How to play Spider Solitaire

The opening table

The first four columns hold six cards each and the other six hold five. Only the top card of each column is face up. There are 54 cards in the tableau and 50 in the stock, arranged as five packets of ten. Cards below the face-up cards stay hidden until you uncover them. When a move removes the last exposed card above a hidden card, that card turns over automatically. You can study the visible ranks before choosing a move; the daily clock begins only when you press Start.

Building down and moving a run

Put any exposed card on a card one rank higher, regardless of suit. A heart 7 can therefore rest on a spade 8. To move several cards together, however, they must form an unbroken descending sequence in the same suit. A spade 8, spade 7 and spade 6 travel together; a spade 8 followed by a heart 7 does not. Select the highest card of the run you want to move. A shorter suited suffix may move even when cards above it belong to another suit. Any card or legal suited run can fill an empty column.

Completing a run

Build King, Queen, Jack, 10 and the remaining ranks down to Ace, all in one suit and all face up in the same column. The entire run moves to a completed-run space automatically. This earns no extra move: it is part of the move or stock deal that completed it. Removing a run can expose another hidden card, or even another complete run underneath. Eight completed runs win the game. In one-suit Spider all eight runs are spades. Two suits needs four of each suit; four suits needs two of each.

Dealing from the stock

Press Deal or tap the stock to put one new face-up card on each column, from left to right. You may deal only when every column contains at least one card. An empty column is useful for organising cards, but you must fill it before taking another stock packet. The number on the stock shows packets remaining, rather than individual cards. Once all five packets are used, there are no recycles or extra cards. Undo can reverse an entire stock packet and any runs it sent home, restoring the exact previous board.

The daily and unlimited free play

Monday and Tuesday bring one suit. Wednesday to Saturday use two suits. Sunday tries four suits; if a four-suit candidate cannot be proved within the generation budget, the published deal uses two suits instead. Every published daily and every deal in a Winnable deals pack has a full legal solution checked by replay before publication. A proof promises a route from the opening position, rather than a win after every possible choice. Free play offers one, two or four suits with either a winnable pack or a fresh random shuffle. Random games may be impossible. Free play is unranked and never reuses the daily deal.

Spider strategy

Give priority to uncovering hidden cards, especially in the four taller columns. Build suited sequences when possible, because they can move as a unit and free space later. Keep an empty column available while rearranging awkward mixed suits. Avoid using your last empty column for a King unless you have a plan to move the cards below it. Before dealing, inspect the exposed ends and join useful sequences first. A new packet can break several movable runs at once. You can undo a risky experiment without a points penalty for undo itself, although every move already made remains in the move count.

Hints, controls and comfortable cards

Drag a card or run to a legal destination, or tap the highest card of the run you want to move to choose a useful pile automatically. Repeated taps can try other destinations. With a keyboard, use arrows to change focus, Enter or Space to pick up and drop, Z or Control plus Z to undo, H for a hint and Escape to cancel a selection. N starts another free game. Hints search for a complete route and can see face-down cards. A suggested move costs 25 daily points only when a sure route is found. An exhausted search costs nothing and suggests Undo. Open Cards & table for large-print faces, four-colour suits, a different card back or green, navy and burgundy tables. Reduced-motion preferences turn off flying-card effects. When the stock is empty and every remaining card is face up, Finish appears if the solver proves the rest within its budget. It animates legal moves to complete the game; those moves still count.

Scoring, saving and statistics

The daily starts from 1,000 points. A solved game loses 0.3 points per second, half a point per move and 25 per hint, rounded to a whole number. A win always scores at least 100; giving up scores zero. Time comes from the server for the daily, including time away from the page. Progress saves in this browser so a reload resumes the same moves and undos. Free-play statistics are kept separately for each suit count: games played and won, win rate, current and best winning streak, best and average time, and fewest moves. Clearing browser storage removes these local records.

Frequently asked questions

Can every Spider Solitaire deal be won?

Every daily and winnable-pack starting deal here has a checked legal solution. Random shuffles are not guaranteed to be winnable.

Why can I not move a descending sequence?

Only a descending sequence in one suit moves together. Mixed suits can be built down but need to be separated before the whole sequence can move.

Why will the stock not deal?

Every column must contain at least one card before you deal ten more. Fill any empty columns first.

Is Spider a form of Patience?

Yes. Spider is a two-deck form of Patience, the UK name for many single-player card games.

Does undo cost points?

Undo itself is free. A move already made still counts, even when you undo it. Hints cost 25 daily points.