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Spider Solitaire

Getting your game ready…

How to play

Build down to the Ace

Arrange cards in descending order, from King to Ace. This one-suit game uses only spades, with eight copies of every rank. Move an exposed card or a face-up descending run onto the next higher rank. An empty column can receive any card or movable run.

Uncover the next choice

Removing the cards above a face-down card turns it over. A complete face-up King-to-Ace run leaves the board automatically. Remove all eight runs to win. Only the top card of each starting column is face up. No legal move or stock deal left means the board is blocked; Undo or New deal is still available.

Deal with room in mind

The stock supplies five deals of ten cards, one onto each column. Every column must contain a card before Deal 10 is available. Select a card or run, then its destination column. On a phone, scroll sideways for all ten columns; Tab and Enter or Space select cards and column targets. Escape clears selection. Undo reverses a move or stock deal; New deal starts fresh. Switching away pauses the table; Resume preserves the deal.

Strategy

Keep an empty column useful

An empty column lets you put a run aside and reach the card beneath it. Avoid filling that space permanently just to lengthen another column. Before dealing, refill it with a card that still leaves a useful move.

Uncover before polishing

Compare a tidy move with one that turns over a hidden card. New information often matters more than making an already open run longer. Follow the ranks underneath a movable sequence before choosing its destination.

About the game

One suit, ten columns

Single-suit Spider makes temporary storage and access to hidden cards central to the deal. Full rank sequences leave the table together.