Spider Solitaire

Spider rules and strategy

The solitaire game played with two decks: ten columns, face-down cards to reveal and eight runs to build from king to ace. This site explains the exact rules, strategy and a winning game verified card by card. To play: Spider Solitaire, on iPhone, iPad and Android.

Read the rulesDownload the app

Available on the App Store and on Google Play.

Spider Solitaire on a phone held in landscape orientation, at the start of a game with 1 suit on green felt: ten columns of blue-backed cards with a single spade face up at the bottom of each, the eight run spaces on the left and the stock of 50 cards on the right.

Spider at a glance

Spider is played alone with 2 decks, or 104 cards. 54 cards form 10 columns of 5 or 6 cards: only the last card in each column is face up. The other 50 cards remain face down in the stock, which is used 5 times to place a new card on each column.

Place a card on a card one rank higher, regardless of suit: a 7 on a 8. The aim is to build a complete run of the same suit from king to ace in a column: it is then removed from play. The game is won when all 8 runs have been removed. The rules explain each move in detail, and the strategy explains how to proceed.

A deal from the app

Here is the deal with code SP1-S1C-AAAAAAD as dealt by the app, with 1 suit. Paste this code into the New Game window to play it; a game won in 117 moves is described in detail on the Examples page.

Stock: 50 cards, 5 deals remaining; no sequences removed. Column 1: 5 face down, then 2 of spades; column 2: 5 face down, then 10 of spades; column 3: 5 face down, then 9 of spades; column 4: 5 face down, then jack of spades; column 5: 4 face down, then 7 of spades; column 6: 4 face down, then 9 of spades; column 7: 4 face down, then 5 of spades; column 8: 4 face down, then king of spades; column 9: 4 face down, then 10 of spades; column 10: 4 face down, then ace of spades.

Deal SP1-S1C-AAAAAAD at the start: columns of 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 cards with only one face up in each, 50 cards in the stock.

Where to start?

On phone and tablet

The app is played in landscape orientation. It offers 1, 2 or 4 suits, Classic or Relaxed rules, a code for each game to replay or share a deal, undo for the last 100 actions and statistics.

Spider Solitaire on a phone in landscape orientation, during a game with 2 suits: runs of spades and hearts are forming in the ten columns, including a heart run descending to the ace; no cards have been dealt from the stock yet.
Phone, in landscape orientation.
Spider Solitaire on a tablet in landscape orientation, during a game with 4 suits: spades, hearts, diamonds and clubs arranged by rank in the ten columns, with a large area of empty felt below the cards.
Tablet, in landscape orientation.