Setup & the deal
104 cards are dealt into ten columns: the first four columns get six cards each and the remaining six columns get five, for 54 cards on the table. Only the top card of each column is face up; the 44 beneath are hidden. The other 50 cards form the stock — exactly five deals of ten.
The difficulty decides the suit mix, but the deck is always eight 13-card sequences: 1 suit is eight copies of spades, 2 suits is four copies each of spades and hearts, and 4 suits is a true double deck — two copies of every suit. Restart replays the same deal at the same difficulty.
In detail: the six-card columns start with five face-down cards under one face-up card, and the five-card columns with four. Digging those 44 hidden cards out is most of the game — a column’s face-down count is a good measure of how expensive it is to open.
How to move cards
Spider’s rules are asymmetric, and that asymmetry is the whole game: placing a card is easy, picking it back up is not.
- Placing (any suit) — a card or run may land on a face-up card exactly one rank higher, regardless of suit: the 7♥ sits happily on the 8♠.
- Picking up (same suit only) — you may only lift a group that is face up, all one suit, and descending by exactly one. A mixed-suit stack must be dismantled from the top, one same-suit piece at a time.
- Empty columns — accept any card or any movable run, Kings included. They are the most valuable space on the board.
- Flipping — moving away everything above a face-down card flips it automatically.
- There are no foundations to play to and no cells: everything happens on the ten columns.
A worked example: a face-up 10♠-9♠-8♠ lifts as one group and may drop on any Jack — J♠, J♥, it makes no difference. But a 10♠-9♥-8♥ stack can only be lifted starting at the 9♥ (a legal same-suit pair) or at the 8♥ alone; the 10♠ is pinned until both hearts leave. Moves work by dragging the group or tapping it — the rules are identical either way.
The stock & dealing
Clicking the stock deals one face-up card onto every column — ten cards per deal, five deals per game. There are no redeals and no waste pile.
The classic restriction applies: you may not deal while any column is empty. Every column must hold at least one card first, even if that means parking a card you would rather keep loose. Once the stock is gone, the cards on the table are all you get.
Dealt cards land unconditionally — the one-rank-lower rule only governs your own moves. A deal can drop a Queen on your 5, or even a card on an Ace, cheerfully breaking every sequence you built. That is why experienced players straighten their columns and flip what they can before every deal.
Completed runs
The moment the top thirteen cards of a column form a face-up King-through-Ace run in one suit, the run is swept off the board automatically — you never move it anywhere. If a face-down card was underneath, it flips face up. Runs completed by a stock deal are swept the same way.
The eight swept runs are the win condition. Since eight runs account for all 104 cards, winning necessarily means the stock was fully dealt and every column emptied.
The thirteen cards must sit together on a single column: a King-through-2 chain in one column with the matching Ace in another counts for nothing until the Ace joins it. Only the top thirteen cards of the column are checked, so the run’s King does not need to be the bottom card of its pile — cards, even face-down ones, may remain underneath.
A finished run can never end up buried: it is swept at the very instant it forms — whether your move or a deal completed it — before anything else can land on top. There is no way to “bank” a run or delay its removal.
Scoring
| Event | Points |
|---|---|
| Starting score | 500 |
| Each move (including each stock deal) | −1 |
| Each completed King-to-Ace run | +100 |
The running score never drops below zero, and the +100 run bonus is added after the move cost. A perfect game is a race: the fewer moves you burn, the more of the 500 you keep alongside the 800 in run bonuses.
The score is a statistic, never a constraint: the game does not end at zero points and no move is ever refused for scoring reasons. Undo rolls the score back along with the board, so exploring a line and backing out costs nothing.
Edge cases & fine print
- A run can be swept over face-down cards — the column does not need to be otherwise empty, and the hidden card beneath flips as the run leaves.
- You may split any same-suit run and move only part of it; the moved part just has to satisfy the pick-up rule itself.
- You may never place a card on a face-down card — only on a face-up card one rank higher, or an empty column.
- In 1- and 2-suit games, identical cards are interchangeable: any 8♠ continues any spade run, since all copies are equivalent.
- Undo is unlimited (and restores score); Restart replays the identical 104-card order.
Variants & difficulties
We play classic Spider with the standard rules above; the only setting is the suit count. 1 suit teaches the mechanics — every card can join every run, and most deals are winnable. 2 suits introduces real planning. 4 suits is among the hardest widely played solitaires; even strong players lose more than they win.
The rules are identical at every difficulty — deal, moves, the empty-column restriction and scoring never change. Only the deck composition changes, and with it how often the run you are building meets a same-suit continuation.
Published variants we do not use: Relaxed Spider (dealing allowed with empty columns), Spiderette (one deck, seven Klondike-style columns) and Scorpion, which keeps the same-suit goal but deals almost everything face up and moves groups Yukon-style. If you like Spider’s suit discipline in a smaller package, Scorpion is the one to try.
Frequently asked questions
Can you move a King to an empty column in Spider?
Yes — an empty column accepts any card or movable run, and Kings are the most common tenants since they can never be placed on another card. Just commit deliberately: a King in an empty column occupies it until its whole run is completed and swept.
What happens when you complete a run in Spider Solitaire?
The full King-to-Ace same-suit run is removed from the board automatically the instant it forms — whether by your move or by a stock deal. If a face-down card sat beneath it, that card flips face up. Collect eight removed runs and you win.
Can a run be completed on top of face-down cards?
Yes. The sweep only checks the top thirteen cards of the column. The run lifts off, and the face-down card underneath turns over — completing a run this way is one of the best moves in the game, since it clears thirteen cards and reveals information at once.
How does scoring work in Spider Solitaire?
You start at 500 points. Every move — including each click of the stock — costs 1 point, and every completed run earns 100. The score floors at zero, so the theoretical maximum is 500 plus 800 minus your move count.
How many times can you deal from the stock in Spider?
Five. The stock holds 50 cards and each deal places one card on each of the ten columns. There are no redeals — after the fifth deal the board holds all 104 cards.
Can you place a card on one of a different suit in Spider?
Yes — placement ignores suit entirely; only the rank must be one lower than the target. But picking cards up requires a single-suit descending run, so every off-suit placement creates a stack you must dismantle card by card later.
Can you win Spider with cards still in the stock?
No. Winning requires eight complete 13-card runs, which is all 104 cards — so every stock deal must have been made. If the game feels won early, the deals still have to come out, and each one can disturb your columns.
Which suits are used in 1 and 2 suit Spider?
One-suit Spider uses eight copies of spades. Two-suit Spider uses four copies each of spades and hearts. The deck is always eight 13-card sequences — difficulty changes how many distinct suits those sequences wear.
Related rulebooks
- Scorpion rules — same-suit moves with a sting in the tail
- Solitaire rules — the classic klondike patience game
- Yukon rules — no stock, move any group — dig them out
- Crescent rules — two decks, 16 piles, three lucky shuffles
Last reviewed 2026-08-05 · play Spider online free