Spider Solitaire 4 Suits Strategy: How to Win More

Spider Solitaire with four suits is one of the hardest patience games most people ever play. You have 104 cards in ten columns, five deals left in the stock, and a goal that sounds simple: build eight runs from King down to Ace in a single suit. With one suit almost any move helps. With four suits, every card you place can either open the game or quietly lock it. Here is how to stay on the right side.

How Spider rules shape the strategy

Three rules decide everything:

1. You may place any card on a card one rank higher, regardless of suit.
2. You may only move a group of cards together if they form a run in one suit.
3. A finished King-to-Ace run in one suit is removed automatically.

The gap between rules 1 and 2 is the whole puzzle. Mixed-suit builds are legal, but they cannot be moved as a unit, so each one is a pile you may need to take apart card by card later.

1. Expose hidden cards first

At the start, 44 cards lie face down. Each one may be the card that completes a run or the King that clears a column. Make moves that turn over a face-down card before moves that only rearrange face-up cards. If two moves both flip a card, prefer the one in the shorter column: short columns are closest to becoming empty.

2. Empty a column as early as you can

An empty column is your workspace. It lets you:

• move a mixed pile one in-suit section at a time;
• park a card while you rearrange two other columns;
• place a King with its run, freeing everything that was under it.

Pick the column with the fewest cards (face-down cards count most) and aim to clear it. Once you have one empty column, guard it. Do not drop a lone low card there just because it is legal; use it for a purpose and then try to empty it again.

3. Build in suit when you have a choice

Suppose a red 7 of hearts can go on either the 8 of hearts or the 8 of spades. Always choose the 8 of hearts. That run can now move as one, and it is one step closer to clearing. When only an off-suit move is available, make it only if it uncovers a card or empties a column. Building off-suit “to tidy up” is the most common way 4-suit games are lost.

4. Know how much you can move

Without empty columns, you can only move a single in-suit run. Each empty column roughly doubles the length of mixed sequence you can relocate step by step, because you can split the pile, park a section, move the rest and put it back. Before you commit to a big rearrangement, count your empty columns and make sure the whole plan fits.

5. Use same-rank cards to untangle

Two cards of the same rank give you options. If a 9 of clubs sits under a pile you want to reach, and another 9 is free elsewhere, you can move the 8 you need onto the other 9 instead. Keep an eye on duplicates of the ranks you are stuck on; they are the escape routes.

6. Prepare before every deal

Dealing from the stock places one card on each of the ten columns, covering every run you built. Before you deal:

• fill any empty columns (the rules require it);
• finish any moves that join in-suit runs;
• try not to leave a column with a high card on top that you would have to dig through later.

Never deal just because you are out of obvious moves. Look again for moves that flip a card or join a run in suit. Many games are lost by dealing one turn too early.

7. Kings belong on empty columns

A King can only move to an empty column. A King buried halfway down a column blocks everything above it from forming a complete run. When a column empties, check whether a King with useful cards under it is ready to move there. That often clears more cards than any other move.

8. Remove complete runs, but think first

Completed runs clear automatically, which is usually good. Occasionally a nearly complete in-suit run is more useful left in place as a base for other cards. In practice this matters rarely; just remember that cleared runs mean fewer cards to manage, which makes the endgame easier.

9. Use undo to explore

On this site you can undo as many moves as you like. Use it to test lines: try a sequence, see what it uncovers, and step back if it leads nowhere. This is not cheating; it is how you learn which moves open a 4-suit deal and which ones close it.

A practice plan

1. Play ten games with 1 suit and focus only on emptying columns early.
2. Play ten games with 2 suits and count how often you could have built in suit.
3. Move to 4 suits and apply both habits: expose cards, empty columns, build in suit, prepare before every deal.

Your win rate will climb steadily. Even experts lose a fair share of 4-suit games, so judge yourself by how many of those games you finish, not by any single deal.