A full guide to the two-deck solitaire: a ten-column layout, descending same-suit runs from king to ace, dealing from the stock, and controls on muta.pro. Read it — and straight to the table.
Spider is a solitaire played with two decks, that is 104 cards. The task is to build eight complete descending same-suit runs from king to ace right in the game columns (K, Q, J, 10, 9 … 2, A). As soon as a completed sequence of thirteen cards of one suit lines up in a column, it is automatically removed from the table. Collect all eight — the solitaire is solved.
The challenge is that the cards you need hide beneath face-down cards and under runs of other suits. Spider lets you build auxiliary runs of any suits, but you can only remove a full sequence of one suit, so you have to think moves ahead.
Ten columns are laid out on the table, 54 cards in total. In each column the top card is face up, while those lying beneath it are face down. The remaining 50 cards go into the stock and are dealt in rows over the course of the game. Play begins immediately: you can move any face-up card or a valid run.
Before the start, a difficulty choice is available: one suit (only one suit in play — easy mode) or two suits (two suits in play — harder). The number of suits determines how often cards come together into finished single-suit runs.
A face-up card can be placed on a card one rank higher — the suit can be anything. For example, an eight goes on any nine, a jack on any queen. This is how descending runs are built.
Several cards move as a group only if they run strictly down by one, are all the same suit, and are all face up. You can also take part of a column if its top forms such a valid same-suit run.
When you remove a card that had a face-down card beneath it, that card automatically turns face up and enters play. Uncovering face-down cards is the main way to clear a pile-up.
When there are no more moves, press "🂠 Deal" — ten cards land one on top of each column at once. Important: you cannot deal a row while there is at least one empty column — fill the empty spots first.
A run of thirteen cards of one suit from king to ace, arranged in order, is removed from the table automatically. The card revealed beneath it immediately turns face up.
In one-suit mode all 104 cards belong to a single suit — runs come together most easily. In two-suit mode two suits are in play, and building single-suit sequences is noticeably harder.
The solitaire is considered solved when all eight same-suit runs are built from king to ace and removed from the table. On muta.pro the score starts at 500 points: −1 is deducted for each move, +100 is awarded for each completed K→A sequence, and a quick solve adds a time bonus. Eight runs removed — a win. The fewer the wasted moves and the faster the game, the higher the final score.
First and foremost, take cards off the face-down ones to flip as many unknowns as possible — this widens your choice of moves.
Although you can place onto any suit, only a same-suit run can be removed. Try to keep cards of one suit together.
Dealing a row adds a card to every column and often locks the position. Use all the ordinary moves first.
An empty column is a powerful lever for clearing pile-ups. But remember: while there's an empty column, you can't deal a row.
In Spider you're allowed to place a card on any suit, but only a clean K→A run of one suit is removed from the table. So the whole game comes down to making eight suit "tails" each grow in its own column without getting mixed up. A mixed-color junction isn't progress but a deferred debt: sooner or later you'll have to unravel it, spending moves and often exposing an unfavorable deal.
Hence a simple but underrated rule: decide in advance which column each of the four spade, four club and so on runs will grow in, and lead the cards exactly there. A suit's king is convenient to set as an anchor, since it doesn't sit on anything, and a Q-J-10-9 tail builds up calmly beneath it. Such "distribution by columns" turns the chaos of 104 cards into eight clear building sites.
On the left a "clean" spade tail moves as one piece; on the right the intruding Q♥ breaks the suit and blocks the move.
If 8♣ can go on both 9♣ and 9♥, always place it on 9♣. One such choice per game adds up to a finished run — or its absence.
Keep a started spade sequence 10♠-9♠-8♠ in one column and don't dilute it with hearts, even if you're itching to place a 7♥.
If 6♠-5♠-4♠ is already built, don't take the top card off it for a momentary move: restoring order may no longer be possible.
The only real source of new information in Spider is face-down cards. While they lie face down, you're playing blind, so almost every move should lead to an uncovering. Shuffling face-up cards back and forth without flipping a single face-down one is marking time that also cuts your score: it starts at 500 and drops by 1 for each move.
So judge every move by one criterion: what it uncovers. A move that flips a face-down card is almost always better than a flashy rearrangement of face-up ones. And it's more profitable to aim at the tallest columns — they have the most face-down cards, and each uncovering brings maximum new information about the deal.
We move 8♠ onto an outside nine — the top face-down card flips itself and enters play.
Of two moves — "uncover a face-down card" and "lengthen a same-suit tail in the air" — almost always choose the uncovering. The tail can wait, information can't.
Where there are more face-down cards, there's more uncertainty. By aiming at such columns, you turn the "fog" into a clear position faster.
The "↶ Undo" button takes back a move. Before dealing or taking apart a suit, run through a risky rearrangement and roll it back if it led to a dead end.
A move should uncover a card, free a column, or lengthen a same-suit tail. Everything else is lost points.
Take it only for a concrete benefit: an uncovered card or a freed column. And remember that the debt will have to be repaid.
An empty column in Spider isn't "free space" but the most expensive tool on the table. You can temporarily hide any card or same-suit run in it: unravel someone else's pile-up, pull out a stuck king, regroup suits. But there's a hard rule — you cannot deal a new row while even one column is empty. So before "🂠 Deal" you always choose: spend the empty spot on a maneuver now or sacrifice it for the deal.
From this follows Spider's main self-discipline: don't rush to fill an empty column with the first card that comes along. Keep the column open until you see a move it truly unblocks — an uncovered face-down card or an unraveled pile-up. An empty spot spent wisely often single-handedly pulls out a game that would be dead without it.
Fill an empty column with a king (on the right): it blocks nothing and starts a new suit — a lone 7♦ would be stuck there dead.
A lone seven in an empty column usually gets stuck for a long time. If there's nothing to place under it — better leave the column open.
If you do have to close the empty spot before dealing, put a king there: it has nowhere to go anyway, and a new run will start beneath it.
With two free columns you solve pile-ups unsolvable with one: you can unravel a run longer than a single column holds. Guard the second empty especially.
Most lost games aren't an unlucky deal but a set of the same manageable mistakes. Below are the ones that most often turn a solvable position into a dead one.
They share one thing: the player chases momentary convenience and sacrifices the future. A pretty move now often turns into a locked run and lost points later. Train yourself to ask before every questionable action: "What will I do with this three moves from now?"
The rainbow run 10♦-9♣-8♥-7♠ looks like an achievement, but you can't remove it — you'll have to take it all apart.
Small cards falling on a king or queen continue a run in suit rather than bury it. Keep valuable tails under high tops.
The score starts at 500 and drops by 1 per move, with a bonus for speed. Pointless shuffling directly cuts the result.