Spider Solitaire Rules

Objective

Spider is a one-player game with two full decks. The aim is to arrange all 104 cards into eight complete runs from King down to Ace, each in a single suit. Every finished run is lifted off the table; when the eighth one goes, you have won. Unlike Klondike there is no waste pile and no foundation you build card by card — all the work happens in the ten columns.

Players and cards

• Players: 1.
• Pack: 104 cards — two decks' worth, no jokers. Aces are low: A, 2, 3 … 10, J, Q, K.
• Suits in the pack: depends on the level you choose (see 1, 2 and 4 suits below). The card count is always 104.

The deal

1. Deal ten columns: the first four columns get six cards each and the other six get five — 54 cards in all.
2. In each column only the top card is face up; the rest are face down.
3. The remaining 50 cards form the stock, face down. They are dealt later in five rows of ten.
4. Eight spaces are reserved for completed runs. You never place cards there yourself.

Building down

1. A card may be placed on a card that is exactly one rank higher — a Nine on a Ten, a Queen on a King, an Ace on a Two.
2. Suit does not matter for a single placement. A Nine of hearts may sit on a Ten of spades. Colour does not matter either — there is no alternating-colour rule in Spider.
3. Nothing can be placed on an Ace, since no card is one rank lower.
4. A card may be placed only on a face-up card.
5. An empty column accepts any card or any movable run — not just a King. This is a major difference from Klondike.

Moving runs

1. A group of cards moves together only if every card is face up and the group is a same-suit sequence descending by one — Eight, Seven, Six of spades, for example. That is a run.
2. A mixed-suit sequence is legal to build but cannot be moved as a unit. Only the cards from the last change of suit downward move together.
3. A run may be split: pick up a card partway down and only that card and those above it move, provided they form a run.
4. On CardCouch, tapping a card picks up the longest same-suit run stacked on it; tap a column to drop it there. A tap on a card that is not the start of a valid run does nothing.
5. Whenever a move leaves a face-down card on top of a column, it is turned face up at once.

Dealing from the stock

1. Tap the stock to deal one face-up card onto every column — ten cards at once, on top of whatever is there.
2. You may not deal while any column is empty. Every column must hold at least one card first. CardCouch refuses the deal and tells you to fill the gaps.
3. The stock holds five deals. After the fifth, it is empty and the only way forward is the cards already on the table.
4. A deal is not forced. You may keep making tableau moves for as long as you like before dealing, and good play means squeezing every useful move out first.

Completed runs

• As soon as the top thirteen cards of a column form a complete run — King, Queen, Jack, Ten … Three, Two, Ace, all of one suit, all face up — those cards are removed to a completed-run space automatically.
• Cards below the run in the same column do not matter. If a face-down card is uncovered by the removal, it flips.
• A removal can expose another complete run beneath it, and a stock deal can finish several columns at once; every completed run is removed.
• Completed runs never come back into play.

1, 2 and 4 suits

Spider is played at three levels, chosen before the deal. The rules above never change; only the make-up of the 104-card pack does — and with it, how often a run can be moved.

• 1 suit (easy): eight sets of spades, Ace to King. Every descending sequence is automatically a same-suit run, so anything you build can be moved. Ideal for learning the flow of the game.
• 2 suits (medium): four sets of spades and four of hearts. A red card on a black one breaks the run. This is the classic level most people play.
• 4 suits (hard): two ordinary decks — two sets of each suit. Runs move only when the suit matches exactly, so every placement has to be planned.

CardCouch remembers your choice between visits and keeps a separate best time and fewest moves for each level.

Moves, undo and winning

• Every card or run move and every stock deal counts as one move.
• Undo takes back the last action, including a deal or a completed-run removal, and can be repeated all the way to the start.
• You win when all eight runs are complete and the table is empty. Fewer moves and a faster time are the marks of a well-played game.
• If no tableau move is available and the stock is empty, the deal is stuck. CardCouch tells you when there are no moves left; use Undo to try another line or start a new game.

Common variations

• Scoring: Windows-style Spider starts at 500 points, subtracts 1 per move and adds 100 per completed run. CardCouch counts moves and time instead.
• Relaxed Spider: some versions allow dealing onto empty columns. Standard rules — and CardCouch — do not.
• Spiderette: a one-deck version played on a seven-column Klondike layout. Not offered here; for a one-deck game try Klondike or FreeCell.

Frequently asked questions