Spider

The rules, in full

Spider uses 104 cards — two decks — and one, two or four suits. The button beside New switches between them (S on a keyboard) and deals a fresh game. You start on one suit, and the game remembers what you chose.

• One suit: every card is a spade, eight complete runs from Ace to King.
• Two suits: spades and hearts, four runs of each.
• Four suits: two ordinary decks, two runs of every suit.

Fifty-four cards go into ten columns. The first four get six cards, the other six get five, and only the bottom card of each is face up. The remaining 50 wait in the deck, enough for five more rows.

The goal is eight complete sequences, each running from King down to Ace in one suit. When the eighth is finished, the deal is solved.

• Placing is generous. Any card can go on a card one rank higher, whatever its suit: a 6 on any 7.
• Lifting is strict. You can only pick up a run that descends by one and shares a single suit.
• An empty column takes anything, a single card or a whole run.
• The deck deals a whole row. One tap puts a face-up card on each of the ten columns. It refuses while any column is empty, and the game tells you why.
• A finished sequence leaves by itself. The moment a column ends in a complete King-to-Ace run, those 13 cards move to the row at the top.
• A face-down card turns over by itself as soon as nothing covers it.

There are no foundations to feed card by card and no free cells. Cards leave the table only as complete sequences.

Scoring

• 100 points for every completed sequence
• 5 points for every hidden card you turn over, including one uncovered when a sequence leaves

Ordinary moves and dealing a row neither add nor cost anything. Your best score is kept in this browser when you solve a deal, one for each number of suits: a four-suit score and a one-suit score measure different things.

One, two or four suits

The rules are the same at every level. One thing changes, and it is the thing that decides everything: placing a card ignores its suit, lifting a run does not.

With one suit, every descending run is also a run you can move, so the game is mostly about order. It is the level to start on.

With two suits you can put a 6 of hearts on a 7 of spades, but from then on the two cards will not lift together. The table fills with runs that are right in number and wrong in suit, and the game becomes choosing which legal move not to make. Most players think it is the best version.

With four suits that happens on almost every move. It is the level for people who already know the game well, and plenty of deals are lost even when played well: use Undo without shame.

Strategy that actually helps

Build long, tidy runs. A run from King to 7 in one suit is one object you can move, and it is already half of a finished sequence.

With more suits, place on the same suit when you can. If a 6 could go on either of two 7s, pick the one that matches it: the other is a legal move that will cost you a run to break up later. Tapping a card already makes that choice for you.

Go after the face-down cards. Most of the deal starts hidden. A move that turns a card over gives you a new option and 5 points; a move that only shuffles face-up cards gives you neither.

Treat an empty column as your most valuable space. It accepts any card, so it lets you split a run, reorder a column or dig out a buried card. Do not fill it with a lone card you have no plan for.

Deal only when you are out of useful moves. Each deal covers every column and the runs you built. Move everything you can first, and remember the deck will not deal until every column holds at least one card.

Watch the Kings. Nothing goes on a King, and a King can only move into an empty column. A King sitting on face-down cards blocks them until a column opens up.

Undo and hints

Undo steps back one move at a time, up to 400 steps, including a deal from the deck and a sequence that left the table. The hint button (H) highlights the move the game rates best. It never suggests dealing a row: that choice stays with you.

Spider needs no automatic finish, because a sequence leaves the moment it is complete. If the game says there are no moves left, undo a few steps and try another line, or start a new deal.

A little history

Spider is a two-pack patience, usually counted among the harder classic solitaires. It is often said to have been a favourite of Franklin D. Roosevelt, though the story is hard to confirm. Many people met it on a computer: Microsoft included it in the Plus! add-on for Windows 98, and later versions of Windows shipped it as standard, already with the choice of one, two or four suits. If you would rather play with one pack and alternating colours, try Klondike.

Common questions

Is it free? Yes. It runs in your browser, with no signup and nothing to download.

Does it work on a phone? Yes. Drag a run with a finger, or tap a card to send it to the best column, and tap the deck to deal. It works in portrait and landscape.

Can I play two-suit Spider? Yes, and four-suit too. The button beside New goes from one suit to two to four, and each change deals a fresh game. On a keyboard it is S.

How many decks does it use? Two, always: 104 cards at every level. Only the number of suits inside them changes.

Can I install it? Yes. Bananai can be installed as an app from the browser, and a game you have already opened usually keeps working when the connection drops.