Spider Solitaire: 1, 2 or 4 Suited Flush Card Game

Play Spider Solitaire Game Online

Children and parents can play this classic spider solitaire card game by clicking in the window below.

Alternatively kids and adults can play this virtual spider solitaire card game for free as a web application .

Classic Spider Solitaire Card Game Play Instructions

• Starting the Game
  • Click on the green play button with the arrow on the game’s welcome screen.
  • Choose a difficulty level:
    • One Suit Solitaire: Easy mode uses only spades.
    • Two Suits Solitaire: Medium mode uses spades and hearts.
    • Four Suits Solitaire: Hard mode uses spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs.
  • The game screen has five buttons across the top:
    • Top left: maximize screen.
    • Top right: deal again, rules, sound control & exit game.
• How To Play Spider Solitaire
  • Game goal: win in the least number of moves possible!
  • Remove all the cards from the ten stacks.
  • You must remove these cards from the bottom & work your way up on each stack in sequence (Ace-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-Jack-Queen-King) to form a Royal Flush. Place the cards in a Royal Flush, king To ace in the same suit, in descending order to remove that sequence from play.
  • When all cards have been removed and the table is cleared, the game has been won.
  • Suits do not matter when you choose the easy mode, which is one suit. Suits matter in medium (2 suit) and in hard mode (4 suit).
• Scoring
  • You earn 100 points by achieving a Royal Flush (which is stacking 13 cards in the same suit in descending order (king, queen, jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 & ace).
  • You lose one point for every move you make.
  • Your moves and score are shown at the top left of the screen.
  • The mathematically highest possible score is 1,254.
    • You start with 500 points and gain 100 points for each of the 8 foundations built, yielding 1,300 points.
    • The minimum number of moves you must make to expose all cards is 46 if you were dealt the cards in perfect order.
    • It is exceptionally uncommon to score above 1,200.
• Strategy
  • Build sequences of cards by following suit.
    • These suits can then be moved as a unit, allowing you to expose a hidden card or expose an empty pile.
  • Try to expose hidden cards, when possible.
    • Uncovering hidden cards opens up possible moves.
    • It is also the way to create an empty place to move other cards to.
    • If the same card is on two different stack positions it is typically better to pull from the stack with fewer cards on it so that you can create an empty space.
      • For example, if you wanted to lay a queen of hearts and you had one showing with 5 face-down cards above it and another showing with only 1 card above it then you would want to take from the stack with fewer cards.
  • Build on higher cards first.
    • If you start with a low card, the sequence will be finished with an ace very quickly and then it may be stuck. Starting from higher cards allows us to get maximum advantage.
    • Making stacks starting with low cards is fine if they are of the same suit, as you can then move the entire stack onto a higher numbered card. But if the sequential cards are from different suits then you typically want to avoid stacking them on top of each other unless it creates an empty row or helps you make other important moves in either way.
  • You can not move “out of suit” sequences as a unit to another pile.
    • This sequence is of little use except as a temporary storage for cards on other piles or allowing you to create an empty placement on the board to move cards to.
    • In some cases it will make sense to intentionally lay out of suit cards if it enables you to create other longer sequences elsewhere or complete a royal flush.
    • You typically should want to complete moving in suit cards in order before laying any out of suit cards.
    • If you are playing a 4 suited spider solitaire game, then when possible it is best to make out of suit lays be from the opposite color so it is easier to see the visual breaks in card streaks by suit at a glance.
    • Games with more suits in them will require more out of suit lays to beat. On medium you may need to make a few out of suit lays in a game, whereas on hard mode you will need to make dozens of them.
      • Rather than having many somewhat ugly stacks you are better off having a couple *REALLY* ugly stacks and trying to make a free space or two which can then be used to re-organize the cards and clean up the mess.
  • Expose as many cards and get them arranged in suit order before dealing the next cards from the stock.
    • The stock is the pile of cards at the bottom of the screen. There are 5 groups of cards in the reserve. Each reserve group contains 10 cards which go onto the 10 columns on the board.
  • Empty piles
    • If you have an empty pile you can move any individual card or same-suit run of sequential cards into the empty pile’s location.
    • You can not deal more cards from the reserve while an empty pile location exists. You must first move cards to that location before dealing more reserve cards.
  • Adjust your aggression based on play results.
    • If you are doing exceptionally well and were able to turn over 2/3 of the cards before pulling from the reserve it may make sense to play conservatively.
    • If you are struggling to make progress and/or have few cards left in reserve it may make sense to take more chances with putting off-suit cards on stacks to expose more of the underlying piles.
      • Likewise if you are desperate for creating an empty pile position.
  • Special considerations for kings
    • Every card other than a king can be moved onto another pile.
      • That creates flexibility for all other cards including the ability to lay out of suit.
      • For kings you can not lay them out of suit on another pile, making kings a bit of a roadblock.
    • Kings can only be moved onto empty pile placements or off the board by creating a royal flush.
      • Depending on the board layout in some cases you will want to make royal flushes in different sequences. For example:
        • If a king has no cards under it you would usually want to make a royal flush in that position as you can then create an empty space to move any other cards to.
        • You usually would want to make a royal flush from the stack which has the fewest cards in it, though sometimes you need to remove a specific king to take advantage of the run of cards underneath it to use them to make another royal flush.
  • Other versions of this game.
    • Here’s a useful video demonstrating Spider Solitaire strategy for the two suits version of the game.
    • Microsoft Solitaire is perhaps the most widely played solitaire game.
      • One feature they have which this game does not is an undo button.
      • An undo button allows a person to be more aggressive with laying out of suit cards with very little risk. A game without an undo button forces one to play using more discipline.
• Trivia
  • Spider solitaire originated in 1949. The name of the game comes from the 8 legs a spider has and the 8 foundations a player would need to build to win the game.
  • This game has many other variants beyond the number of suits played.
    • Gigantic Spider: 4 decks instead of 2.
    • Relaxed Spider: allows redealing with empty spaces
    • Spiderette: Uses one pack and the the Klondike layout, with 7 stacks ranging from 1 to 7 cards.
    • Siderwort: 3 decks
    • Simple Simon: one-deck variant where all cards are dealt face up. It includes the Klondike layout and then an additional 3 stacks with 8 cards each.
    • Mrs. Mop: all cards are dealt face up (making the game similar to freecell).

Spider Solitaire Download

• This game is a lightweight JavaScript web application. You can download it while at home or work over a wired or wifi internet connection.
  • The game will stay in your web browser of your desktop computer, laptop, tablet or Android or Apple cell phone even if you go offline.
  • The game can also be downloaded to your mobile phone over a cellular connection without needing to install an app on your device.

Like This Spider Solitaire Game? Review This Online Virtual Solitaire Card Game

Spider Solitaire Card Game Play & Rules Screenshots

CardGames.pro published this Spider Solitaire on July 2, 2021