Spider Solitaire Rules: The Complete Rule Set

Spider Solitaire uses 2 decks (104 cards) dealt into 10 columns. You build down in rank in any suit, but only same-suit runs move as a group. You deal from the stock only when no column is empty. Complete King-to-Ace runs in one suit are removed, and you win when all 8 are gone.

The rules below follow Goodsol’s Spider page and Wikipedia’s Spider (solitaire) article, with each point sourced. If you’d rather learn by playing, start a free game of Spider and keep this page open beside it.

The Spider Solitaire rules, in order

The cards. Spider uses two standard 52-card decks shuffled together, so 104 cards (Wikipedia; Goodsol lists “2 Decks”).
The layout. Deal 10 columns. The first four columns get 6 cards each, and the other six get 5 cards each (Goodsol; Wikipedia).
Face-down and face-up cards. Only the top card of each column starts face up. All the cards under it are face down (Goodsol; Wikipedia).
The stock. The 50 cards left after the deal form the stock, face down (Wikipedia).
Building. You can place a card on any card one rank higher, regardless of suit. A 6 of hearts can go on a 7 of any suit (Goodsol; Wikipedia, Microsoft Spider Solitaire). Kings are high and Aces are low.
Moving runs. A group of cards can move as one unit only if it runs down in order and in one suit. Goodsol: “Groups of cards in sequence down in suit may be moved as a unit.” Wikipedia’s 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.
Splitting runs. You can move just part of a same-suit run, taking the lower cards and leaving the rest (Solitaire Laboratory: “Partial sequences can also be moved”).
Turning cards. When you move the last face-up card off a column, the next face-down card turns face up (Wikipedia, Microsoft Spider Solitaire).
Empty columns. An empty column can be filled with any card or any legal group of cards. Goodsol: “A space can be filled by any card or legal group of cards.” There is no King-only rule.
Dealing from the stock. Each deal puts one card face up on every column, so the stock gives you 5 deals. You may deal only when no column is empty. Goodsol: “All tableau piles must be filled before dealing.” Wikipedia: the remaining cards can be dealt “when none of the piles are empty.”
Removing runs. A complete run of 13 cards in one suit, King down to Ace, is removed from the table. Goodsol says this happens “automatically.” There are 8 such runs in two decks (Wikipedia, Microsoft Spider Solitaire).
Winning. The game is won when every card has been removed in complete runs. Goodsol: “The game is won if you can remove all of the cards in this way.”
Losing or getting stuck. In practice, a game is over when the stock is empty and no move helps. Solitaire Laboratory notes that the empty-column rule can block a win late in a game, if you remove so many runs that fewer cards are left on the table than there are columns while the stock still holds cards: you can’t fill every space, so you can’t deal.

That’s the whole game. For a slower, step-by-step version with a first game walked through, read how to play Spider Solitaire. The setup guide covers the deal in more detail.

How many cards and decks are in Spider Solitaire?

Spider uses 2 decks, which is 104 cards. That’s true in every suit mode. One-suit Spider uses two modified decks where every card is a spade, and two-suit Spider uses half spades and half hearts (Goodsol’s Spider One Suit and Spider Two Suits rules).

Of those cards, 50 start in the stock and the rest are dealt to the 10 columns. The cards make 8 complete runs of 13.

Rule variations

The rules above are the standard game. You’ll run into a few changes depending on where you play.

Suit counts

Spider comes in 1-suit, 2-suit and 4-suit versions, all with the same 104 cards. Microsoft calls them Beginner, Intermediate and Advanced (Wikipedia). Wikipedia describes the fewer-suit modes as “equivalent to disregarding suit difference, either within the colors or altogether.” In one suit, every run is same-suit, so any descending run can move.

This site also has a 3-suit mode with the same setup. Pick your level:

1-suit Spider Solitaire, all spades, the easiest
2-suit Spider Solitaire, spades and hearts
3-suit Spider Solitaire, a step between two and four
4-suit Spider Solitaire, the full game

Fewer suits make it easier. Goodsol labels one suit “Easy” and two suits and four suits “Medium”.

Relaxed Spider: dealing onto empty columns

The empty-column rule is the one most often changed. Solitaire Laboratory says most, but not all, computer versions make you fill every column before a deal. Wikipedia lists a variant that “does not require all spaces to be filled before redealing.” That version is Relaxed Spider. It’s easier late in the game, when you may not have enough cards to fill every gap.

Microsoft scoring

Microsoft’s version keeps a score (Wikipedia):

You start with 500 points.
Each move costs 1 point.
Each completed run adds 100 points.
Each undo costs 1 point.

So fewer moves and fewer undos mean a higher score. Other programs score differently. The 1989 Sun Microsystems version, with rules by Donald R. Woods, gave points for turning over face-down cards, for cards sitting on the next-higher card of the same suit, and for completed suits (Wikipedia, Spider). The Spider Solitaire scoring guide goes through it all.

The older starting layout

The deal hasn’t always looked the same. Solitaire Laboratory reports that early descriptions, in Ely Culbertson’s Games Digest and Albert Ostrow’s 1945 book The Complete Card Player, used a 50-card starting tableau. By 1949, Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith described the layout used today, in The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games. The history of Spider Solitaire has more.

Several games share Spider’s core idea with bigger rule changes: different deck counts, fewer columns, or all cards face up. Browse them on the Spider Solitaire games page.

How this site plays Spider

This site follows Goodsol’s rules as written above. You build in any suit, move only same-suit runs, fill any space with any card or run, and deal only when no column is empty. Complete runs come off on their own.

Scoring uses Microsoft’s numbers, with one difference: a stock deal costs nothing. No primary source says a deal should cost points, so it doesn’t here.

You also get unlimited undo, hints and auto-complete. When you want to build skill rather than just follow the rules, the Spider Solitaire strategy guide is next.

Frequently asked questions

Can you put any card in an empty column in Spider Solitaire?

Yes. In standard Spider, an empty column takes any single card or any legal group, meaning a same-suit run in order. Goodsol states it directly: a space can be filled by any card or legal group. That’s different from Klondike and Scorpion, where only a King can go into an empty column.

Can you deal from the stock with an empty column?

Not in standard Spider. Goodsol’s rule is that all tableau piles must be filled before dealing, and Wikipedia says the stock is dealt when none of the piles are empty. Relaxed Spider is the variant that drops this rule and lets you deal with gaps still on the table.

Do runs in Spider Solitaire have to be the same suit?

Two different rules apply. You may build down in any suit, so a red 6 can sit on a black 7. But only a same-suit run moves as a group, and only a complete King-to-Ace run in a single suit is removed. Mixed-suit stacks stay on the table.

Do you have to remove a completed run yourself?

No. Goodsol says a complete King-to-Ace run in one suit is removed automatically. This site removes it automatically too, and any face-down card underneath turns face up. You win when every run has been removed and the table is empty.