How to Play Spider Solitaire

Spider Solitaire is one of the most popular solitaire card games in the world. It uses two decks (104 cards) and offers three difficulty levels based on how many suits are in play. Spider requires patience and planning to master.

Objective

Build complete sequences of King down to Ace in the same suit within the tableau. Completed sequences are automatically removed. Clear all cards to win.

Setup

• 104 cards (2 standard decks)
• 10 tableau columns: first 4 have 6 cards, last 6 have 5 cards
• Only the top card of each column starts face up
• Remaining 50 cards form the stock (dealt in rows of 10)

Difficulty Levels

• 1 Suit (Easy): All 104 cards are spades — focus purely on sequencing
• 2 Suits (Medium): Hearts and Spades — must match suits for completed sequences
• 4 Suits (Hard): All four suits — the classic challenge

Gameplay Rules

• Tableau building: Place any card on a card one rank higher, regardless of suit or color
• Moving sequences: Only same-suit descending sequences can be moved as a group
• Empty columns: Any card or valid same-suit sequence can be placed on an empty column
• Dealing from stock: Click the stock to deal one card to each of the 10 columns (all columns must have at least one card)
• Completing a sequence: A King-to-Ace same-suit sequence is automatically removed from play

Key Concept: Suit vs. Non-Suit Stacking

You can place a red 5 on a black 6 — this is a valid tableau move. However, this mixed-suit stack cannot be moved as a group. Only cards of the same suit in descending order can be picked up together. This is the central challenge of Spider.

Strategy Tips

• Prioritize same-suit builds: Always prefer building in-suit sequences over mixed ones
• Reveal face-down cards: Uncovering hidden cards gives you more options. Focus on columns with many face-down cards
• Create empty columns: Empty columns are extremely valuable — they act like free cells and allow you to reorganize
• Delay dealing: Only deal from the stock when you have no productive moves. Each deal adds 10 cards and complicates the board
• Build natural sequences: Try to build long same-suit runs. A K-Q-J-10-9 of spades is much more useful than a mixed sequence
• Use empty columns as temporary storage: Move cards aside to rearrange deeper columns, then move them back
• Plan for the endgame: Think about which columns can produce complete K-to-A sequences and work toward them

Dealing from Stock

When you have no more productive moves, click the stock pile. This deals one face-up card onto each of the 10 columns. You can only deal if every column has at least one card (no empty columns allowed when dealing).

Winning

Remove all 8 completed King-to-Ace same-suit sequences from the board. This clears all 104 cards and wins the game. Not every deal is winnable in 4-suit Spider — success rates for expert players are around 33% on random 4-suit deals.

Play Spider Solitaire Online for Free — choose 1, 2, or 4 suits!