How to play Spider Solitaire

The goal is to clear the table by building eight runs, each from King down to Ace in one suit. A finished run leaves the table on its own.

The table

Spider uses two full decks, 104 cards. Ten columns are dealt at the start, 54 cards in all, and only the last card of each column is face up. The other 50 cards wait in the stock for five later deals.

Above the columns are eight foundation spaces, one for each run you complete.

Moving cards

You can move any face-up card onto a card one rank higher, whatever its suit. To move several cards together, they must be in order and all of the same suit.

The run 7, 6, 5 of hearts moves together onto the 8 of spades.

Drag a card or run to another column, or click it (tap it on a phone) to send it to the best place. When you move the last face-up card off a column, the card beneath it turns over.

Empty columns

Any card or run can go into an empty column, Kings included. A King cannot go anywhere else, so an empty column is the only way to move one.

A King, or a run that starts with one, can only move into an empty column.

Dealing from the stock

When you are stuck, deal one new card onto every column. Each column must hold at least one card first. The number under the stock shows how many deals are left.

Each deal puts one new card on every column.

Completing runs and winning

When a column ends in a full run from King to Ace in one suit, the run moves to the foundations by itself. Complete all eight runs to win the hand.

Once every card is face up, Auto-complete can finish the hand for you. You can switch it off in Settings.

Undo, Hint and the score

Undo takes back your last move, one move at a time.
Hint shows one move you can make, with an arrow from the card to its new place, or suggests a deal.
You start with 500 points. Every move costs one point, including deals and undos, and every completed run adds 100.

Keyboard

ZorCtrl+ZUndo
HHint
NNew game
DorSpaceDeal from the stock
EscMenu
TabGo to the columns
←or→Choose a column
EnterorSpacePick up or put down a run

Space deals from the stock unless a column has focus; then it picks up or puts down a run, like Enter. Cmd+Z also undoes on a Mac. The shortcuts are listed in the menu too, so you never need to remember them.