- How do you win at Spider solitaire?
- By building eight complete runs from king down to ace, each in a single suit, inside the columns. Every finished run is taken off the table, and the game is won when all eight are gone.
- What is the difference between one, two and four suits?
- The same 104 cards in more or fewer suits. One suit is two decks of spades and is usually winnable, which makes it the one to learn on. Two suits, spades and hearts, is the standard game. Four suits is the real thing, and hard.
- Why can't I move this run of cards?
- Because it is not all one suit. Any card may go on a card one rank higher, whatever its suit, but a run may only be moved together when every card in it is the same suit. A mixed pile has to be taken apart one card at a time.
- What can go in an empty column?
- Anything: a single card of any rank, or any run that could be moved. Unlike Klondike, it does not have to be a king.
- When can you deal from the stock?
- Whenever you like, as long as no column is empty. A deal puts one card face up on each of the ten columns, and the fifty cards of the stock give you five of them. Fill any empty column first.
- Can every game of Spider be won?
- Not every one. Most one-suit games can be won with care, but four suits is hard enough that even good players lose more games than they win.
- What is the best Spider strategy?
- Build in suit whenever you have the choice, even when an off-suit move looks tidier, because a mixed pile cannot be moved. Turn face-down cards over as early as you can, treat an empty column as the most valuable thing on the table, and deal from the stock only when you have run out of useful moves.