Why a garden spider?

Spider is a patience game about long runs. You build eight of them, each from King down to Ace in one suit, and each one leaves the table when it’s done. A spider has eight legs. The game was already halfway to a picture.

So a garden spider lives in the corner of the table. At the start she has only the frame and spokes of her web. Every run you finish gives her one more strand, spun from the outside in. Finish all eight and the web is complete, with dew on the threads.

A bit of real spider solitaire history

Spider is played with two packs of cards, 104 in all. The name is usually explained by the spider’s eight legs, which match the eight runs you need to finish.

The game is older than computers. The writer W. Somerset Maugham mentions playing it, with no luck at all, in his 1930 travel book The Gentleman in the Parlour. In 1949 Albert Morehead and Geoffrey Mott-Smith described it in The Complete Book of Solitaire and Patience Games, with the 54-card layout most versions still use. They put a skilled player’s chances at about one win in three.

Microsoft first put Spider Solitaire on Windows computers in the Plus! 98 pack in 1998. It then came with Windows Me in 2000 and with Windows XP. It had three levels: one suit, two suits or four suits. That is the choice you get here too.

Some deals can’t be won at all. So we had a computer solver win every deal on our list first. The solver could see the face-down cards, which you can’t, so the deals near the end of each list are still tough.

One suit, two suits, four suits

• 1 suit. All 104 cards are spades. Every run you build can move as a group, so most deals are friendly. Start here.
• 2 suits. Spades and hearts. A heart still stacks on a spade, but the two won’t move together, so you have to sort them.
• 4 suits. Two full packs. Mixed stacks get stuck fast and every empty column counts. This is the hard one.

How to play

• Ten columns are dealt, with the top card of each face up. The other 50 cards wait in the deck.
• Put any card on a card one rank higher, like a 6 on any 7.
• A group of cards moves together only if it’s one suit and in order.
• A full run from King to Ace in one suit leaves the table on its own.
• Tap the deck to deal one card onto every column. You can deal 5 times, and every column needs a card first.
• Tap a card to send it to the best spot, tap again for the next spot, or drag it. Undo as often as you like.
• Win 3 one-suit deals to open 2 suits, then 3 two-suit deals to open 4 suits.
• Stars: 3 for a win with no hints in par moves or fewer, 2 for up to 3 hints, 1 for any win.
• Sound is on to start. Tap 🔊 to mute, or 🎵 for music.
• Earn 3 stickers in this game for your QuickBOP sticker book.

Tips

Turn over hidden cards first. Every face-down card you uncover gives you more choices. Given two moves, pick the one that uncovers a card.

Build in suit when you can. A 7♠ on an 8♠ can travel with it later. A 7♠ on an 8♥ has to come off before the 8♥ can go anywhere.

Treat empty columns as gold. Any card can go into one, so an empty column lets you untangle a mixed stack. Fill it again before you deal.

Deal when you’re stuck, not before. Each deal drops a card on every column and can bury a run you were building. Tidy up first.

Your turn

Deal 1 with one suit is the gentlest deal on the list. Deal the cards at the top of this page and help the spider spin her first strand.