Spider Solitaire

Spider Solitaire

Spider Solitaire is a two-deck solitaire game played across 10 tableau columns. Complete 13-card sequences in the same suit (King down to Ace) are removed from play. It is one of the most widely played solitaire variants, popularised by its inclusion in Microsoft Windows.

Decks and Difficulty

Uses 2 standard 52-card decks (104 cards total). Three difficulty settings:

• 1-suit (easy): only rank matters; suit is ignored for all rules
• 2-suit (medium): two suits in play
• 4-suit (hard): all four suits; full rules below

Layout

Deal 54 cards face-down into 10 tableau columns:

• Columns 1–4: 6 cards each
• Columns 5–10: 5 cards each

Flip the top card of each column face-up. The remaining 50 cards form the stock in 5 groups of 10.

Tableau Rules

Only face-up cards at the bottom of a column are in play. Face-down cards are revealed when the card above them is moved.

You may:

• Move a single face-up card onto any face-up card that is one rank higher (suit need not match for placement)
• Move a same-suit descending sequence (e.g., Q♥–J♥–10♥) as a unit onto a card one rank higher than the sequence’s top card
• Move any card or same-suit sequence to an empty column

Completing a Sequence

When a complete 13-card sequence in the same suit (King at bottom through Ace on top) is formed in a column, it is immediately removed as a completed sequence. 8 completed sequences = win.

The Stock

At any time, you may deal 10 cards from the stock — one face-up to each column. The stock may only be dealt when no column is empty. Five stock deals are available (50 cards).

Winning

All 8 sequences completed and removed from play.