Spider Solitaire

These are the standard Spider Solitaire rules used by most digital versions, including the classic Windows game. Learn the layout once, then use the tips below to move from one-suit practice into two- and four-suit deals.

Objective

Build eight complete descending sequences of the same suit, from king down to ace. Each finished sequence is removed from the tableau. When all eight are cleared, you win.

The layout

Spider uses two standard 52-card decks (104 cards in total).

• Tableau: 10 columns. The first four columns receive 6 cards each; the other six receive 5 cards each (54 cards dealt). Only the top card of each column is face up at the start.
• Stock: the remaining 50 cards. When you deal from the stock, one card is placed face up on every column.
• Cleared sequences: completed king-to-ace same-suit runs leave the board (often shown as foundation piles).

How moves work

You may place a card on another card that is exactly one rank higher. Suit does not matter for a single-card drop: a 9 of hearts can sit on a 10 of spades.

A group of cards can be moved together only if they form a consecutive descending sequence of the same suit. Mixed-suit stacks can still sit on the tableau, but you usually have to peel them apart one card at a time until you rebuild a clean same-suit run.

Any single card—or any movable same-suit sequence—may go into an empty column. Empty columns are the most valuable resource in Spider: they let you untangle mixed piles, park kings, and reorganize toward complete runs.

Dealing from the stock

When you have no useful moves left—or when you decide the board needs fresh cards—deal from the stock. Ten new cards appear, one on each column.

Under standard rules, you cannot deal while any column is empty. Fill empty columns first. Dealing too early can bury good sequences under a fresh row of cards, so exhaust productive tableau moves before you touch the stock.

Difficulty: one, two, and four suits

• One suit — usually all spades (or another single suit duplicated across the two decks). Sequences stay easy to move. Ideal for learning the rules and good habits.
• Two suits — typically hearts and spades. Same-suit builds matter more, and empty columns become critical.
• Four suits — the full classic game. Same-suit mobility is scarce, mixed stacks are common, and many deals are extremely hard. Published win-rate estimates vary with the exact rules, software, and methods used.

Stay on one suit until empty-column play and stock timing feel natural. Move to two suits next. Treat four suits as the long-term challenge.

Strategy tips that actually help

• Reveal face-down cards early. Every hidden card you turn over expands your options. When two moves look similar, prefer the one that uncovers a card.
• Protect empty columns. Do not fill an empty column casually. Use it to break a mixed pile, free a buried card, or assemble a same-suit run you could not otherwise move.
• Build in suit whenever you can. Off-suit drops are often necessary, but deep mixed-suit columns are hard to unwind. Keep mixed stacks as shallow as possible.
• Think before you deal. A stock deal adds ten cards at once. If you still have useful tableau moves—or an empty column you have not used well—deal later.
• Balance the columns. Extremely tall columns limit mobility. Spreading work across the tableau usually beats stacking everything into one long pile.
• Put a king in an empty column only with a plan. An empty column can hold a king (or a king-led sequence), but sometimes the better use is temporary storage to free a blocker elsewhere.
• Use undo as a learning tool. If your version allows undo, use it to test a line of play—especially in four-suit—rather than guessing blindly.

Common mistakes

• Dealing from the stock as soon as the board looks quiet, instead of hunting for one more face-down card to reveal or one more empty column to create.
• Filling an empty column with a random card “just to use the space.”
• Building long mixed-suit runs that cannot be moved as a unit.
• Jumping straight into four-suit mode and quitting after a few losses—the difficulty spike is real; practice on easier suits first.

Spider Solitaire is a two-deck patience game for one player. You build descending sequences on a ten-column tableau and clear the board by completing eight same-suit runs from king down to ace. It is tougher than classic Klondike: there is more planning, more suit management, and empty columns matter almost as much as the cards themselves.

On this page you can play Spider Solitaire for free in your browser—no download and no account required. Choose one-suit, two-suit, or four-suit mode, start a new deal whenever you like, and treat the game as a short break or a longer puzzle session.

What is Spider Solitaire?

Spider is one of the best-known games in the Spider family of solitaire. A standard deal uses two full 52-card decks (104 cards). Fifty-four cards are dealt into ten tableau columns; the rest form a stock from which ten cards are dealt at a time—one onto each column—when you need a fresh row.

Unlike Klondike, you do not win by building foundations from aces upward outside the tableau. Instead, you assemble full king-to-ace sequences of the same suit inside the tableau. When a complete run is finished, it is removed. Clear all eight sequences and you win.

That is why Spider feels so different from “regular” Windows Solitaire. Klondike rewards finding aces and building foundations early. Spider rewards uncovering face-down cards, protecting empty columns, and keeping same-suit sequences mobile so you can rearrange the board.

History of the game

Spider is a relatively modern patience game. Reliable card-game histories place the classic two-deck form in the mid-twentieth century (often dated to 1949). The name points to the eight sequences you must complete to win—like a spider’s eight legs—not to an older folk myth.

Patience (solitaire) games themselves became popular in Europe in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries and later turned into everyday home entertainment. Stories that aristocratic prisoners in the Bastille “invented” solitaire, or that Mary, Queen of Scots, played a prophetic layout on the eve of her execution, still circulate online. They are legends about card play in general, not documented origins of Spider, so treat them as folklore rather than fact.

Digital Spider Solitaire is what made the game familiar worldwide. Microsoft included it in Microsoft Plus! for Windows 98 (1998). It returned in Windows Me and became especially well known with Windows XP, then continued through Vista and Windows 7. Later Windows releases moved Microsoft’s solitaire titles into the Microsoft Solitaire Collection instead of shipping the classic XP-style game as a built-in accessory in the same way. Online HTML5 versions now let people play by the same rules on phones, tablets, and desktops without installing software.

Why people keep playing

Spider sits in a sweet spot between casual solitaire and a real puzzle. One-suit mode is approachable and teaches the mechanics. Two-suit mode raises the cost of messy builds. Four-suit mode is a serious challenge: many deals are hard, and some are unwinnable even with perfect play. Published win-rate estimates vary with the rules, software, and methods used, so patience is part of the design—not a sign of personal failure.

Players come for different reasons: a five-minute reset between tasks, a longer evening session, a chance to practice looking ahead, or simple nostalgia for the Windows classic. Free browser play removes friction—open the page, deal, and start moving cards.

Spider vs other solitaire games

• Klondike — the familiar “Solitaire” with seven columns and foundations that begin with aces. It is easier for most beginners and places less emphasis on empty-column tactics.
• FreeCell — almost all cards start face up, with free cells as temporary storage. Still skill-heavy, but the resources work differently from Spider’s stock deals.
• Pyramid / TriPeaks — clearing by pairs or short runs, usually with one deck and a different layout.
• Spiderette — a one-deck relative with a Klondike-like layout; related in family, but not the same as two-deck Spider.

If you already know Klondike, expect Spider to feel slower and more strategic. If you enjoy FreeCell’s planning, four-suit Spider will feel familiar in spirit—even though the tools (empty columns and stock) are different.

Quick facts

• Cards in play: 104 (two decks).
• Tableau: 10 columns (four with 6 cards, six with 5); only the top card of each column starts face up.
• Stock: 50 cards, dealt 10 at a time across all columns.
• Goal: complete and remove 8 same-suit sequences from king to ace.
• Common difficulties: 1 suit (easiest), 2 suits, 4 suits (hardest).
• Name origin: eight completed sequences to win—like a spider’s eight legs.

Frequently asked questions

Use the game at the top of the page to try a fresh deal now—start with one suit if you are new, or jump to four suits if you want the full classic challenge.