Spider Solitaire is what happens when patience games stop being polite. Two full decks, ten columns, and a single goal, assemble eight complete king-to-ace runs, each in one suit, make it the longest and deepest game in the solitaire family, and the version you can play free here scales from gentle one-suit introductions to the four-suit gauntlet that humbles everyone.
How it plays
You build descending sequences anywhere, but only single-suit runs move as a block, an all-spades 9-8-7 travels together, while a mixed-suit stack is furniture. When you run out of moves, the stock deals a fresh card onto every column, burying your tidy work under a new layer. Complete a full suit run and it lifts off the board, freeing precious space. The rhythm is unmistakable once you feel it: organize, deal, recover, repeat, a campaign rather than a hand.
What works
The difficulty dial is the genius: one suit teaches the shape of the game, two suits demand genuine bookkeeping, four suits is among the hardest widely played solitaires on earth, and all three are the same rules. Long sessions earn their length, an endgame where the last hidden cards surface and eight runs assemble feels like landing a plane. And empty columns, the game's workbenches, create the most satisfying resource management in any card game: everything good in Spider flows through a column you managed to clear and defend.
What does not
Spider takes twenty to forty minutes seriously played, which is a commitment the coffee-break formats never ask. The stock deal mechanic can feel brutal, one deal can bury fifteen minutes of organization, and while that is the game working as designed, it is not for the easily tilted. Four-suit win rates without undo are humbling to the point of comedy; treat undo as a legitimate tool, not a confession.
My verdict
The thinking player's long game: Klondike is a hand of cards, FreeCell is a puzzle, and Spider is a project. If you have a quiet half hour and the urge to impose order on chaos, nothing in the family satisfies like it. Start at two suits, that is where the real game lives, and our two-suit strategy guide will meet you there.
Play Spider Solitaire free →Pros
- Deepest strategy in the solitaire family
- Perfect difficulty ladder: 1, 2 or 4 suits
- Long games that earn their length
- Empty-column play is uniquely satisfying
Cons
- Sessions run 20-40 minutes
- Stock deals can bury careful work
- Four-suit mode is punishingly hard
FAQ
Which suit count should I play in Spider?
Two suits, for most people: one-suit is a pleasant untangling exercise, four-suit is expert territory with humbling win rates, and two-suit delivers the full strategic game at survivable difficulty.
Why can't I move sequences I built across suits?
Only single-suit runs move as blocks, that is Spider's core rule. Mixed-suit builds are legal but frozen, so in-suit building is always the priority and off-suit stacking is short-term parking at best.
When should I deal from the stock?
Last resort only: each deal buries every column under a new card. Exhaust every useful move first, and never deal while an empty column or a big in-suit transfer is available, those are exactly what the deal destroys.