How to Play Simple Simon Solitaire
Simple Simon deals the whole deck face up. There is no stock, no waste pile and not a single hidden card, so from the opening you can see where every card is. What you cannot do is reach most of them yet. The 52 cards sit in 10 uneven columns, and you have to untangle them into 4 suits, each running from King to Ace.
The rules come from Spider, but with one deck, nothing face down and nothing left to deal, a game of Simple Simon is a puzzle you can study before touching anything. Spiderette, the other single-deck Spider game, keeps the hidden cards and the stock. The types of solitaire guide shows where both sit in the wider family.
Ten uneven columns
All 52 cards are dealt face up into 10 columns. The first three get 8 cards each, then the lengths step down through 7, 6, 5, 4, 3 and 2 to a single card in column 10. Nothing is held back, so no new cards ever arrive. Finished suits go to the row of 4 spaces at the top.
The three long columns on the left hold 24 cards between them, almost half the deck, and the first cards dealt into those piles are the hardest to reach. The short columns on the right are where your first empty column will usually come from.
Placing and moving cards
Moving cards from one column to another is the only kind of move. A card can go on any card one rank higher, so the 3 of spades is welcome on the 4 of clubs. To pick up several cards at once, though, they must all be one suit, stepping down a rank at a time to the end of the column. A full King-to-Ace suit is lifted off the table as soon as it comes together, with no foundation to play to.
The 3 and the 4 now touch, but they are not a unit. Select the 3 and only the 3 lifts. The 4 of clubs stays where it is until the spade has gone somewhere else.
Planning from the opening
With every card in view, your first job is to read the deal. Look for short columns whose cards already have somewhere to go, and for cards of one suit that are close to joining up. In this deal the work starts on the right. The 3 of spades, alone in column 10, can go onto the 4 of clubs at the end of column 2. Column 9 holds only the 2 of spades and the 9 of clubs: the 9 goes onto the 10 of hearts in column 5, and the 2 follows the 3 of spades.
Three moves have emptied columns 9 and 10. The hearts come next. The 7 of hearts goes onto the 8 of hearts in column 8, and then the two move together onto the 9 of clubs in column 5. The 6 of hearts from column 1 and the 5 of hearts from column 3 follow, so after 10 moves column 5 ends in the 8, 7, 6 and 5 of hearts. Simple Simon starts you at 500 points, takes a point for each move and adds 100 for each finished suit, so the score at that point is 490.
The same reading works in every deal. For each suit, find the King and see what is covering the cards it needs. Start with the suit whose missing cards are closest to the exposed ends of their columns, and look for pairs such as a 6 and 5 of clubs that one move would join. A suited pair becomes a packet you can move later. An off-suit 6-on-7 build does not.
What to do with an empty column
An empty column accepts a single card of any rank or a packet that could legally move as a group. There is no King-only rule as in Scorpion Solitaire, and because there is no stock, nothing ever forces you to fill it. You can leave it open for as long as it is useful.
Kings are the reason to think twice. A King can never be placed on another card, so the only way to shift one is into an empty column. A King at the bottom of a column, like the King of clubs that starts column 3 in this deal, never has to move: the lower clubs can be built onto it where it is. A lone King covering cards you need is different. Plan a space for it before you need what is under it.
Otherwise, use the space for a specific transfer. Hold one card there while two pieces of a suit are joined, or take a short packet off a long column so the next card can be played. A mixed pile dropped into the gap cannot leave in one move, and then the space is gone.
Working through the long columns
Once the easy suits are gone, the game comes down to the deep piles on the left. Every move should do one of three things: join cards of the same suit, shorten a column you can empty soon or free a card that another packet is waiting for. A move that only makes a pile longer can leave the table looking tidier and moving less.
The shortest column is not always the quickest to clear. A 2-card column whose cards have nowhere to go can take longer than a 4-card column holding two ready-made transfers. Count the moves before you commit.
Avoid racing one suit to the finish while the other three seize up. Several short same-suit packets usually give you more choices than one long run surrounded by mixed piles. After each big transfer, look along all 10 exposed cards again, since a new join can open far from the column you just changed.
Common questions
Are all cards face up in Simple Simon?
Yes. All 52 cards are visible from the deal. Simple Simon has no face-down cards, stock or waste pile.
Does suit matter when you place a card?
Not for a single card, where only the rank has to fit. Suit matters when you want to move several cards together: they must all be one suit in descending order.
Is there a stock in Simple Simon?
No. Every card is dealt at the start, so nothing new arrives and you can leave an empty column open as long as you like.
How many cards are in each column?
From left to right the columns hold 8, 8, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 cards.
Can every Simple Simon deal be won?
Most can. A computer study found 97.45% of Simple Simon deals winnable (Blake and Gent, Solvitaire). With every card face up, a player has the same information the computer had. Every Winnable deal on the site has a known solution. How we check that a deal can be won.
How do you win Simple Simon?
Finish all 4 suits as King-to-Ace runs. Each one leaves the table when it is complete, and the game ends when the last one goes.