01104 CARDS. TEN COLUMNS.
How do you set up one-suit Spider Solitaire?
Use eight copies of every spade rank, ace through king: 104 distinct cards in total. Physical one-suit practice needs multiple packs or a specially prepared set. Two standard packs instead give a four-suit Spider game, which has additional suit restrictions.
Deal six cards to each of the first four columns and five to each of the other six. Only each column’s last card starts face up. That puts 54 cards on the tableau and leaves fifty in the stock. This is the common digital opening, rather than the alternative fifty-card opening found in some printed rules.
Eight empty home spaces receive completed runs. There are no free cells, waste pile or ace-up foundations. On phones the ten columns scroll sideways within the table.
ONE RANK DOWN. ANY EMPTY SPACE.
Which cards can move in Spider Solitaire?
A face-up card may go onto a face-up card exactly one rank higher. Put a seven on an eight, or a queen on a king. Suits are all spades in this version. Matching ranks do not stack and there is no ace-to-king wrap.
You may move a complete descending face-up run as a unit. For example, nine–eight–seven can go onto a ten. Select the nine to move all three; select the seven to move only that card. If a break in rank appears below the selected card, the whole group cannot move together.
Any movable card or run may fill an empty column; an empty space does not require a king. You cannot move a column onto itself. When a move exposes a face-down card, it turns up automatically.
KING TO ACE. TOGETHER.
When does a Spider run move home?
A complete face-up sequence of thirteen spades, descending king through ace at the end of one column, moves home automatically. Those thirteen cards are then out of play. Any hidden card exposed by removing the run turns face up.
A partial run stays in the tableau. Aces are the low end: they cannot receive another card. Completing one run does not win the whole deal; all eight runs must be removed.
In two- and four-suit versions, only same-suit descending groups move together or complete a home run, even though individual cards can be placed by rank across suits. This page’s playable version uses one suit throughout.
FILL THE GAPS. THEN DEAL TEN.
How do stock deals work?
Choose Deal ten to put one new face-up card on every column, from left to right. You have five stock deals of ten cards. The new cards may interrupt descending runs until you rearrange them.
Every column must contain at least one card before you deal. Fill empty columns first; the browser rejects a stock deal while any space remains. You can deal even when a tableau move is available, but the extra cards may make a useful run harder to access.
There is no stock recycle, waste draw or partial final deal in this version. All fifty stock cards must eventually enter play to complete all 104 cards.
EIGHT RUNS. EVERY CARD HOME.
How do you win Spider Solitaire?
Complete eight king-to-ace runs to win. The stock and tableau will then be empty. Random deals are shuffled without a solvability check, so a new deal is not promised to be winnable.
Hint selects one legal source and names a destination; it does not search a route to victory or read hidden values. If no move is found, the message explains whether a stock deal may still be possible. Undo reverses one action, including a stock deal or automatic completed run. Restart repeats the same deal.
There is no timer, move penalty or saved win record. Four lessons use short positions; full play uses all 104 cards. Switching tabs pauses practice. Reloading or leaving clears it.
ONE SUIT. A STATED START.
Which Spider rules does this page use?
Our version has ten columns, a 54-card initial tableau, all-spade cards, any-rank empty-column filling, automatic full-run removal and no dealing into empty columns. Other implementations may permit stock deals with gaps or use different opening layouts; agree those details when playing elsewhere.
Use New deal for a fresh shuffle after confirmation, or Restart for the existing layout. Hints are legal-move aids rather than a claim of expert strategy.
Reference: Solitaired’s Spider rules. Original explanations and prepared teaching positions. Our browser variation is specified here. Reviewed 30 October 2026.
