How to Play Spider Solitaire — A Complete Beginner’s Guide

Updated May 17, 2026 · 8-minute read

Spider Solitaire is one of the most popular Solitaire card games in the world, and learning how to play Spider Solitaire takes only a few minutes. This beginner’s guide walks through Spider Solitaire rules, the tableau setup, valid moves, stock deals, and the basic strategy you need to win your first Spider Solitaire game online — whether you’re playing Spider Solitaire 1 Suit, 2 Suits, or the classic 4 Suits expert mode.

What Is Spider Solitaire?

Spider Solitaire is a single-player patience card game played with two standard decks — 104 cards in total. The goal of Spider Solitaire is to build eight complete same-suit sequences from King down to Ace and clear them to the foundation. Spider Solitaire is also known simply as “Spider” and is one of the most-played free online Solitaire games on desktop, mobile, and tablet.

Unlike Klondike Solitaire — where you build alternating-color sequences onto a foundation card by card — Spider Solitaire only moves a sequence to the foundation when the full King-to-Ace run is complete in one suit. That single rule is what makes Spider Solitaire feel different from every other Solitaire variant.

Spider Solitaire Setup: The Tableau, Stock, and Foundation

When you start a new Spider Solitaire game, the 104-card deck is dealt into three areas:

The tableau. Ten columns of cards across the playing area. The leftmost four columns hold six cards each; the remaining six columns hold five cards each. Only the bottom card of each column starts face-up. That’s 54 cards on the tableau.
The stock. The remaining 50 cards sit in five face-down piles of 10. Tapping the stock deals one card face-up onto every column at once.
The foundation. Eight empty foundation slots where completed King-to-Ace runs are sent. Filling all eight is how you win Spider Solitaire.

Spider Solitaire Rules: How to Make a Valid Move

The core Spider Solitaire rules are short. To make a valid move:

You may move any face-up card on top of another column if the destination card is exactly one rank higher. A 7 can be placed on an 8, a Jack on a Queen, a 3 on a 4, and so on.
You may move a group of cards together if they already form a descending run. In Spider Solitaire 1 Suit, any descending run counts; in 2 Suits and 4 Suits modes, the run must be the same suit to move as a group.
You may move any face-up card or valid run into an empty column. Empty columns are extremely powerful in Spider Solitaire strategy.
A face-down card flips face-up automatically the moment it becomes the bottom card of its column.
When you complete a King-to-Ace same-suit sequence, those 13 cards are removed to the foundation and a face-down card (if any) below them flips face-up.

Spider Solitaire never forces you to play a specific move — every move is optional. That makes the game deeply strategic, because almost every move costs you either a point or a future option.

Dealing From the Stock in Spider Solitaire

When you get stuck and no moves help your position, you tap the stock pile. Spider Solitaire deals one face-up card onto every column at the same time, adding 10 more cards to the tableau. You can deal the stock up to five times per game — but only when every column has at least one card. If any column is empty, the stock is locked until you fill it.

That “no empty columns” restriction is the single biggest reason beginners lose Spider Solitaire games. Always make sure a stock deal is legal before you commit to clearing every face-down card in a column.

Spider Solitaire Difficulty: 1 Suit, 2 Suits, and 4 Suits

Most Spider Solitaire online games let you pick the difficulty:

Spider Solitaire 1 Suit — easiest mode. Every card is the same suit (usually spades). Win rates of 80%+ are common with experience. Read the 1 Suit guide.
Spider Solitaire 2 Suits — medium mode. Spades and hearts. Win rate falls to about 35–55% for skilled players. Read the 2 Suits strategy guide.
Spider Solitaire 4 Suits — expert mode. All four suits in play. Win rates for skilled players hover around 15–30%, and casual players win closer to 5%. Read the 4 Suits guide.

How to Win Your First Spider Solitaire Game

Here’s a beginner-friendly Spider Solitaire strategy that wins most 1 Suit games and gives you a real chance in 2 Suits:

Reveal face-down cards aggressively. Every face-down card you flip is information. Spider Solitaire is a game of information.
Empty columns first, deal stock second. A clean empty column lets you park any card or run, which often unlocks four or five other moves.
Don’t break a same-suit run unless you have to. Breaking a 9♠-8♠ to put the 8 on a 9♥ feels productive in 4 Suits mode, but you’ll regret it within three moves.
Plan the stock deal. Before tapping the stock, make sure no column is empty and no critical sequence is mid-build.
Use Undo and Hint freely while learning. Spider Solitaire isn’t a memory test. Use the hint button until the patterns are second nature.

Spider Solitaire Scoring

Most Spider Solitaire games use a 500-point starting score that decreases by one for each move and one every two seconds of clock time, then awards a 100-point bonus for each completed suit and 50 bonus points on victory. The fewer moves you make and the faster you finish, the higher your Spider Solitaire score. Pro tips and tricks here.

Where to Play Free Spider Solitaire Online

You can play Spider Solitaire free, with no download and no login, right here at spidersolitaire.xyz. The game runs in your browser, supports desktop and mobile, includes 1 Suit, 2 Suits, and 4 Suits modes, and has a daily Spider Solitaire challenge, achievements, XP levels, and an opt-in god-mode panel for relaxed play.

Ready to play? Start a free Spider Solitaire game now or browse the rest of the Spider Solitaire blog for strategy, tips, and history.