Spider is the two-deck solitaire where you build long runs from King down to Ace and clear them off the table. One suit is a gentle evening game. Four suits is a puzzle that beats strong players more often than not. Play it here free in your browser, on a computer or a phone, with no download and no sign-up.
Undo goes back up to 500 moves, Hint points you at a move when you are stuck, and your stats are saved. Every game has a deal number, so you can restart the same deal or come back to it later.
How to Play Spider Solitaire
Setup. Two decks, 104 cards, dealt into ten columns. The first four columns get six cards, the other six get five. Only the top card of each is face up. The other 50 cards sit in the stock in the top-right corner, waiting to be dealt ten at a time, five deals in all.
Goal. Build eight full runs of one suit, King down to Ace. A finished run leaves the table and stacks up in the top-left corner. Clear all eight and you have won.
Moves.
- Any card can go on a card one rank higher, in any suit. The 6♥ can go on the 7♠.
- Only a run of one suit moves as a unit. A 9♣ 8♣ 7♣ picks up together. A 9♣ 8♥ 7♣ does not: you would have to take the 7♣ off first.
- Any card or valid run can go into an empty column.
- Tap the stock to deal one card face up onto every column. Every column must have at least one card before you can deal.
- When you uncover a face-down card, it flips over and joins play.
Drag a card or run to move it, or tap it and it jumps to the best legal spot. Tap-to-move prefers a card of the same suit when there is one.
1, 2 or 4 Suits
Pick the number of suits with the buttons above the table. The rules do not change. The deck does.
- 1 suit (easy). All 104 cards are spades, so every run you build can move as one piece. Our solver won 99.8% of the one-suit deals it tried. If you lose one, it is almost always fixable with Undo.
- 2 suits (medium). Spades and hearts. Now putting the 7♥ on the 8♠ has a cost: those two will not move together until you split them again. The solver won 93% of these.
- 4 suits (hard). The full game. The solver, which can see the hidden cards, won only about 42% of deals within its limit. Losing here is normal. Winning one is worth remembering.
Want a one-deck game first? Klondike Solitaire is the classic place to start.
Spider Solitaire Strategy Tips
- Turn cards over first. When two moves look equal, take the one that flips a face-down card. Information is worth more than neatness.
- Get an empty column early. It is the strongest thing on the table. Go after the column with the fewest face-down cards, often one of the five-card columns on the right.
- Same suit beats any suit. If the 6♥ can go on the 7♥ or the 7♠, choose the 7♥. Mixed runs freeze.
- Use the empty column to sort, not to store. Example: the 8♥ 7♠ 6♠ sits in one column and the 9♥ is on top of another. Move 7♠ 6♠ into the empty column, put the 8♥ on the 9♥, then bring the 7♠ 6♠ back. The hearts are joined, whatever sat under the 8♥ is uncovered, and the empty column is free again.
- Don't drop a lone King into an empty column. A King can only ever move to an empty column, so it will sit there for good. Put a King there when it leads a run, or when there is nothing else.
- Deal when you are out of useful moves, not before. Every deal buries all ten columns under a new card. Make every same-suit join you can first, then deal.
- Ask what you are covering. In 2- and 4-suit games, a mixed card laid on a column can lock the cards under it for a long time.
- Use Undo to look ahead. Try a line three or four moves deep. If it goes nowhere, step back. That is how good Spider players learn a deal.
Stuck? Press Hint (or H) and the game highlights a move, or the stock when it is time to deal. If the solver finds a winning line from your position, the hint is the first move of that line. Otherwise it suggests the most useful-looking move. Our Spider strategy guide goes deeper, suit by suit.
A Little History
Spider has been dealt with real cards for well over a century. Most people met it on a computer, though: it shipped with Windows around the turn of the 2000s and became one of the most-played games on the PC. It is still one of the most popular solitaire games online.
Spider Solitaire FAQ
Is Spider Solitaire free to play here?
Yes. No download, no sign-up and no time limit. Open the page and play on your computer, tablet or phone.
What is the difference between 1, 2 and 4 suits?
The rules are the same; only the deck changes. With one suit every card is a spade, so any run you build can be moved as a unit. With two suits (spades and hearts) or four, a run only moves together if it is all one suit, and that is what makes the harder levels hard.
Can every Spider Solitaire deal be won?
Not every shuffle, especially at four suits. Our solver, which can see the face-down cards, won 99.8% of the one-suit deals it tried, 93% at two suits and about 42% at four suits within its search limit. New games here come from deals it has already won, so each one has a winning line, though you may still need Undo to find it. Turn off "Winnable deals only" in Settings for fully random shuffles. A deal you open by number can be any shuffle.
Why can't I deal from the stock?
Under standard Spider rules every column needs at least one card before you can deal. Put a card or a run into each empty column first, then tap the stock.
Can I move cards of different suits together?
You can put a card on any card one rank higher, whatever the suit. But a group of cards only moves together when they are the same suit and in order.
Is there an undo button, and are there hints?
Yes. Undo goes back up to 500 moves, and Hint (or the H key) points out a move, or the stock when dealing is the best option.
How many cards are in Spider Solitaire?
104 cards, two full decks. 54 are dealt to the ten columns and 50 stay in the stock for five deals of ten.
How is the score calculated?
Classic Windows scoring: you start with 500 points, every move or deal costs 1 point, and every completed King-to-Ace run earns 100.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes. Drag cards with your finger, or tap a card to send it to the best spot. Your stats and your current game are saved on that device.
Read more
- Odds of winning solitaire We ran thousands of deals through our own solver. Here is how often Klondike, Spider and FreeCell can be won, and what the numbers do and do not mean.
- Spider strategy Why an empty column is worth more than anything else on the table, when to deal from the stock, and how your plan should change as you add suits.
- Types of solitaire games Klondike, Spider, FreeCell, Pyramid, TriPeaks, Golf and four more, compared by difficulty, luck and time per game.
More solitaire games
- Klondike Solitaire The classic. Build four suits from Ace to King. Draw 1 or Draw 3, winnable deals.
- FreeCell Every card face up. Four free cells. Nearly every deal can be won.
- Pyramid Solitaire Pair cards that add up to 13 and clear the pyramid. Kings go alone. 1, 3 or unlimited passes.
- TriPeaks Solitaire Clear three peaks with cards one higher or lower. Long runs build a streak score.
- Golf Solitaire Seven columns, one waste pile. Play one rank up or down and finish with no cards left.
- Yukon Solitaire No stock to draw from. Move any face-up card with everything on top of it.
- Scorpion Solitaire Build same-suit runs from King to Ace. Move any face-up stack, one small deal.
- Forty Thieves Two decks, ten columns, one card at a time, one pass through the stock.
- Canfield Solitaire Empty the 13-card reserve. Foundations start at a random rank and wrap King to Ace.
- Baker’s Dozen Thirteen open columns, Kings tucked underneath. Build down in any suit, one card at a time.
- Beleaguered Castle The Aces start on the foundations. Eight open rows, single-card moves, no free cells.
- Eight Off FreeCell’s roomier cousin: eight free cells, same-suit building, Kings only in empty columns.
- La Belle Lucie Eighteen fans of cards, same-suit building and two reshuffles. Play it classic or with the merci.
- Accordion Solitaire Squeeze a row of 52 cards into one pile by matching suit or rank, one or three spaces to the left.
- All games