Spider Solitaire — play free online
Spider Solitaire uses two full decks, 104 cards split across ten columns. You're building eight King-to-Ace runs. Finish one and it clears itself off the table. Finish all eight and the game is done.
It's harder than Klondike. Not unfairly so, but harder.
- Build 8 complete King-to-Ace sequences to clear them from the table.
- Stack tableau cards in descending order, one rank lower each time.
- You can move several cards together as long as they form a descending sequence.
- A complete King-to-Ace run removes itself from the table automatically.
- Click the stock to deal one card to each column — no empty columns allowed before dealing.
- Made a mistake? Hit Undo to take back your last move.
- Stuck? Press Hint and the game will highlight a valid move for you.
How to play
The layout
Cards are split unevenly at the start: the first four columns get six cards, the last six get five. Only the top card of each column starts face-up. The rest are hidden until you uncover them. Whatever's left sits in the stock pile on the left and gets dealt out in batches of ten later on.
The goal
Build eight complete runs from King down to Ace. Finish one and it disappears. Clear all eight and you win.
Moving cards
Any face-up card can go on top of a card that's one rank higher. A 7 of spades goes on an 8 of spades.
Since every card is a spade, any descending run can be picked up and moved as a group, all the way from the face-up card at the top of the pile down to the last card. That makes this the most forgiving version of Spider. The challenge is in uncovering hidden cards and keeping columns tidy, not in sorting suits.
Flipping cards
Move a card and whatever's underneath flips up. That's how you open the game. The more hidden cards you expose, the more you have to work with.
Dealing from the stock
Click the stock to deal one card face-up to each column. You can't deal if any column is empty, so either fill it first or plan around that restriction. Five deals total — each one adds ten more cards to manage, so it's worth cleaning things up before you click.
Completing a sequence
Put together a full King-to-Ace run anywhere on the table and it removes itself automatically. Usually a face-down card flips up underneath.
Tips
Dig out face-down cards first. The hidden cards at the top of each column are your biggest constraint. Until you know what's there you're working with incomplete information.
Think before dealing. Every deal adds a card to every column. If things are already tangled, more cards make it worse, not better. Get things sorted before reaching for the stock.
A cleared column is good for temporarily parking cards you need to move around. Just remember you can't deal while one is empty — the game blocks it.
Use undo when you need it. That said, leaning on it constantly is its own kind of stuck.
About the one-suit version
This version uses only spades — the easiest way to learn Spider. Standard Spider also comes in two-suit (spades and hearts) and four-suit variants. With more suits, runs get mixed and you can no longer move them as a group, which makes the game much harder. One suit is the right place to start.