How to play Spider Solitaire

Spider is the grand patience of the solitaire family — a two-deck, 104-card game that rewards careful planning over luck. It takes a little longer than Klondike, but few card games are as satisfying when the long runs finally lock into place and lift off the board. You can choose how hard you want it to be before you start.

Goal

Build eight complete sequences, each running from King all the way down to Ace in a single suit. As soon as a full King-to-Ace run forms, it removes itself to the foundation. Clear all eight and you win.

The board

• Ten cascades hold the deal. The bottom card of each column starts face-up; everything above it starts face-down and flips over as it's uncovered.
• The stock holds the remaining cards and deals a fresh row when you're stuck.

Moves

• Move any single face-up card onto a card one rank higher, regardless of suit — a 7 of any suit can sit on any 8.
• You can pick up and carry a same-suit descending run as one group; mixed-suit runs can only be moved a card at a time.
• An empty cascade accepts any card or run, making it a valuable parking space.
• Click the stock to deal ten more cards, one to each column — but only when no cascade is empty, so fill gaps before you deal.

Difficulty and strategy

1-suit Spider is the friendliest: all 104 cards share one suit, so every run is implicitly same-suit and almost every deal is winnable. 2-suit and 4-suit are progressively harder as cards from different suits get in each other's way. Whatever the level, your best moves are the ones that turn face-down cards face-up and build long same-suit runs. Try to keep a column empty for as long as you can, and avoid breaking a tidy same-suit run unless it frees a card you genuinely need. Before each stock deal, tidy the board — you can't take a deal back.