Spiderette: Spider Solitaire with one deck in seven columns, in one, two or four suits. Build King-to-Ace runs to clear the table.
What is Spiderette Solitaire?
Spiderette Solitaire is a one-deck version of Spider Solitaire in which you build four complete runs from King down to Ace in one suit, using seven columns dealt the way Klondike deals them. Each finished run leaves the table, and four runs win the game.
It keeps Spider's rules for building and moving cards, but with half the cards and fewer columns there is less room to work. You can play with one, two or four suits, and the jump in difficulty between them is large.
How to play Spiderette Solitaire
The deal: 28 cards go into seven columns of 1 to 7 cards, with only the last card of each column face up. That leaves 21 cards face down. The other 24 cards are the stock.
Building: a card can go on any card one rank higher, of any suit. A 7 of hearts on an 8 of spades is legal. Only a run in one suit can be moved as a group, though, so a 7 and 6 of hearts move together while an 8 of spades, 7 of hearts sequence has to be split up. A single card can always move if its target fits.
Empty columns take any card or any same-suit run. When the last face-up card leaves a face-down card, it turns up by itself.
The stock: tap it to deal one card onto every column. That is three full deals of seven cards, then a last deal of three cards onto the first three columns. Every column must hold at least one card before you deal, so fill empty columns first.
Winning: when a column ends with a complete King-to-Ace run in one suit, those 13 cards move to a foundation by themselves. Four runs clear the deck and win the game.
Spiderette strategy
Build in suit when you have a choice. Off-suit builds are legal and often useful, but each one is a join that blocks a run from moving. If a 6 could go on either a 7 of its own suit or a 7 of another suit, pick its own suit.
Open the right-hand columns. The seventh column hides six cards and the sixth hides five. Most lost deals end with cards still face down there. Moves that reach those cards should come first.
Treat empty columns as working space. An empty column lets you take apart a mixed run and put it back together in suit. Use it to sort, and empty it again if you can. Since you must fill every column before dealing, plan ahead so that the cards you put there do not block anything.
Plan the Kings. Nothing can go above a King, so a King can only move into an empty column. A King lying on face-down cards needs an empty column to free them. A King at the head of a column is already in the right place.
Prepare before each deal. A deal puts a new card on top of every column, which can split runs and bury cards you wanted to move. Before you tap the stock, finish the moves you can, join runs in suit, and keep the ends of the columns tidy.
Know your suit setting. With one suit every build is in suit and the game is at its easiest. With two suits, keep the colours apart where you can. With four suits, the game turns into a puzzle of finding space, and wins are much harder to come by.
One, two or four suits
Our Spiderette has one option in the Menu: the number of suits. One suit uses four copies of the spades, two suits uses two copies each of spades and hearts, and four suits uses a normal deck. One suit is the default. Changing the option starts a new deal.
Scoring grows with the difficulty: everything is multiplied by 1 with one suit, 1.5 with two suits and 2 with four suits. Other variants exist that change the deal or the number of stock cards. For the two-deck original with ten columns, try Spider Solitaire on Hevagames.
Where Spiderette comes from
Spider Solitaire is a two-deck game with ten columns. Spiderette was made as a smaller form of it: one deck, and the seven-column deal from Klondike in place of Spider's ten columns. The rules for building, moving same-suit runs and removing complete runs stay the same.
Because it fits in one deck, Spiderette is a quicker game than Spider, and a good way to learn Spider's ideas about building in suit.
Play Spiderette Solitaire on Hevagames
Our Spiderette runs in the browser on phones, tablets and computers, with nothing to download. Drag a card or a same-suit run, or tap a card and then where it should go. A double tap moves a card to a column ending in the next higher card of its suit first, then to any other column where it fits. Tap the stock or press D to deal; the stock shows how many deals are left. On a keyboard, the arrow keys move between piles and Enter picks up and places; Z or Backspace undoes and N deals a new game.
Undo has no limit and each undo counts as a move. The deal in progress, your suit setting and the last 60 undo steps are saved in your browser. The top bar shows moves, time and score.
Scoring: 100 points for each finished King-to-Ace run and 5 points for each face-down card turned over, times the suit factor. A win adds a bonus of 1000 times the suit factor, minus 2 per move and minus half a point per second, never below zero. The timer starts with your first move, and your best score is kept on your device.
How to play
- 128 cards are dealt into seven columns of 1 to 7 cards; the top card of each is face up.
- 2Put a card on any card one rank higher. Only a run of one suit moves together.
- 3A complete run from King down to Ace in one suit leaves the table. Make four to win.
- 4Tap the stock to deal one card onto every column. Every column needs at least one card first.
- 5Choose one, two or four suits in the Menu; one suit is the default.
Controls
Tips
- Work on the long columns on the right; they hide the most cards.
- Build in the same suit whenever you have the choice.
- Use an empty column to sort a mixed run before dealing again.
