Play Spider Solitaire for Free Online

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How to Play

Spider Solitaire is a variation of classic solitaire where you have to place 104 cards into eight foundations by sorting them in a tableau. There are three difficulty levels in Spider Solitaire with 1 Suit being the easiest2 Suits being medium difficultyand 4 Suits being the hardest. Watch how to play here, or read below.

Objective

Your goal is to arrange and sequence the cards in the columns along the tableau in descending orderfrom King to Ace. Whenever you complete a sequenceyou move those cards from the tableau to one of the eight foundations. The game is won when each foundation is filled with suit-stacked cardsarranged from King to Aceand no cards remain in the tableau.

The Setup and Play Area

Tableau: These are the ten columns of 54 cardswhere where the first 4 columns have 6 cards and the last 6 columns have 5 cards. Hereyou will try to arrange cards by suitfrom Ace to King.

Stock pile: After cards are dealt into the tableauthe remaining 50 cards go to the stock pile. You can add cards to the tableau 10 at a timewith 1 card each going into each tableau column.

Foundation: When cards in the tableau are arranged from Ace to Kingthey are then placed in one of the 8 foundation piles. Once all the cards are moved to the foundationyou win!

Spider Solitaire terms

Available Moves

  1. Build a sequence of cards in the piles by moving any face-up card on top of a card with the next-highest valuesuch as a 9 of spades moving onto a 10 of spades.

Nine on ten

  1. You can move a group of cards in a column as a single unit to another pile if they are all in descending order of the same suit. In the below exampleyou can move the 10 and 9 of Spades on top of the Jack of Spades.

Moving cards in a bunch

  1. If only face-down cards remain in a column as face up cards are movedturn the last face-down card over. This will reveal a new cardwhich can then be sequenced.
  2. If you can not sequence any more cards on tableaudraw out 10 more cardsface-upto each of the 10 piles in order to keep the game moving. You’ll draw from the stock pile five times over the course of the gamedrawing 50 cards in total.
  3. When cards are drawn from the stock pileyou may have sequences that are no longer ordered. In the below exampleyou’ll see there is an Ace on top of the 10. The 10 and the Jack can only be moved once the Ace is moved. All three of these cards cannot be moved together because they are not in sequence.

Moving cards in a bunch

  1. Even if a card is blockedyou can still continue to sequence below the blocked card. In the below exampleeven though the Queen needs to be movedyou can still put a Jack on top of the Queen. Once this is doneyou need to move the Queen and the Jack to unblock and access the 9.

sequence after block

  1. If a column is emptyyou can move new cards to that columnwhich can then be sequenced.
  2. As you make your movesbegin to put together cards in descending order from King to Ace of the same suit in the same column. Once successfully donethose cards will be moved to one of foundation piles automatically. After the eight foundation piles are filledyou win. If all the cards have been drawn and there are no more moves leftthe game is overand you lose.

How do you play 2 Suits or 4 Suits Spider Solitaire?

1 Suit Spider Solitaire is a great way to begin to learn how the game is played. With some experience under your beltyou can challenge yourself with 2 or 4 Suits Spider Solitaire.

In 2 and 4 Suits Spider Solitairethe general layout is the sameand the rules do not vary too much. Againtwo decks will be used. In 2 Suits54 cards of 2 suits are used. In 4 Suits26 cards from each suit are used. Lay out the cards the same way you would for 1 Suit Spider Solitaire. After thisfollow these rules:

  1. Apply the same card-moving rules from single to multi-suit.
  2. You can only move groups of cards as a single unit if they are in sequential order and of the same suit.
  3. You can sequence cards of different colors or suits. Howeveryou can only move cards togetheror as a groupto other tableau columns if they are of the same suit. If you move a 4 of Hearts on top of a 5 of Spadesthe 5 of Spades is blocked until the 4 of Hearts is moved. They cannot be moved together as a group.

sequence after block

  1. Empty columns can be filled by any cardjust like single suit.
  2. The rest of the same rules applyand the game is won when the foundation piles are filled. In 4 suitsthis means 2 foundation piles of each suit are completedand in 2 suits4 foundation piles of 2 suits are completed.

More suits adds more difficulty to the game and means you have to be careful because a wrong move can trap a card that you desperately need! Moreoveras more suits are addedthere is a smaller chance of winning the game.

For more detailscheck out our guide on how to play Spider Solitaire.

Spider Solitaire strategy

  • Prioritize identifying face-down cards. Revealing cards is critical to understanding what cards you have and don't haveas well as finding new options to sequence cards. Before drawing any cards from the stockpilebe sure you try to reveal as many cards in the tableau as possible.
  • Create empty columns when you can. You can move any card or groups of sequenced cards to an empty tableau column. This can be important to free up moves and advance the game.
  • Move higher ranking cards to empty columns. If you move lower-ranking cards to an empty columnyou can only place a limited number of cards there. For exampleif you move a 3 to an empty columnonly a 2 and an Ace can then be moved there. Insteadtry moving higher-ranking cards like Kings to an empty columnallowing you to build longer sequences or helping you arrange cards of the same suit from King to Ace.
  • Use the undo button. At timesyou may make moves that prevent you from further progress. Backtrack by using the undo buttonand look for alternative moves.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the odds of winning 1 Suit Spider Solitaire?

Spider Solitaire is considered easy in difficulty. We looked at a sample of 932,087 random games played on our site. Of those games487,429 were wonmaking the win rate 52.29%. This makes 1 Suit more than three times easier than 2 Suitswhich has a win rate of 16.6%and eight times easier than 4 Suitswhich has a win rate of 6.2%.

In Spider Solitairenot all hands are winnableno matter what you do. Here are strategies that can increase your probability of winning.

What are games similar to Spider Solitaire?

  • Easthaven Solitaire is a Klondike gamebut with cards dealt from the stock pile like Spider.
  • Spiderette is a game similar to Spiderbut played with one deck and a tableau like Klondike.
  • Scorpion Solitaire is a combination of Spider and Yukoncards can be moved as a group even if they are not sequencedand you build cards from Ace to King in the tableau before they are moved to the foundation.

What is the history of Spider Solitaire?

The game is called “spider” solitaire due to the relationship between spiders having eights legsand the eight foundation piles that need to be completed in order to win the game. While the current version originates from 1949the first mention of Spider comes Games Digest published in 1937. They describe the game we know today as Spiderbut it slightly differs with the tableau having 50 cards instead of 54. Howeverthey talk about it as a well-known gameso it's likely Spider has its origins from the early 1930sat the very least.

Spider Solitaire later grew in popularity with its inclusion in Microsoft Windows in 1998.

What are other popular Solitaire games?

Here are some good games to play:

If you're looking for more funcheck out our other 500+ free gamesand try our daily Solitaire challenges. If you're looking for an app based versionwe've listed the best Spider Solitaire apps here.

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