Spider is a patience game for players who like longer puzzles. Two full decks fill ten columns; you build descending sequences and remove complete in-suit runs from king down to ace.
Four-suit Spider is the hardest standard setting: all four suits are in play, so off-suit stacks are easy to build but hard to untangle. Most wins come from creating empty columns and reshuffling long runs into single-suit stacks.
How to play Spider Solitaire
- Layout: 54 cards are dealt across ten columns; the last card dealt to each column starts face up (one per column).
- Build tableau columns down by rank. Color and suit do not matter for placing a single card — only the rank must be exactly one lower.
- Moving stacks: you may only drag a run if every card in the run shares the same suit and ranks descend by one.
- Completing a full in-suit king-through-ace run removes it from the board and counts toward your win.
- Stock: deals one face-up card to each column when every column has at least one card. You cannot deal while a column is empty.
- Win: clear eight complete runs (two decks, eight suits worth of sequences).
Strategy tips
- Treat empty columns as currency — use one to rearrange, but try not to spend your last empty slot before a run is ready to move.
- Build in-suit whenever possible, even if an off-suit move is legal. Off-suit stacks become dead weight until you break them apart.
- Expose face-down cards early; buried cards limit which ranks you can chain.
- Before dealing from the stock, scan whether the ten new cards will bury sequences you were about to complete.
- If two suits compete for the same column, prefer the suit that already has a longer in-suit chain attached.
Common questions
Why can’t I deal from the stock?
Spider blocks deals while any column is empty. Fill empty columns with kings or useful stacks first, then deal.
Is four-suit Spider harder than two-suit?
Much harder. With four suits, mixed stacks are common and in-suit runs take more planning. Try one-suit or two-suit Spider on SolitaireFelt if you are learning the layout.
