. What you want to avoid is building off-suit just to make the table look neater.
4. Do everything useful before you deal
A deal drops a card on all ten columns at once, covering every run you were working on. Before clicking the stock, make every move that exposes a card or joins a same-suit run. Then look at which columns will take the new card worst and, where you can, leave them ending in high cards: a King or Queen on top is easy to build on, while an Ace or 2 on top is easy to bury.
5. Fill empty columns carefully before a deal
Because you cannot deal with an empty column, you will sometimes have to fill one first. Put in the card you can most easily take back out, usually the end of a same-suit run or a single high card. Avoid splitting a long same-suit run to fill the gap; you will spend moves rebuilding it.
6. Be careful with Kings
A King can only move to an empty column. A King sitting on top of face-down cards blocks that column until a column opens up, so moving cards off a column that would leave a King exposed on top of hidden cards is rarely urgent. Plan those columns last.
7. Work on one suit at a time
In two- and four-suit games, pick the suit whose run is closest to complete and push it to the finish. A completed King-to-Ace run leaves the table and usually turns over the card beneath it. Several half-finished runs in different suits clog more columns than they help.
8. Use undo to test ideas, not to cheat luck
Spider rewards looking ahead, and undo is how you learn to. When a position has two plausible plans, try one for a few moves, undo if it goes nowhere, and try the other. Over time you will need the undo button less because you will see the dead end before you walk into it.
A worked example
Say column 3 ends 9♠-8♥, column 5 ends in a lone 7♥ and column 8 ends in the 9♥. The quick move is 7♥ onto the 8♥ in column 3, which turns over a card in column 5 but leaves a mixed stack (9♠-8♥-7♥) that cannot move as one. Better: move the 8♥ onto the 9♥ in column 8 first, then the 7♥ onto it. You turn over the same card in column 5, you now have a three-card heart run (9♥-8♥-7♥) that can move as a unit, and the 9♠ is back on top of column 3, ready for an 8♠.
Stepping up from one suit to four
| Level | What changes | What to focus on |
|---|---|---|
| 1 suit | Every stack is a movable run | Exposing face-down cards and timing your deals |
| 2 suits | Mixed stacks appear, but you only have two suits to sort | Same-suit builds; keeping one column empty |
| 4 suits | Mixed stacks are frequent and runs take longer to finish | Using empty columns to take stacks apart; finishing one suit at a time |
Move up a level when you can win most one-suit deals without undoing a deal. The habits are the same at every level; four suits simply punish every mistake harder.
Spider on PapoGames
Spider is one of five variants in Solitaire Collection. Easy is one suit, Medium two and Hard four. Each move between columns scores 10 points and each completed run 100. Completed runs leave the table on their own, undo goes all the way back to the deal, and the hint button suggests a move when you are stuck. A finished deal earns one to three stars depending on your move count and time; on Medium, three stars needs 120 moves or fewer within five minutes. There is also a Daily Challenge, where everyone gets the same deal.
If you are new to Spider, play a few one-suit deals with a single goal: never deal while you still have a move that exposes a face-down card. That one habit makes a bigger difference than any other tip in this guide.