How to Play Spider Solitaire: Your One-Stop, Zero-Stress Guide

Spider is the “boss level” of classic solitaire family; big piles, bigger decisions, and the kind of win screen that makes you screenshot and brag. Ready to weave your web? Let’s break it down step by step.

1. What Spider Looks Like

Decks used: two full decks (104 cards). Layout in a flash:

1. Ten tableau columns in a single row.

2. The first four columns start with six face-down cards + 1 face-up on top.

3. The last six columns start with five face-down cards + 1 face-up on top.

4. A leftover stack of 50 face-down cards, your “stock”, sits in the corner.

5. No foundation piles at the start. You’ll build complete in-suit runs inside the tableau and whisk them away as you finish them.

Every top card in the tableau is playable; buried cards flip when uncovered.

2. Three Flavors of Spider

1. One-suit Spider (all spades): Best for beginners; almost every deal is winnable.

2. Two-suit Spider (usually spades + hearts): Middle-difficulty sweet spot.

3. Four-suit Spider (full rainbow): Legendary challenge; expect more losses than wins, but every victory feels epic.

Start on one-suit and climb the ladder when you feel comfy.

3. The Core Rules (Tattoo These on Your Brain)

• Inside the tableau you can move:

  • A single face-up card, or

  • A perfect descending in-suit run (K-Q-J-…-A of the same suit).

• Building rules: Cards must go downward in rank. Mixed-suit runs are allowed, but you can only move them all at once if they’re same suit.

• Goal: Create a full run from King to Ace all in one suit. When you do, swipe that 13-card stack off the board; it disappears (digital) or gets set aside (physical). Do this eight times and you win.

• Stock deal: When you’re out of moves (or feel ready), tap the stock. Ten new cards drop, one atop each column, but only if every column has at least one card in it. Empty columns? Fill them first.

4. Your First Turn: A Friendly Walk-Through

1. Scan for easy drops: Move any face-up card onto the next-higher rank (Q on K, 7 on 8). Suit doesn’t matter for simple parking.

2. Flip hidden cards early: Uncovering stuff = more options.

3. Create an empty column: This is massive, empty space is your portable storage.

4. Build pure runs when possible: Whenever you can line up, say, 10♠ 9♠ 8♠, do it; it sets you up to move longer sequences later.

5. Deal from the stock only when stuck or when every column has some breathing room; dumping new cards onto chaos makes bigger chaos.

5. Rookie Traps to Dodge

• Ignoring suits: Mixed runs are fine for temporary parking, but pure-suit runs are the only ones you can shift wholesale.

• Premature stock deals: Dropping ten fresh cards too early buries the board—you’ll feel like you poured concrete on your progress.

• Empty-column misuse: An empty space is magic; fill it with the longest pure-suit sequence you can, or a King that starts one. Don’t waste it on a single 6♣.

6. Power Tips That Make You Look Psychic

• Work from right to left when flipping hidden cards; it frees stock-deal fallout on the left side.

• Keep one empty column free as long as possible for emergency reshuffles.

• Break a pure run only if it frees multiple hidden cards; calculate the trade-off.

• Count downcards: Knowing a column has just two buried cards helps decide where to focus.

• Undo is homework: Test moves, rewind, learn; Spider is a sandbox for strategy.

7. Average Play Times (One Deal)

• One-suit rookie: 6-10 minutes

• Two-suit regular: 12-20 minutes

• Four-suit veteran: 20-30 minutes (and lots of thinking pauses)

8. Practice Path to Mastery

1. One-suit Spider until you hit ~80 % win rate.

2. Two-suit Spider: aim for 60 % success.

3. Four-suit Spider: celebrate every victory; that’s normal.

4. Speed challenge: time yourself finishing one-suit deals under four minutes.

5. Swap deal numbers with friends and race; humble brag rights included.

9. Why Spider Rocks (and Sometimes Hurts)

Pros

• Huge satisfaction when a 13-card run slides away.

• Visible progress, board clears in dramatic chunks.

• Scales smoothly from chill to fiendish by adding suits.

Cons

• Stock mis-timing can nuke a game in seconds.

• Four-suit losses outnumber wins; must embrace the grind.

• Early moves can feel slow while you hunt that first empty column.

Deal Yourself In

Fire up any Spider Solitaire app (start with one-suit mode) or lay out two physical decks and experience the thrill of taming a 104-card beast.

When you need a gentler break, hop over to Solitaire Home Story for classic Klondike levels, cozy visuals, and every puzzle guaranteed winnable. Perfect palate cleanser between Spider battles.

Now shuffle, stack, and show that web who’s boss. Happy dealing!