Spiderette Solitaire

Overview

Spiderette is Spider’s compact, single-deck cousin, and the quickest way into Spider-style play. It keeps the core — build downward, assemble complete same-suit runs from King to Ace, each clearing automatically — but shrinks the board to seven tableau columns and one 52-card deck.

The smaller layout makes games quicker without removing the challenge. You still have to expose face-down cards, make empty columns, unpick mixed-suit piles and work toward clean sequences.

It is also the natural place to learn Spider. With fewer cards in play the consequences of a move are easier to see, and the 1, 2 and 4 suit settings let you raise the difficulty as you go.

The starting layout

Cards are dealt in a Klondike triangle: one card in the first column, two in the second, up to seven in the last. That is 28 cards on the table with only the top of each column face up, leaving 24 in the stock.

Each deal puts one card on every column, so you get three full deals of seven, then a final deal of just three — which lands on the leftmost columns only, because the stock runs out before it reaches the rest.

How Spiderette differs from Spider

Same idea, one deck instead of two: 52 cards rather than 104, seven columns rather than ten, and four sequences to clear rather than eight.

That does not halve the difficulty. With fewer columns there is less room to manoeuvre, and a single badly placed card can block a whole section of the tableau. The governing rule is identical in both games: you may build downward regardless of suit, but only a correctly ordered same-suit sequence moves as a group.

Goal

Form four complete same-suit runs from King down to Ace. Each is cleared from the tableau the moment it is complete. Clear all four to win.

Tableau rules

• Build downward by rank regardless of suit — one rank lower, any suit.
• Only a descending same-suit sequence moves together as a group.
• Any card or valid group may fill an empty column.
• A newly exposed face-down card turns face up automatically.

The gap between building and moving is the thing to internalise. A 6 of Hearts goes onto a 7 of Clubs quite legally, but those two can never be picked up together. Rearrange so the 6 of Hearts sits on the 7 of Hearts and they travel as one. You have freedom when placing; you earn mobility only by matching suits.

Empty columns

Empty columns are valuable because any card or valid group can move into one — not just a King, as in Klondike or Yukon.

Use the space to split an awkward pile, relocate a long same-suit run, or reach something buried. Clearing a column is often the strongest move available, but keep a purpose for it: fill it again without exposing anything and you have spent the flexibility for nothing. In the two- and four-suit games, holding an empty column open is frequently what makes a deal solvable.

Stock and controls

• Tap the stock to deal one card onto every column.
• You cannot deal while a column is empty — every space must be filled first.
• The final deal is only three cards, so it covers the leftmost columns alone.
• Use Undo to take moves back, or New Game for a fresh deal.

Timing matters because each deal buries whatever is on the surface. Play out the useful moves before adding a row. And note the tension in the empty-column rule: a space is your best tool for reorganising, yet it also locks the stock until you give it up.

Difficulty: 1, 2 or 4 suits

1 Suit is the introduction — every card shares a suit, so any descending sequence moves as a group and you can focus on exposing cards, making space and timing the stock.

2 Suits adds real suit management on the same compact board. Mixed piles start to cost you.

4 Suits is the hardest. All four suits must be assembled while mixed piles clog the tableau, and the small board leaves little room to waste.

Use the Suits button to switch; changing it starts a fresh game.

Strategy and tips

• Expose hidden cards. Every turn-up is information, and often the card you needed.
• Prefer same-suit builds. Building across suits is legal; building within one is what makes a pile movable.
• Create empty columns, and hold them. Look for a way to clear a column without immediately surrendering the space.
• Exhaust the tableau before dealing. You only get four deals, and each one buries the surface.
• Do not break a long same-suit run to solve a small problem.
• Dig for blocked ranks. If a King you need is buried, work toward it rather than tidying the surface.

If you liked Spiderette

Spider is the full two-deck game: ten columns, 104 cards, eight runs to clear and five stock deals instead of four. Everything you learn here transfers directly.

Scorpion also builds same-suit runs to King-to-Ace, but lets you move any face-up card with whatever is stacked on top of it, ordered or not — a very different kind of freedom from Spider’s same-suit-only groups.