How to Play Spider Solitaire

Want to learn with the cards in front of you? Deal a free game of Spider Solitaire in another tab and follow along. It runs in your browser with no sign-up and no download.

What you need

Two standard 52-card decks shuffled together, so 2 decks and 104 cards in all (Wikipedia; Goodsol). That’s it for a real table.

If you play online, the computer shuffles, deals and lifts away finished runs for you. On this site you also get unlimited undo, hints and auto-complete, which help a lot while you learn.

How the cards are set up

The deal has two parts: the tableau (the columns of cards you play on) and the stock (the face-down pile you deal from later).

1. Deal 10 columns side by side.
2. The first four columns get 6 cards each. The other six columns get 5 cards each.
3. Only the top card of each column is face up. Everything under it is face down.
4. The cards left over, 50 of them, go face down in a pile. That’s the stock.

This layout comes from Goodsol’s Spider rules and matches Wikipedia’s description. For a picture of the deal and a few notes on dealing by hand, see the Spider Solitaire setup guide.

The goal of the game

You want to build runs: 13 cards of one suit, in order from King down to Ace. When you finish one, the game takes it off the table (Goodsol says it’s removed “automatically”).

Two decks hold 8 such runs. Remove them all and the table is empty. You’ve won.

There’s no separate foundation pile to build on, like in Klondike. All the sorting happens inside the columns.

Legal moves

Spider has only a few rules about moving cards. Learn these four and you know the game.

1. Build down in rank, any suit

You can put a card on any card exactly one rank higher. Suit doesn’t matter. A 6 of hearts can go on a 7 of spades, a 7 of clubs, or a 7 of hearts (Goodsol; Wikipedia).

Aces are the lowest card. Kings are the highest. Nothing goes on an Ace, and a King can only move to an empty column.

2. Move groups only when they’re one suit

This is the rule that catches new players. You can stack cards in mixed suits, but you can’t pick that stack up as one piece.

Say a column ends 8 of spades, 7 of hearts, 6 of hearts. You can move the 7 and 6 of hearts together, because they’re the same suit. You can’t move all three as a group, because the 8 is a spade. Wikipedia gives the same example: a six and seven of hearts can move onto an eight of any suit, but a six of hearts on a seven of clubs can’t move together.

You can also split a same-suit run. Take just the bottom part of it and move that onto another card (Solitaire Laboratory).

3. Empty columns take anything

When you clear a column completely, the space is free. You can move any single card into it, or any legal group (a same-suit run) (Goodsol).

An empty column is the most useful thing on the table. You can park a card there while you dig under it, or use it to break a mixed stack into same-suit pieces.

4. Face-down cards flip when uncovered

Move the last face-up card off a column and the next face-down card turns face up (Wikipedia). Online, this happens on its own. That new card is now in play.

The full list, with sources for each point, is on the Spider Solitaire rules page.

Dealing from the stock

When you run out of useful moves, deal from the stock. Each deal puts one face-up card on top of every column. The stock holds 50 cards, so you get 5 deals in a game.

There’s one catch. You can’t deal while any column is empty. Goodsol puts it plainly: “All tableau piles must be filled before dealing.” So if you have a space, you have to put a card in it first.

New deals also land on top of your work. If you had a neat run building in a column, a random card now sits on it. That’s why you should get as much done as you can before you deal.

Not every computer version keeps the empty-column rule. The variant without it is called Relaxed Spider, and it’s a gentler way to play.

Removing complete runs

As soon as a column holds a full King-to-Ace run in one suit, it leaves the table. You don’t have to do anything. If a face-down card was under the run, it flips over.

Mixed-suit runs never come off. A King-to-Ace stack of spades and hearts mixed together just sits there. Only one-suit runs count.

How you win

You win when every card has gone in complete runs. Goodsol says the game is won “if you can remove all of the cards in this way.”

You lose, in practice, when the stock is empty and no move you make gets you closer. Undo can help you back out of a dead end and try another line.

The suit modes: 1, 2, 3 and 4 suits

Every mode uses the same 104 cards and the same layout. What changes is how many suits are mixed in. Fewer suits make the game easier, because more of your stacks end up as one suit and can move as groups.

Labels from Goodsol and Wikipedia.

1 suit. Every card is a spade (Goodsol’s Spider One Suit rules). Since every stack is one suit, any descending stack can move as a group. This is where to start.

2 suits. Half spades, half hearts. You now have to keep the two colors apart to move groups. Solitaire Laboratory calls it “considerably easier than standard Spider”, and one suit “even easier”.

3 suits. This site also offers a three-suit mode. It uses the same setup with three suits, so it sits between two and four in how much sorting you do.

4 suits. The standard game. All four suits are in play, so building same-suit runs takes planning, and empty columns matter even more.

Your first game, step by step

Here’s how a first game usually goes, in plain words. Pick 1-suit Spider for this.

1. Look before you move. Check the face-up card on each column. Find every card that can go on a card one rank higher. A 9 next to a 10 is a move.
2. Prefer moves that flip a card. If two moves are possible, pick the one that empties out the top of a column with face-down cards under it. A new face-up card gives you more choices.
3. Aim at the short columns. The six columns that start with 5 cards are quicker to empty. An empty column is worth more than almost any single move.
4. Use the space well. Once you have an empty column, don’t drop a random card in it. Use it to move a blocking card out of the way, then refill it with something that helps, like a King.
5. Deal only when stuck. When you’ve made every useful move, fill any empty columns and deal from the stock.
6. Watch runs leave. Every time a King-to-Ace run finishes, it lifts off. Keep going until all 8 are gone.
7. Undo freely. On this site undo has no limit. If a choice goes badly, go back and try the other one.

When one suit feels easy, move to two. The habits are the same, you just have more to keep track of.

Common beginner mistakes

Building in mixed suits without a plan. It’s legal to put a 5 of clubs on a 6 of hearts. But that stack can’t move as a group later. Goodsol’s advice is to prefer same-suit builds when you have a choice, even though any suit is allowed.

Filling empty columns too fast. A space is your best tool. Goodsol suggests making spaces early and using them to sort cards into suit groups. Dropping a lone low card into one just wastes it.

Dealing too early. Each deal drops a card on every column. Make every useful move first.

Forgetting the empty-column rule. The stock won’t deal while a column is empty. Put a card into each empty column first.

Making moves you can’t take back. A tip from Morehead and Mott-Smith, reported by Solitaire Laboratory, is to favor plays that can be unmade. If you can put a 7 on either of two 8s, that move is easy to reverse later.

Chasing a high score on day one. Scoring is a separate skill. Learn to win first, then read the Spider Solitaire scoring guide. For deeper tactics, the Spider Solitaire strategy guide and how to win at Spider Solitaire pick up where this page stops.