Spider Solitaire goes back at least to 1937. The earliest known reference is a November 1937 article in Ely Culbertson’s Games Digest, which already called the game well known. Nobody knows who created it. Computer versions appeared around 1989 and 1991, and Microsoft began shipping Spider in 1998.
You can play Spider Solitaire free right now, then come back for the story.
Spider Solitaire timeline
| Year | What happened | Source |
|---|---|---|
| 1937 | Earliest known reference, in Ely Culbertson’s Games Digest (November) | Solitaire Laboratory |
| 1945 | Albert Ostrow’s The Complete Card Player describes Spider with a 50-card starting layout | Solitaire Laboratory |
| 1949 | Morehead and Mott-Smith describe today’s 54-card starting layout | Solitaire Laboratory |
| c. 1989 | A Unix version is developed at Sun Microsystems | Wikipedia |
| 1991 | John A. Junod writes a Windows 3.x version; Ian Heath releases Arachnid | Wikipedia |
| 1998 | Spider Solitaire ships in Microsoft Plus! 98 (June 25) | Microsoft; Wikipedia |
| 2000 | Windows Me includes Spider with its free games | Solitaire Laboratory; Wikipedia |
| 2001 | Windows XP includes Spider, and its popularity grows | Wikipedia |
| 2007, 2009 | New version in Windows Vista, mostly unchanged in Windows 7 | Wikipedia |
| 2012 | Windows 8 offers Spider through the Microsoft Solitaire Collection app | Wikipedia |
| 2015 | Windows 10 bundles the Microsoft Solitaire Collection app | Wikipedia |
Where Spider came from
No one has a firm answer. The most detailed account of the early years comes from Michael Keller’s Solitaire Laboratory. The earliest reference he found is a November 1937 article in Ely Culbertson’s Games Digest. That article describes Spider as a game people already knew well, so it was being played before then.
Two names link that magazine to the game’s later history. Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith were on the Games Digest staff. By 1949, they had written down the deal players still use.
Goodsol’s solitaire help pages call Spider “one of the classic solitaire games”. Classic or not, its starting point is still unknown.
How the deal changed: 50 cards to 54
The early version of Spider didn’t start quite the way it does now. According to Solitaire Laboratory, the first descriptions, in Games Digest and in Albert Ostrow’s 1945 book The Complete Card Player, dealt a 50-card starting layout.
By 1949, Morehead and Mott-Smith were describing the 54-card layout used today. Their book, The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games, is the title Goodsol gives. That’s the deal you see on this site: 6 cards in each of the first four columns, 5 in the other six, and the rest held back in the stock. The setup guide walks through it.
The Roosevelt story
You may read that Spider was President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s favourite solitaire game. Treat this one with care. Solitaire Laboratory says several sources point to a Redbook magazine article making that claim, but Keller couldn’t find the issue it appeared in. It’s a reported story, not a confirmed one.
Why is it called Spider?
A common explanation is that a spider has eight legs and the game has eight runs to clear, one King-to-Ace sequence for each suit in two decks. It’s a neat fit. But no firm source backs it up. Wikipedia repeats the idea and marks it “citation needed”.
The first computer versions
Spider came to computers before Microsoft took it up.
Around 1989, a Unix version was developed at Sun Microsystems, according to Wikipedia. Its rules were written by Donald R. Woods, and it used its own scoring. It gave points for turning over face-down cards, for cards sitting on the next card up in the same suit, and for finished suits.
In 1991, John A. Junod wrote a version for Windows 3.x. Junod was the original developer of WS_FTP, and he also wrote an MS-DOS version called EGA-Spider. The same year, Ian Heath released a similar Windows 3.x game called Arachnid.
Today the KDE and GNOME desktops ship Spider in KPatience and AisleRiot, as listed on Wikipedia’s Spider page.
Spider and Windows
Microsoft took Spider to a much bigger audience. On June 25, 1998, Microsoft announced that Microsoft Plus! 98 was available, alongside the launch of Windows 98. The press release listed “the intense Spider Solitaire” among the add-on’s games.
From there, Spider moved into Windows itself. Here’s the path Wikipedia’s Microsoft Spider Solitaire article traces:
- Plus! 98 (1998): the first Microsoft version, in an add-on pack for Windows 98.
- Windows 2000: not included.
- Windows Me (2000): Spider joins the free games, a point Solitaire Laboratory also notes.
- Windows XP (2001): Spider is included, and its popularity grows after this.
- Windows Vista (2007) and Windows 7 (2009): a new version arrives in Vista and stays mostly unchanged in Windows 7.
- Windows 8 (2012): Spider is no longer bundled. You get it through the Microsoft Solitaire Collection app in the Windows Store.
- Windows 10 (2015): the Microsoft Solitaire Collection app comes bundled with Windows.
Microsoft’s version named its difficulty levels Beginner (one suit), Intermediate (two suits) and Advanced (four suits). It also kept a score, which the Spider scoring page explains.
How popular did it get? Wikipedia, citing Trefry’s 2010 book Casual Game Design, says that as of 2005 Spider was the most played game on Windows PCs, ahead of the Klondike-based Windows Solitaire. That’s one author’s claim about one year, and it’s now two decades old. If you grew up with the Windows card game, the comparison of Spider and Klondike explains how the two differ.
Spider even turned up on Saturday Night Live, in a sketch on February 27, 2021, as Wikipedia notes.
Spider in card game books
Wikipedia’s Spider article cites David Parlett’s The Penguin Book of Card Games, which covers Spider (pages 431 to 432 in the 1987 Treasure Press edition). Parlett also wrote The Penguin Book of Patience, first published by Allen Lane in 1979, with a Penguin paperback in 1980.
Where the related games came from
Several games on this site come from the same family, and some have clearer origins than Spider itself.
Scorpion: Goodsol says the first reference to Scorpion is in the 1949 book The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games, the same book that set out today’s Spider deal.
Will o’ the Wisp: Wikipedia credits Will o’ the Wisp to Geoffrey Mott-Smith. Solitaire Laboratory credits Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith together.
Mrs Mop: Goodsol and Solitaire Laboratory both name Charles Jewell as the inventor of Mrs Mop. According to Solitaire Laboratory, it was first described in George F. Hervey’s 1965 book Teach Yourself Card Games For One, and its name comes from a character in It’s That Man Again, a British radio show from the 1940s.
The full list of family games is on the Spider Solitaire games page.
Frequently asked questions
Who invented Spider Solitaire?
Nobody knows. The earliest known reference is a November 1937 article in Ely Culbertson’s Games Digest, found by Michael Keller of Solitaire Laboratory. That article already described Spider as well known, so the game existed before then. No source names the person who first created it, and the story of its origin is still open.
How old is Spider Solitaire?
Spider is at least as old as 1937, the date of the earliest known reference in Games Digest. Because that article called the game well known, it was probably played for some time before. Early versions dealt a 50-card starting layout. By 1949, Morehead and Mott-Smith described the 54-card layout that players use today.
When did Spider Solitaire come to Windows?
Spider first appeared from Microsoft in Plus! 98, an add-on announced on June 25, 1998, with the launch of Windows 98. It then came free with Windows Me in 2000 and with Windows XP. Earlier Windows 3.x versions by other developers, including John A. Junod and Ian Heath, appeared in 1991.
Was Spider Solitaire really Roosevelt’s favourite game?
Possibly, but nobody has confirmed it. Solitaire Laboratory reports that several sources point to a Redbook magazine article saying Spider was a favourite of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Michael Keller could not find the issue that article appeared in. Until someone finds it, treat the story as an unconfirmed report rather than a fact.
Why is the game called Spider?
A common explanation links the name to a spider’s eight legs and the eight King-to-Ace runs you clear in a two-deck game. No firm source backs this up, and Wikipedia marks the claim as needing a citation. It’s a tidy story that fits the game, but treat it as an explanation, not a documented fact.