Spider Solitaire.

What is Spider Solitaire?

Spider uses two decks and ten columns. Your aim is to make complete runs from King down to Ace, all in the same suit, and remove them from the table.[1]

How to set up the cards

Start with the following arrangement.[1]

1. Shuffle two standard decks together, giving you 104 cards.
2. Deal 54 cards into ten columns. Four columns have six cards each and the other six have five. Turn only the top card of each column face up.
3. Keep the remaining 50 cards face down as the stock. You will deal them in five rows of ten cards.

How to play

Follow these rules for the version described here.[1]

1. Place a card on the next higher rank, regardless of suit. For example, any 8 can go on any 9.
2. To move several cards together, they must be in descending order and all belong to the same suit.
3. Any available card, or movable same-suit run, may fill an empty column. Fill every empty column before dealing another row from the stock.
4. A complete King-to-Ace run in one suit is removed from play.
5. When you need more cards, deal one from the stock onto each of the ten columns. In this version, no column may be empty when you deal.
6. Remove all eight complete runs to win.

An example of a move

Suppose you place a red 8 on a black 9. That is a legal move because the numbers are in order.

But the two cards are not the same suit, so you cannot later pick them up together as a pair. If both cards were clubs, for example, you could move the pair.

Before dealing another row from the stock, check whether you can uncover a hidden card or join cards of the same suit.

Tips for playing

These tips can help you decide what to do next. They are suggestions, not guaranteed ways to win.

• Whenever possible, build runs in the same suit. They are easier to move later.
• Try to reveal hidden cards before dealing a new row from the stock.
• Keep an empty column available when you can, but remember that you must fill it before dealing a new row.

Common mistakes

• Cards in descending order are not always movable together; the entire group must share a suit.
• A mixed-suit run cannot be removed. The full King-to-Ace run must be one suit.
• The one-suit and two-suit settings are easier variations, not the same four-suit game explained here.

Popular variations

Spider is often offered in one-suit, two-suit and four-suit versions. The one-suit version is generally easier to learn because matching cards is simpler. This guide explains the traditional four-suit game using two decks.[1]

History & origins

Spider was played well before its popularity on modern computers. In The Gentleman in the Parlour (1930), W. Somerset Maugham wrote about trying a game he called “the spider,” as noted in an article by card-game writer Kerry Handscomb.[2]

Handscomb also identifies a description of Spider in The Complete Book of Solitaires and Patience Games by Albert H. Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith (1949). He reports that card-game historian David Parlett considers an older game, German Patience, a possible influence. That connection is not a proven line of invention.[2]

Modern computer versions commonly offer one-, two- and four-suit settings. Those settings use the same basic goal but change how difficult it is to assemble complete suit runs.[1]

Frequently asked questions

Sources & further reading

1. 01
   Paul Olav Tvete, Maren Pakura & Stephan Kulow (2021 (documentation revision)). KPatience Handbook: Rules for Individual Games.

   KDE Documentation · Open-source software documentation

   View source ↗
2. 02
   Kerry Handscomb (2021). Spider Variations with Different Decks.

   The New Abstract Games, Issue 21 (Spring 2021) · Specialist editorial research

   View source ↗