Overview
Spider Solitaire is a much more difficult version of traditional solitaire where players must make full sequences (King to Ace) of a single suit on the table in order to move cards to the foundation piles.
Multiplayer: All players (up to 12) are given the same tableau, and the winner is whoever finishes the game in the fewest moves.
Summary
- Sequences can be made up of any combination of suits and colors
- Only sequences of a single suit can be moved
- Use the draw pile to play a single card onto the bottom of every tableau
- There are eight sequences in total
Presets
- One Suit: All cards are Spades, giving 8 sequences of Spades
- Two Suit: Half the cards are Spades and half are Hearts, giving 4 sequences of each suit
- Four Suit: All four suits are used, giving 2 sequences of each suit
Play Multiplayer Spider Solitaire Online
The Deck and the Deal
Spider Solitaire is played with 104 cards, the equivalent of two decks combined. The composition of the deck depends on the preset being played (refer to the presets section above).
No matter the composition of the deck, the cards are always dealt out in 10 tableaus (also called cascades, columns of overlapping cards, with the bottom card available for play), 4 of six cards and 6 of five cards face down, except the bottom card which is dealt face up. The remaining 50 cards are placed to one side in a draw pile.
There are also 8 slots for foundation piles, one for every complete sequence to be constructed.
How to Play
Cards can be moved onto any card of the next highest value. The objective is to create sequences, a group of cards arranged in numerical order running from King to Ace. When a sequence is completed, it is automatically moved to one of the foundation piles.
Whenever a face down card is exposed at the bottom of a tableau, it is turned face up.
Existing sequences of any length can be moved to create longer sequences, provided all cards in the moving sequence are of a single suit and the topmost card of the sequence being moved can be played onto the exposed bottom card of a tableau following the same rules as for single cards.
Any card can be played into an empty tableau slot.
At any point, as long as there is at least one card in every tableau, the draw pile can be used to play one card face up onto the bottom of every tableau.
The Undo button in the bottom left corner will undo the previous move and can be used repeatedly to undo a whole sequence of moves.
Winning
The game ends when either all the cards have been moved into the foundation piles, or the player can find no way to proceed. The game is also scored based on how many moves the player took to solve it.
Solitaire Basics
As the name implies, Solitaire games are typically games that one can play alone, however at CardzMania we also allow solitaire games to be played in parallel with multiple players. Solitaire begins by building a grid of cards called a Tableau. The Tableau, or Cascade, is a set of 7 piles of overlapping cards. The first pile has 1 card, the second pile has 2 cards, and so on. Only the bottom card in each pile is facing upward. The remaining deck forms the discard and draw piles. The goal of solitaire games is to move cards from the tableau, discard, and draw piles into four suited piles (called the foundations) in ascending order (Ace to King).
Foundation Piles
The Foundations are four piles (one for each suit) above the Tableau. Cards in a Foundation Pile must be in ascending order (starting with an Ace and ending with a King) and all be in the same suit. At the start of the game, the Foundations are empty.
Tableau
The Tableau, or Cascade, is a set of 7 piles of overlapping cards that the player creates at the start of a game. The first pile has 1 card, the second pile has 2 cards, and so on. Only the bottom card in each pile is facing upward. Cards can be transferred from the discard pile onto the Tableau if the faced up cards follow a descending order (King to Ace) and an alternate color pattern (red and black). When all of the faced up cards are transferred to another pile, the bottom card is flipped over. If a Tableau pile runs out, a new one can be started with a King.
Sequence
A group of cards arranged in numerical order. In Solitaire games, cards are typically played onto the next highest cards, such as Eights onto Nines, or Jacks onto Queens. Sequences of cards can often be moved together as if they were the highest value card in the sequence, but the rules governing this vary between games.
Cells
Slots into which a single card can be played and later played back onto the table. The number of cells in use can impact on other facets of the game.
Draw Pile
The Draw Pile, or Stock, is the remaining deck after the player creates the Tableau. It is set to the side and faces downward.
Discard Pile
Card Game Basics
A deck of cards consists of 52 cards, with 4 distinctive subgroups. Each of these subgroups is recognised by a symbol and are referred to as suits. They consist of Clubs, Spades, Hearts and Diamonds. Each suit contains 13 cards which, generally, are considered in this order, Ace (A), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, Jacks (J), Queen (Q) and King (K). Some games include the two Jokers found in a standard deck but most games don't.
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