Spider Solitaire
Cleared runs 0/8
Playable solitaire
Spider Solitaire
Spider Solitaire on SolitaireVP is the one-suit (easiest) Spider layout: two decks’ worth of cards, all in a single suit — eight full Ace–King runs of spades — dealt across ten tableau columns. There is no waste pile. You build descending sequences in the columns, deal a fresh row of ten cards from the stock when every column has at least one card, and clear completed King-to-Ace runs onto the foundation slots.
One-suit Spider emphasizes column management and empty spaces over suit juggling. Because every card shares a suit, any descending run is automatically “in suit,” so the challenge is revealing face-down cards, keeping columns flexible, and timing stock deals so you don’t bury critical empty columns.
Clear all eight runs to win. Undo is available; Spider does not use Auto finish.
How to play Spider Solitaire
- Build columns down in rank (King → Queen → … → Ace) using consecutive same-suit cards — which, in one-suit Spider, is every card.
- Move a card or a consecutive descending run onto the next higher rank.
- Empty columns accept any card or run — they are your most powerful resource.
- When you need fresh cards, deal a new row: one card onto each of the ten columns. You cannot deal while any column is empty.
- Completing a full King-through-Ace run removes it automatically to a foundation slot.
- Continue until eight runs are cleared (104 cards).
Setup
- Deck: 104 cards as eight A–K runs of one suit (spades).
- Tableau: ten columns — four columns of 6 cards and six of 5 (54 cards dealt); each column’s top card face-up.
- Stock: remaining 50 cards, dealt in rows of 10 (five deals).
- Foundations: eight slots that receive completed King-to-Ace runs.
- No waste pile.
Rules
- One-suit Spider (
spiderSuits: 1); no alternating-color rule. - Only consecutive descending same-suit runs move as a unit (always true for suit here).
- Empty column: any card allowed.
- Stock deal: ten cards, one per column; blocked if any column is empty.
- No redeals of the stock beyond the fixed row deals.
- Win by clearing eight complete King-to-Ace runs.
Strategy
Empty columns are oxygen. Protect them until a deal is safe, and use them to reassemble long runs.
- Build long in-suit runs so you can clear them and free space.
- Don’t deal early if empties are doing important work — but don’t stall forever with a stuck board either.
- Expose face-down cards before polishing perfect sequences.
- Fill empties carefully before a deal — the deal requires all ten columns occupied.
- Prefer clearing a completed run over keeping a “pretty” partial column that blocks flips.
- Use Undo to test whether a deal helps or wrecks your empties.
Short prose: Spider is a packing problem. Each stock row adds ten cards you must absorb. Enter deals with a plan for where awkward ranks will sit, and keep at least one recovery empty when you can.
FAQ
How many suits are in this version?
One. SolitaireVP’s Spider table is one-suit Spider — the clearest and most approachable Spider ruleset. Two- and four-suit variants are harder and not on this page.
When can I deal a new row?
Only when every tableau column has at least one card. Empty columns block the deal.
How do I win?
Clear eight complete King-to-Ace runs from the tableau onto the foundation slots.
Is there a waste pile?
No. Cards come from the stock only as full rows onto the ten columns.
Can I undo?
Yes. Undo steps back through the current deal’s history.
Is Auto finish available?
No. Spider clears runs as you complete them; there is no Auto finish control on this family.
Trivia
Spider is a relatively modern Patience star, popularized in computer suites — especially Microsoft’s Spider Solitaire — rather than in nineteenth-century rule books. The ten-column, multi-deck layout and “deal a row” rhythm feel video-game natural: waves of new cards, clearing completed chains, escalating difficulty by suit count.
One-suit Spider is the teaching mode that still scratches the same itch as the four-suit grind: spatialize the board, respect empty columns, and time the next deal. Online, it remains one of the most searched solitaire variants after Klondike and FreeCell.