Spider solitaire rules

Spider Solitaire is played with two decks (104 cards) dealt into ten columns. You move cards onto any card one rank higher, and your goal is to build complete runs from king down to ace in a single suit. Each finished run leaves the table; clear eight runs and you win. When you're stuck, you deal one more card onto every column from the stock. You can play it right now with the free Spider Solitaire game, at one, two or four suits.

If you know classic Solitaire (Klondike), Spider will feel familiar but plays very differently: colour doesn't matter for placing a card, but suit matters a great deal for moving cards later.

The setup

Part	What it holds
Tableau	Ten columns, 54 cards in all. The first four columns get 6 cards each, the other six get 5 each. Only the bottom card of each column is face up.
Stock	The remaining 50 cards, face down at the top right. That's five deals of ten cards.
Finished runs	Top left. Each completed king-to-ace run lands here. Eight are needed to win.

There are no foundations to build up from the ace, as in Klondike. Cards only leave the table as full runs.

The suits setting

Spider always uses 104 cards. The number of suits changes what those cards are:

• 1 suit: all 104 cards are spades (eight full sets). Every card can join every run, so it's the friendliest level.
• 2 suits: spades and hearts, four sets of each.
• 4 suits: two full standard decks, the hardest version.

The rules below are the same at every level. Only the mix of suits changes, but that changes the difficulty enormously.

Как это сделать play Spider Solitaire: the moves

1. Place any card on a card one rank higher. A 7 can go on any 8, whatever its suit or colour. A queen goes on any king.
2. Move runs in one suit together. A sequence that runs down in a single suit (say 9, 8, 7 of hearts) can be moved as a group onto any 10. A mixed-suit sequence (9 of hearts, 8 of spades) can't be moved as one piece; only the 8 can move.
3. Turn up hidden cards. When a column's last face-up card moves away, the face-down card under it turns over.
4. Use empty columns. Any card or any single-suit run can go into an empty column, not just a king.
5. Complete runs. When a column ends in a full run from king down to ace, all in one suit, those 13 cards are removed and go to the finished pile automatically.

Aces are low, and nothing can be placed on an ace.

Dealing a new row

When you run out of useful moves, tap the stock at the top right. It deals one card face up onto each of the ten columns. The number of face-down cards in the stock picture tells you how many deals are left, up to five.

There's one rule here that surprises people: you can't deal while any column is empty. If you try, the game reminds you to fill every empty column first. Move any card or run into the gap, then deal.

Dealing covers the bottom of every column with a random card, which often breaks up runs you were building. That's why experienced players make every useful move before dealing.

Why some face-up cards look dimmed

In our game, face-up cards that can't currently be picked up are shown slightly dimmed. They're stuck because they sit above a card of a different suit or a non-consecutive rank. For example, in a column ending 10♠, 9♥, 8♥, you can pick up the 9♥ and 8♥ together, but the 10♠ is dimmed: moving it would mean moving a mixed-suit group.

How you win

Build and clear all eight king-to-ace runs. Your moves and time are shown above the table, and each finished run fills one of the eight web slots at the top left. Your best time is saved separately for 1, 2 and 4 suits, in this browser only.

Playing in our free Spider Solitaire game

1. Open the free Spider Solitaire game and pick 1 suit, 2 suits or 4 suits. Changing it deals a new game.
2. Tap a card or run to send it to the best spot: the game prefers a card of the same suit, then any card one higher, then an empty column. Or drag it where you want.
3. Tap the stock to deal a row.
4. Use Undo (it keeps your last 200 moves), Hint to have a possible move highlighted, or New deal.

If no useful moves remain and there are no deals left, a banner suggests trying Undo.

Spider vs Klondike at a glance

	Klondike Solitaire	Spider Solitaire
Cards	52 (one deck)	104 (two decks)
Columns	7	10
Placing a card	Opposite colour, one lower	Any suit, one lower
Moving a group	Any ordered group	Only a run in one suit
Empty column	King only	Any card
Cards leave the table	One at a time to foundations	13 at a time, as a full run

For the Klondike rules in full, see how to play Solitaire.

Start with one suit

Learn the moves at one suit, where most games can be won, then step up to two. When you're ready to think about tactics, read our Spider Solitaire tips. Deal a game in the free Spider Solitaire game; it runs in your browser with no download and no sign-up.