How to Win Spider Solitaire

Want to practise as you read? Start a free 1-suit game in another tab and work through the checklist with real cards.

What is the trick to winning Spider Solitaire?

There isn’t one single trick. There’s a short list of habits you repeat every game. The biggest three are below, and the rest of this page puts them in order.

• Empty a column early: An empty column takes any card or same-suit run, which lets you untangle cards stuck together in mixed suits.
• Deal last: Each deal from the stock drops one card on every column and can bury the move you were about to make.
• Build in suit: Only a run in one suit moves as a group, and only a run in one suit clears.

For the reasons behind each habit, with worked card examples, read the full Spider Solitaire strategy guide.

Learn on an easier suit mode

Pick your mode before you pick your moves. All the suit modes use the same 104 cards. What changes is how many suits they’re split across.

1. 1 suit: Every card is a spade, so any descending run moves as a group. You learn the layout, the stock and how runs clear without worrying about suits. Microsoft called this level Beginner, and Goodsol rates it Easy.
2. 2 suits: Spades and hearts. Now a heart built on a spade can’t move with it, and you start to feel why building in suit matters. Two-suit Spider is the natural next step.
3. 3 suits: This site also has a 3-suit game, a middle step between 2 and 4 suits.
4. 4 suits: The standard game, called Advanced in Microsoft’s version. Off-suit builds pile up fast here, and every mistake costs more. Take on the four-suit version once 2 suits feels easy.

Stay on a mode until wins start to feel routine, then move up one.

The winning checklist

Run through this list every time you look at the board. Each item comes with the reason it helps.

1. Scan all 10 columns before you move: The best move is often in a column you weren’t looking at. Read every top card first.
2. Make same-suit moves first: A 5 of hearts onto a 6 of hearts adds to a run that can move and clear. A 5 of hearts onto a 6 of clubs only parks the card.
3. Turn over face-down cards: Every hidden card is one you can’t plan around. When you clear the face-up cards off a column, the next card turns over.
4. Work on the shortest column: At the deal, the first four columns hold 6 cards and the rest hold 5. A column with fewer cards left is closer to empty.
5. Get an empty column, then guard it: An empty column lets you shuffle mixed-suit cards into order. Don’t drop a stray card into it unless you have to.
6. Don’t split a same-suit run for nothing: You can move part of a run, but you’ll have to rebuild it later. Only split one to turn over a card or empty a column.
7. Choose moves you can take back: If two 8s are open and you put a 7 on one, you can still move it to the other later. Solitaire Laboratory passes on this tip from Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith.
8. Make off-suit builds only when they gain something: A legal off-suit move that uncovers a card is often worth it. One that just tidies the board usually isn’t.
9. Use undo to test a plan: You can undo as often as you like on this site. Try a line of moves, and back up if it leads nowhere.
10. Ask for a hint before you deal: If the hint finds a move you missed, make it before you deal.

Before you deal: checklist

A deal is the biggest change you can make to the board. You get 5 of them, and each one covers every column with a new card. Check these first.

1. No useful moves left? Go through the winning checklist once more. Any move you skip now may end up buried.
2. Same-suit runs joined? If a 9-8 of spades and a 7-6 of spades sit in different columns, put them together now. A longer run is easier to move after the deal.
3. Every face-down card you can reach turned over? Once a deal lands on a column, that hidden card is one card deeper.
4. Every column filled? You can’t deal while a column is empty. That’s the standard rule, as Goodsol’s Spider page states it, and this site follows it.
5. Filled with the right card? If you have to fill an empty column, use a King or a long same-suit run with a high card on top. A King never needs to move again, so its column is a safe base. A lone low card is the worst choice, because the deal will bury it.

If the fill rule frustrates you, Relaxed Spider lets you deal with empty columns.

Endgame checklist

The endgame starts when the stock is empty. No new cards are coming, so everything you need is already on the board somewhere. That changes how you play.

1. Use empty columns freely: The fill rule only applies when you deal. With the stock gone, an empty column is pure working space. Use it to swap cards around and sort suits.
2. Finish one run at a time: Pick the suit whose run is closest to complete and work toward it. Once a run is complete, the game clears those 13 cards and you often get an empty column back.
3. Look for the missing card: If a hearts run stops at the 6, find the 5 of hearts. It’s either face down somewhere or under other cards you can move.
4. Dig out the last face-down cards: In the endgame, a hidden card is often the one blocking a run. Clearing the columns that still have face-down cards comes first.
5. Slow down: Late in a game, one careless move can split the run you need. Undo is there if you need it, but each undo costs 1 point if you’re tracking your score.

This site also has auto-complete to play out the final moves for you.

When a deal can’t be won

Not every deal can be won, however carefully you play. The Winnable Spider Solitaire Games study, which Wikipedia cites, shows deals that are lost from the start because the cards you need are buried under cards that can never move. These deals are rare. Solitaire Laboratory notes that the fill-before-dealing rule alone can block a win late in a game, when fewer cards are left than there are columns.

So a loss isn’t always your fault. When a game stalls with no moves and no stock, try one of these:

• Undo back several moves and try a different line.
• Replay the same deal. Every game has a deal number you can share by link, so you can come back to the same cards with a new plan.
• Start a fresh deal and take the lessons with you.

Your stats are saved in your browser, so you can see how you’re getting on over time. If you want points as well as wins, the scoring guide explains how moves, undos and finished runs change your total.