TapTogon SpiderWhat is Spider Solitaire?
Spider Solitaire is the big, patient cousin of classic solitaire — played with two full decks, 104 cards, spread across ten tableau columns. Your goal is to build eight complete runs from King down to Ace in a single suit. Each finished run leaves the table on its own, and when all eight are gone, you have won.
What makes Spider special is the suit rule. You may drop any card onto a card one rank higher regardless of suit, but you can only pick up and move a group of cards when they are all the same suit and in order. That single constraint turns the game into a long, absorbing puzzle of untangling mixed piles. TapTogon Spider Solitaire runs instantly in your browser — no download, no sign-up — with 1, 2 and 4-suit difficulty, smooth drag-and-drop, smart tap moves, unlimited undo, hints and auto-collect.
A Surprising Fact About Spider Solitaire
Almost every Spider deal you are given can be won — including on four suits
Most players assume that when a four-suit game grinds to a halt, the deal itself was hopeless. The research says otherwise. Studies of Spider's solvability put the share of winnable deals somewhere between roughly 98.8% and 99.9%, and that holds true regardless of how many suits are in play.
The author of a published book on Spider strategy goes further still, arguing that the proportion of solvable deals is so overwhelming that a player could go through an enormous number of games and never actually meet an unwinnable one — and that no version of Spider bothers to filter deals out, because there is essentially nothing to filter.
Which leads to the uncomfortable but strangely encouraging conclusion: when you lose at Spider, the deal was almost never the problem. Somewhere in that tangle there was a path — you just did not find it. Very often a single early move, made in the wrong order, is what quietly closes the door.
So why do so few people win?
Because "winnable" and "won" are very different things. Spider is difficult, not unfair. Here is what real players actually achieve, based on figures published by Solitaired from hundreds of thousands of recorded games:
| Difficulty | Games played | Human win rate |
|---|---|---|
| 1 suit | 133,346 | 51.9% |
| 2 suits | 221,671 | 16.6% |
| 4 suits | 75,678 | 6.2% |
Compare that with Klondike, the classic solitaire, where roughly 18% of deals are genuinely impossible — about one game in five is lost before you touch a card. In Spider, that excuse simply is not available to you.
So the gap between a 6% win rate and a near-100% winnable deal is not luck. It is skill, patience, and move order. That is exactly why Undo matters so much in Spider: rewinding a bad sequence is not cheating, it is how the game is meant to be explored. It is also why the per-difficulty statistics in our menu are worth watching — your win rate on two suits tells you far more about your progress than any combined figure ever could.
Sources: solvability estimates via MPL Games; expert analysis of unwinnable deals via HubPages; recorded human win rates via Solitaired. Figures cited as published by those sources; win rates reflect games played on their platform.
How to Play
Drag a card onto any card that is one rank higher — an 8 goes on a 9, whatever the suit. You can also simply tap a card and it will make the most useful move on its own. When you run out of ideas, tap the stock to deal a fresh card onto every column.
- Build down by rank. Any card can land on a card one rank higher, regardless of suit — a red 7 onto a black 8 is perfectly legal.
- Move groups only in one suit. A run of cards can be picked up as a group only if it is the same suit and in descending order. Mixed piles must be moved one card at a time.
- Complete a run to clear it. A full King-to-Ace sequence in a single suit is removed from the table automatically. Clear all eight to win.
- Deal a row from the stock. Tapping the stock deals one card face-up onto every column — you get five rows in total, so spend them wisely.
- Empty columns take anything. Any card or movable run can go into an empty column, which makes empty space the most powerful resource in the game.
Tips & Strategy
- Prefer same-suit landings. Placing a 7 of spades on an 8 of spades builds a run you can actually move later. Dropping it on an 8 of hearts creates a pile you will have to unpick.
- Uncover face-down cards first. Every hidden card is a locked opportunity — favour the moves that flip one over, starting with the shallowest columns.
- Guard your empty columns. An empty column is a workspace: it lets you park a card, split a mixed run and reorder the board. Filling one with a random card is often a wasted move.
- Think before you deal. The stock drops a card on every column, including the tidy ones. Make every useful move first, because a deal can bury a run you were about to complete.
- Start with one suit. One-suit games teach the mechanics and are won often. Two suits is a real step up, and four suits is the full classic challenge — expect a low win rate even with good play.
- Use Undo to plan. Try a line, and if it dead-ends, step back and reorder your moves. There is no penalty for exploring.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the goal of Spider Solitaire?▶
Clear all 104 cards by building eight complete King-to-Ace runs in a single suit. Each completed run is removed from the tableau automatically.
How many suits should I play with?▶
One suit is the friendliest way to learn and is won often. Two suits is the popular middle ground. Four suits is the full classic game and is genuinely hard.
Which cards can I move together?▶
Only a run that is the same suit and in descending order. Any single card can move on its own, and you may place any card onto one a rank higher — but mixed-suit piles cannot be lifted as a group.
What can I place in an empty column?▶
Any card or any movable run. Empty columns are the most valuable resource in Spider, so it is usually worth keeping at least one free.
When can I deal a new row from the stock?▶
Tapping the stock deals one card face-up onto every column. Classic rules require every column to be non-empty first; TapTogon allows dealing onto empty columns by default, and you can switch to the strict rule in the menu.
Are all Spider Solitaire deals winnable?▶
Almost all of them. Research puts the share of solvable Spider deals at roughly 98.8–99.9%, whatever the suit count. Klondike, by contrast, has about 18% of deals that cannot be won at all. So when a Spider game defeats you, the path was almost certainly there — see Surprising Facts.
Why is the win rate so low then?▶
Because winnable and won are not the same thing — Spider is hard, not unfair. Recorded human win rates are around 51.9% on one suit, 16.6% on two and 6.2% on four. The gap is skill and move order, which is exactly why Undo is so useful here.
Is it free on TapTogon?▶
Completely free — no download and no sign-up. It runs instantly in your browser on phone, tablet and desktop.
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