How to Play Spiderette Solitaire
Spiderette plays Spider on a 1-deck, 7-column table. You may place a card on the next higher rank regardless of suit. To lift several cards together, however, they must descend in 1 suit. This is the rule to check whenever a tidy-looking stack refuses to move: mixed suits can build together, but they do not travel together.
Your goal is to assemble 4 same-suit runs from King through Ace. Each complete run leaves the tableau automatically. This guide follows a real certified deal from its rising opening columns through the final 3-card stock packet. Keep Spiderette Solitaire open in another tab if you want to try the moves on the table.
Setup: 1 Deck Across 7 Columns
Spiderette uses 52 cards with all 4 suits present. The tableau receives 28 cards. Column 1 contains 1 card, column 2 contains 2 and the pattern continues until column 7 contains 7. Only the bottom card of each column is face up. The other 21 opening cards are hidden.
The 24 undealt cards form the stock. There is no waste pile and there are no conventional foundations. The 4 spaces above the table record full King-to-Ace runs after they have been assembled and removed. At the beginning, the 7 visible endpoints are the only cards available to move.
Build Down by 1 Rank, Regardless of Suit
A tableau card may land on a card exactly 1 rank higher. A 9 can receive any 8, and a Queen can receive any Jack. Color and suit do not affect whether that single placement is legal. Kings have no higher destination, while Aces cannot receive another card.
Mixed-suit building is often necessary to uncover a face-down card. It should still be treated as a short-term arrangement. If the 8 of diamonds sits on the 9 of clubs, those 2 cards do not form a movable packet. You can move the 8 again by itself, but you cannot pick up the pair from the 9.
Move Same-Suit Descending Sequences Together
A group is movable when every neighboring pair descends by 1 rank and shares a suit. The 10, 9 and 8 of spades can travel as a 3-card packet. Add the 7 of hearts below them and the spade packet still moves, but the heart does not come with it because the suited sequence stops at the 8.
Select the highest card of the packet you want to move, then choose a legal destination. On desktop, the same action can be completed by dragging the lead card. On a phone, tap-to-move is useful when columns become crowded: tap the lead card and then tap the destination column. The selected outline includes every card that will travel.
Use Empty Columns for Any Card or Legal Group
When a column is cleared, any exposed card may enter it. A legal same-suit sequence may enter as a group. Unlike Scorpion Solitaire, Spiderette does not reserve empty spaces for Kings. This makes a vacancy the most flexible place on the table.
Use that flexibility with a specific purpose. A blank column can temporarily hold 1 blocker while another sequence is joined, or it can become the permanent home for a King-led suit. Moving an arbitrary long packet into the gap may leave you with the same obstruction in a different place. Before filling the vacancy, decide which card you expect to move out of it next.
Reveal Hidden Cards Before Covering the Table
Moving the final face-up card away from a column turns the newly exposed card face up. These reveals matter more than cosmetic tidying because they add information and possible destinations. When several legal moves are available, prefer the one that uncovers a card without breaking a useful same-suit packet.
A short column is not automatically the best target. Check the rank under its exposed card. If moving that card will reveal a face-down card and the destination joins matching suits, the move earns 2 benefits. If it creates a mixed packet on a column you need to clear, it may simply exchange 1 problem for another.
Deal 3 Full Stock Packets Across All 7 Columns
Select the stock to deal 1 face-up card to each column. The 1st, 2nd and 3rd stock actions each use 7 cards. New cards land on top of the current endpoints and may interrupt sequences you have already built. You cannot choose the receiving columns or move a stock card elsewhere during the deal.
Every column must contain at least 1 card before a stock packet can be dealt. If you have opened a vacancy, fill the vacancy before dealing. This rule is shared with standard Spider Solitaire, where a full stock row is also blocked by an empty column.
The Last Stock Packet Has Only 3 Cards
After 3 full packets, the stock contains 3 cards. The final action deals them to columns 1, 2 and 3. Columns 4 through 7 receive nothing. This asymmetry is part of Spiderette's rules, not an incomplete animation or a choice made by the player.
Prepare the left side for fresh covers. If an important card is exposed in columns 1 through 3, use it before the deal when possible. The right side can be arranged as a set of destinations because its endpoints will remain visible. That small piece of certainty is especially valuable when the stock is about to disappear.
Complete a Suit from King Through Ace
A run is complete when 13 face-up cards of 1 suit occupy a column in descending order: King, Queen, Jack, 10 and onward through Ace. The game removes that run immediately and marks 1 completion space. You do not need to select the Ace or send the cards to a foundation.
Removal can expose a hidden card or clear a column, so the timing may unlock several moves at once. It can also take away a convenient landing card. If another packet still needs the King or Queen at the top of the nearly complete run as a temporary destination, make that transfer before placing the final card.
A Reliable Order for Reading Each Position
Start with the face-down boundary. Look for a move that reveals a hidden card, then check whether the same move joins matching suits. Next, inspect columns that can be cleared in 1 or 2 actions. Only after those checks should you extend a mixed-suit build whose sole benefit is moving a blocker.
Before dealing stock, scan all 7 endpoints again. Move complete suited packets out of the path, use exposed cards that will soon be covered and fill any empty column. When only the final packet remains, give extra attention to the 3 leftmost columns. The stock pattern tells you exactly which side will change.
Common Spiderette Mistakes
Treating every descending build as movable
A mixed-suit sequence may look orderly, but only its lowest same-suit section can move together. Check the suit symbols at every join before selecting a lead card.
Using an empty column as permanent storage too soon
The vacancy is most useful while it can accept and release several cards. Filling it with a mixed tail may remove the only space available to repair that tail.
Dealing because no obvious move looks productive
A legal move that reveals a hidden card or consolidates 2 suited fragments is usually worth making before the stock covers every endpoint. Hint can identify a legal move; the proven-move control follows the stored winning line for the current certified deal.
Preparing all 7 columns for the final packet
Only columns 1 through 3 receive the last cards. Preserve useful endpoints on columns 4 through 7 and arrange them as destinations for the new left-side cards.
Finishing 1 suit while another still needs its landing cards
A completed run leaves immediately. Check whether its upper ranks are serving as temporary destinations elsewhere before you add the final Ace.
How Spiderette Differs from the 2-Deck Game
Classic Spider has 104 cards, 10 columns, 50 stock cards and 8 runs to remove. Spiderette has 52 cards, 7 columns, 24 stock cards and 4 runs. Both games allow rank-only tableau builds and require same-suit descending packets for group movement. The smaller version is therefore not Spider with easier suits; it is Spider with a narrower workspace and a different stock cadence.
Players who want more room and a gentler introduction can start with Spider 1 Suit. Players who enjoy compact 1-deck packing games may also like Scorpion, though its loose-tail movement and King-only empty spaces require a different plan.
Common Questions
Can you build with mixed suits in Spiderette?
Yes. Any card may be placed on the next higher rank. A group moves together only when all cards in it descend in the same suit.
What can go into an empty Spiderette column?
Any exposed card or any legal same-suit descending group may enter an empty column.
How many cards are dealt from the stock?
The opening 3 stock actions deal 7 cards each, 1 to every column. The final action deals 3 cards to columns 1, 2 and 3.
Can stock be dealt while a column is empty?
No. Every column must contain at least 1 card before the next stock packet can be dealt.
How do you win Spiderette?
Build and remove all 4 same-suit sequences from King through Ace. You win after all 4 runs have left the tableau and the stock is empty.