There are thousands and thousands of card games worldwide, but only a handful are as popular, addictive, and easy to play as spider solitaire. Spider solitaire is a simple game that you can enjoy on your computer, smartphone, or with two decks of cards. This game is ideal for someone looking to calm their mind from the grinds of everyday life. This article will cover the general concept of spider solitaire, the setup, and the gameplay.

The Concept of Spider Solitaire

Spider solitaire is a type of solitaire card game that requires two decks of cards to play. The name of this game emanates from the eight legs of a spider, which represents the eight sequences or runs that you need to fill for you to win. The game’s objective is to arrange cards of the same suit in the tableau (the setup) from a king card down to an ace. This arrangement is known as a sequence or a run, and for you to win, you need to complete eight runs.

Levels in Spider Solitaire

Spider solitaire has three difficulty levels. In the first level, you will only be arranging cards in one suit, for example, spades. You won’t have to worry about diamonds, hearts, or clubs. The second level is a bit more challenging since you will be dealing with two suits of different colors. The third level is for experts, and it contains the four suits in a standard deck of cards.

The Setup

To play spider solitaire, you need two 52-card decks. If you are playing online, the spider solitaire site will automatically generate a setup for you. But if you are using real cards, here is a guide on how to set it up yourself:

  1. Take your two decks and shuffle them together.
  2. Place one row of ten cards faced down in a horizontal line.
  3. Place four more rows of ten cards each on top of the cards in the first column. All cards should be face down.
  4. Add one more row of four cards to the first four columns counting from the left.
  5. Flip the top card in each of the ten columns so that it is faced up.
  6. The card setup contains 54 cards. The first four columns have six cards each, while the other six columns have five each. After creating the card setup, you will have 50 cards remaining in the stockpile.

How to Play

Remember that the idea in spider solitaire is to arrange cards of the same suit in descending order from a king to an ace. You can move cards within the setup by placing them on a card of a higher rank. For example, you can take a four of spades and set it on a five of spades.

If you are playing a level with more than one suit, you can arrange cards of different suits in the setup – for example, an eight of spades to a seven of clubs to a six of hearts. To finish a run, you have to create a sequence of cards in the same suit.

If you have no more moves in the setup, take ten cards in the stockpile and place each card on a column. Try not to take cards from the pile until you have no further moves. When bringing in a new row from the stockpile, all ten columns must contain a card. Feel free to place any card on an empty column.

To Sum Up

You are now familiar with how to play Spider Solitaire. Why don’t you try a free spider solitaire game? The first few games might be challenging, but with some practice, you’ll become a pro!