Spider Solitaire Game Rules: An Easy Player's Guide
There are many card games that you can play without needing to get another player involved. While solitaire is arguably the most popular card game in this category, if you're looking for something more challenging, spider solitaire turns the difficulty up a notch.
Like in solitaire, the objective of spider solitaire is to beat the deck. That said, the rules are different and will require some getting used to. The game became better known after it was included in copies of the Windows operating system for free.
The game involves two decks of cards (without the jokers), but there are variations of the game that can be played with one, three, or even four decks of cards. To play Spider Solitaire online for free, visit spidersolitaire-online.com
Spider Solitaire Objective
To win the game, you must arrange all the cards from both decks in descending columns, that is, starting from the king and ending with an ace. Since there are two decks, you will need to make eight such columns of arranged cards.
There are three ways of playing spider solitaire, each with a different slant to what constitutes a completed column:
- One-suit spider solitaire: In this game, a column may have any cards in descending order – the suit or color of the cards is irrelevant.
- Two-suit spider solitaire: A column of cards can only be filled with cards having the same color. The suit is irrelevant.
- Four-suit spider solitaire: In this game, columns may only be filled with cards of the same suit. Mixing suits or filling columns based on matching colors is not allowed.
The three ways of playing spider solitaire offer three different levels of difficulty. If you've never played spider solitaire, start with playing the one-suit version of the game.
When that becomes easy, you can progress to playing the two-suit and four-suit versions.
Note: Cards hold natural values in spider solitaire; however, aces are counted as low cards. For this reason, you can only use them at the bottom of every column's sequence.
Spider Solitaire Setup
Playing online, you won't have to deal the cards. However, learning the setup of the game is an essential part of learning how to play it.
Two decks of cards (without jokers) are shuffled, and then ten cards are dealt, face downwards, in a line on the table. In this way, ten columns are made.
The columns are filled by placing ten more cards beneath the first cards, starting from the left. The process is repeated thrice, so there are a total of 50 cards on the table, in ten columns and five rows.
One card is added to the first four columns – but unlike all of the other cards, these are dealt face upwards. In the remaining six columns, the first cards are turned over. The remainder of the cards are placed on the side of the dealt cards.
The setup looks like this:
How to Play Spider Solitaire
As mentioned earlier, the objective is to arrange all the cards in descending order from the king to the ace.
Now that you understand the setup of the game, you will also realize that the game is similar to solitaire – in that you must achieve your goal by moving the cards around.
The rules for moving the cards are simple:
- You can move a card from any position to any position as long as the card helps you create or continue the sequence of cards.
- You can also move groups of cards as long as they continue the sequence.
When moving cards around, you must bear in mind the type of spider solitaire – one-suit, two-suit, or four-suit – you're playing. If you're playing the more complex versions of spider solitaire, you can only move the cards if they're the same color or suit as the destination card.
When all of the cards that block a card facing downwards are removed from a column, you can turn the card over and use it in the game.
If there aren't any moves you are happy to make, or you run out of legal moves, you can use the deck and add a new row of ten cards facing upwards.
When a column is complete, it is removed from the game, creating a space on the table that you can use to place cards temporarily.
You can also place a king card there and start completing another arrangement, granted the right cards are available to you.
Once all eight columns of cards are arranged correctly, you win.
Spider Solitaire Tips
Spider solitaire is a lot about luck – good players win more than half of the time, but there are chances that you get unwinnable decks.
That said, there are strategies that you can use to increase your odds of winning. The following tips will also make your game more enjoyable:
#1 Create Empty Spaces
Creating more empty spaces gives you more room to maneuver your cards, making this the most useful tip anyone could give you.
There are always moments where the game will feel like it's closing down on you, but having an empty space to operate in can make a big difference in your winning rates.
Work on removing columns as early as possible since this will put you in a better position to win the game.
#2 Put Kings in Empty Spaces
If you have an empty space and see a king that you can place there, choose to put the king in the space over all other cards.
Placing a king in the space opens up several opportunities for you to uncover the face-down cards blocked by face-up cards.
Once you've uncovered all of the hidden cards, the win is nearly in your bag – and putting a king in the empty space will allow this to happen with greater ease.
#3 Build on High Cards Initially
Your options of moving the cards around are dependent on the cards that are dealt, which is random. While you may not have many options to move the cards around, you must first build columns from the highest cards.
The idea behind this tip is, if you start with a low card, chances are, you will complete the row quickly. Once you've added an ace to a column, you cannot add more cards to the column. In other words, the column is blocked once an ace is added to it.
You will have more opportunities to move cards around if you start building a column from the king card and work your way downwards. This increases your odds of winning.
#4 Don't Touch the Deck Too Early
Take your time with the cards you have and search for all possibilities of moving your cards around. Make as many moves as possible before you add new cards from the deck to your game.
In spider solitaire, adding cards from the deck is inevitable. However, delaying it as much as you can ensures that you don't miss out on a good move. Once you draw cards from the deck, you cannot go back and play the move you could have.