🕷️ Spider Solitaire
🂡 Cards · 1 playsSpider Solitaire
Two decks, ten columns, and a long game of keeping your options open.
About Spider Solitaire
Spider uses two packs dealt into ten columns, and the goal is to assemble eight complete runs from King down to Ace in a single suit, each of which is then removed from the board. Cards stack downward regardless of suit, but only a same-suit sequence travels as a unit, so mixed stacks quietly become dead weight. The strongest habit is to expose face-down cards early and to protect at least one empty column, because an empty column is the only place to unpick a tangle. Before each new deal from the stock, tidy what you can — the deal lands ten fresh cards on top of everything and forgives nothing.
How to Play
Stack cards in descending order; a run in one suit moves together. A complete King-to-Ace run in a single suit is cleared from the table. Every column must hold at least one card before the stock will deal again.
💡 Tips & Strategy
Building in suit is worth far more than building at all. A descending run of mixed suits looks tidy but cannot move as a unit, so given the choice between a same-suit placement and a convenient off-suit one, take the suit nearly every time.
Empty columns do the heavy lifting in Spider, because they let you break up and reassemble sequences. Work towards one early, and resist filling it with a king unless you have a plan for the whole run behind it.
Before you deal from the stock, tidy everything you can. A deal drops a card onto every column, burying whatever is exposed — so the state of the board just before dealing determines how much work the next round costs you.
On two and four suit games, plan two moves ahead. Unstacking a column usually requires a temporary home for the cards on top, and checking that the home exists before you start is what separates a recoverable position from a stuck one.