How to Play Spider Solitaire
Spider solitaire uses two decks — 104 cards. Deal 54 into ten columns, six each in the first four and five in the rest, last card face up. Build columns downward by rank in any suit, but only same-suit runs can be moved as a group. Complete eight King-to-Ace suited runs to win.
The rules, step by step
- 1Deal 54 cards into ten columnsSix cards each into the first four columns and five into the other six, all face down except the last card of each column.
- 2Build down by rank, any suitPlace any card on a card one rank higher. Suit does not matter for placement.
- 3Move only same-suit runs as a groupA sequence can be picked up together only if every card in it shares a suit and the ranks descend by one.
- 4Empty columns take anythingUnlike Klondike, any card or movable run may go into an empty column. Empty columns are the most valuable resource in the game.
- 5Deal ten more when stuckClick the stock to deal one card face up onto every column. You may not deal while any column is empty.
- 6Complete eight King-to-Ace runsA finished suited run from King down to Ace is removed automatically. Clear all eight to win.
Try it — the rules above, running
1 suit. Eight sets of spades. Every descending sequence is automatically a movable run, so the game is about column management rather than suit-matching. The usual first game.
Your statistics · 1 suit
- Played
- 0
- Won
- 0
- Win rate
- 0%
- Streak
- 0
- Best streak
- 0
- Best time
- —
Kept in this browser, on this device only. Abandoning a deal in progress counts as a loss, so the win rate means something.
Today’s deal
Everyone playing Spider Solitaire today gets deal #4136628247. It changes at midnight UTC.
Track the month on the daily challenge page.
Replay a deal
Every deal is a pure function of its number, so deal #20260726 is the same shuffle on any device, any time.
Keyboard
- U / Z
- Undo
- R
- Redo
- H
- Hint
- N
- New deal (asks first)
- F
- Full screen
- Space
- Turn the stock
- Esc
- Deselect, or leave full screen
How is the spider tableau dealt?
| Columns | Cards each | Face up |
|---|---|---|
| 1–4 | 6 | 1 |
| 5–10 | 5 | 1 |
| Stock | 50 (5 deals of 10) | — |
What counts as a legal move?
- One card onto a card exactly one rank higher, in any suit.
- A run of two or more cards, only if they descend by one and share a suit.
- Any card or movable run into an empty column.
- Dealing ten cards from the stock — but only when no column is empty.
When is a run removed?
The moment a column ends with a complete King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace in one suit, all thirteen cards leave the board together and the card beneath is turned face up. You need eight of these.
How do you win more often?
- Empty a column before you dealThe stock deals onto every column at once, and it will bury your work. An empty column is the only place to unload a mixed stack afterwards.
- Build in suit even when it is slowerA nine on a ten of the same suit can be moved later; a nine on a foreign ten cannot. In four-suit spider, an off-suit placement is usually a card you have thrown away.
- Dig out the longest buried column firstFace-down cards are the real opponent. The column with the most of them will strand you late, so open it while you still have somewhere to put things.
- Do not chase a run to the Ace too earlyCompleting a run removes thirteen cards, which is good — but only if the columns you emptied to do it are still usable. Count the cost first.
Common questions about spider solitaire
- Why can't I deal in spider solitaire?
- A column is empty. The rules require every column to receive a card when you deal, so you must fill the gap first.
- Is one-suit spider solitaire real spider?
- It is the same game with a restricted deck — eight copies of one suit. The move rules are identical; it is just that every descending run is automatically same-suit and therefore movable.
Ready to stop reading? Play spider solitaire on the full board, with statistics, deal numbers and unlimited undo.