Spider Solitaire

How to play Spider Solitaire

1. The aim is to build eight complete runs, each from the king down to the ace in one suit. A finished run leaves the table by itself; clear all eight to win.
2. Two decks are dealt into ten columns: six cards in each of the first four, five in the others, only the last of each face up. The other 50 cards wait in the stock at the top left.
3. Any card can go on a card one rank higher, whatever its suit, and any card or run can go into an empty column. When a column's face-up cards have all gone, its next card turns over.
4. Cards move together only as a run in one suit, each one rank below the card under it. A run of mixed suits has to be taken apart a card at a time.
5. Tap or click the stock to deal one more card face up onto every column. Every column needs at least one card before you can deal.
6. Drag cards to move them, or tap a card to send it, with every card on it, to the best place it can go. Undo takes back any move.

About Spider Solitaire

Spider is a two-deck patience game played on ten columns. With one suit all 104 cards are spades and any run can be finished, the gentle way in; two suits mixes spades and hearts, and four suits uses the whole pack twice over, where keeping each run in its suit is the whole game.

Not every Spider deal can be won, so this one checks before it deals: a solver that sees every card, face down and in the stock too, plays each shuffle through, and only a deal it wins reaches the table. With four suits it often has to try a few shuffles, so a new deal can take a second or two to appear.

Every day at midnight UTC brings a new daily deal for one, two and four suits, the same for everyone. Win it to put your move count on that day's leaderboard, where the fewest moves rank highest. Every move counts, a deal from the stock included, and so does a move you take back with Undo. Practice deals a fresh winnable game whenever you like, off the board.

An empty column is worth more than anything: keep one free as long as you can, and deal only when nothing useful is left to do. Once the stock is dealt and every column is a single run in one suit, the rest plays itself out. The clock stops while the tab is hidden, your game stays in this browser if you close the page, and with a keyboard the arrows move a cursor, Enter sends cards where they go and Space picks them up and puts them down.

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