Play Spiderette Solitaire
Spider with one deck and a Klondike-style deal. Play a free game of Spiderette below.
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Spiderette is Spider Solitaire played with one deck. The cards are dealt into seven columns in a Klondike-style staircase, from one card to seven. You build down in any suit, move same-suit runs as a unit, and win by forming four King-to-Ace runs, one per suit.
How the Spiderette deal is laid out
You use a single deck of 52 cards. The first column gets one card, the second gets two, and so on up to seven cards in the last column. Only the top card of each column is face up. If you’ve played Klondike, the shape will look familiar.
The rest of the deck forms the stock. Each time you deal from it, one card goes onto each column. The last deal is short, so only the leftmost columns get a card.
Spiderette rules
These rules follow Pretty Good Solitaire’s Spiderette page.
- Building. Place a card on any card one rank higher, of any suit. A 6 of clubs can go on a 7 of hearts.
- Moving. Move a single card, or a run of cards that goes down in sequence in one suit. A mixed-suit run can’t move as a group.
- Empty columns. Any card, or any legal run, can fill an empty column.
- Face-down cards. Turn over as soon as they’re uncovered.
- The stock. Deal a row of cards onto the columns when you’re ready. Every column must hold at least one card before you deal.
- Completed runs. A full run from King down to Ace in one suit is removed from the table straight away.
- Winning. Clear all four suits.
How Spiderette differs from Spider Solitaire
Spiderette keeps Spider’s rules and shrinks the table. Pretty Good Solitaire describes it as a cross between Klondike and Spider.
| Spiderette | 4-suit Spider | |
|---|---|---|
| Decks | 1 | 2 |
| Columns | 7 | 10 |
| Opening deal | Staircase, 1 to 7 cards | 6 or 5 cards per column |
| Runs to build | 4 | 8 |
The one-deck size changes the game more than you’d think. In Spider there are two copies of every card, so a buried card often has a backup. In Spiderette there’s only one 9 of hearts. If it sits under a long pile, every same-suit run that needs it waits.
Fewer columns hurt too. Seven columns give you less room to sort mixed-suit stacks, and the deep right-hand columns hide most of the face-down cards. Pretty Good Solitaire rates Spiderette as hard.
If you were searching for Spider solitaire with one deck, this is the classic answer. According to Pretty Good Solitaire, the first known reference to it is in The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games, from 1949.
Spiderette strategy
Empty the short columns
The first column starts with one card. The second has two. These are your fastest route to an empty column, and an empty column is the most useful thing in Spiderette. Move those cards out early if you have a good place for them.
Work on the deep columns from the right
Columns five, six and seven hold most of the face-down cards: 15 of the 21. Each card you lift off them flips something new. When you have a choice between two moves of equal value, take the one that uncovers a card in a deep column.
Sort by suit whenever you can
Spiderette lets you build in any suit, but only same-suit runs move as a group. Pretty Good Solitaire’s main tip is to prefer same-suit builds even though you don’t have to. A 5 of spades on a 6 of spades can travel with it later. A 5 of spades on a 6 of diamonds is stuck there until you take the stack apart, one card at a time.
Fill gaps before you deal
You can’t deal from the stock while a column is empty. So before dealing, decide what goes into each gap. A King is a good choice. No card ranks above it, so it could only ever move to another empty column anyway. Avoid dropping in a low card that will block the column.
Deal only when you’re done
Each deal drops a card on the columns, burying whatever you’d lined up. Make every useful move first, and get the columns as tidy as you can. Then deal.
Play Spiderette free
The board above runs in your browser on phone, tablet or desktop, with no sign-up and no download. You get unlimited undo, hints, auto-complete and stats saved in your browser. Every deal has a number you can share. You can also switch on big-cards mode, left-hand mode, themes and fullscreen.
Related one-deck games: Will o’ the Wisp uses the same rules with a three-card-per-column deal, and Simple Simon Solitaire deals the whole deck face up with no stock. If Spiderette feels too tight, 1-suit Spider is a gentler two-deck game.
Rules source: Pretty Good Solitaire (Goodsol)
Frequently asked questions
What is the difference between Spider and Spiderette?
Spider uses two decks and ten columns. Spiderette uses one deck and seven columns, dealt in a Klondike-style staircase from one card to seven. The rules are the same: build down in any suit, move same-suit runs, and clear King-to-Ace runs. With one deck there are four runs to build instead of eight.
Is Spiderette harder than Spider?
Pretty Good Solitaire rates Spiderette as hard. With one deck there’s only one copy of each card, so a buried card has no backup. Seven columns also give you less room to sort mixed-suit stacks. The right-hand columns start deep, with most of the face-down cards, so it takes a while to see the whole deal.
Can you deal from the stock with an empty column in Spiderette?
No. Pretty Good Solitaire’s rules say all empty columns must be filled before you deal. If you have an empty column and want to deal, move a card or a same-suit run into it first. A King is a good choice, because no card ranks above it, so it has nowhere else to go.
How many face-down cards are in Spiderette?
Twenty-one. The first column has no face-down card, the second has one, and the seventh has six. Only the top card of each column starts face up. The three right-hand columns hold 15 of those hidden cards, which is why they’re worth working on early.
Where does Spiderette come from?
Pretty Good Solitaire names no inventor. It says the first known reference is in The Complete Book of Solitaire & Patience Games, published in 1949 by Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith. The same book introduced Will o’ the Wisp, a close relative. Pretty Good Solitaire calls Spiderette a cross between Klondike and Spider.