Spider Solitaire has inspired a rich family of related games. From the standard difficulty levels to entirely different layouts and rules, there is a Spider variant for every skill level and preference. Here are the most notable variants and how they differ from the classic game.
Standard Difficulty Levels
The most common Spider variants differ only in the number of suits used. All three use the same 104-card, ten-column layout and follow identical rules.
1-Suit Spider (Beginner)
All 104 cards are Spades. Since every card is the same suit, all descending sequences are automatically in-suit, and any group of ordered cards can be moved together. This eliminates the suit-management challenge and makes the game primarily about ordering. It is the most forgiving version by a wide margin, which makes it the right place to learn the game.
2-Suit Spider (Intermediate)
The game uses two suits, typically Spades and Hearts (one red, one black), with 52 cards of each suit. Suit management becomes important since only half the cards encountered will match any given suit. Players must balance building in-suit sequences with making practical off-suit moves. This is the most popular difficulty level for intermediate players.
4-Suit Spider (Expert)
All four suits are used (26 cards each). Only one in four cards will match any specific suit, making in-suit builds much harder to achieve. This is the most challenging standard variant. Nobody has published a solvability figure for any specific suit count, so the exact percentages quoted around the web are guesses. Mastering 4-suit Spider comes down to careful planning and efficient use of empty columns.
Spiderette
Spiderette is a scaled-down version of Spider that uses a single 52-card deck instead of two. It is sometimes called “Baby Spider” or “Spider One Deck.”
Cards: One standard 52-card deck.
Layout: Seven tableau columns (like Klondike), with one card in the first column, two in the second, and so on, up to seven in the seventh column. Only the top card of each column is face-up.
Stock: The remaining 24 cards form the stock, dealt one to each column at a time. Twenty-four does not divide by seven, so the fourth and last deal covers only three columns.
Objective: Build four complete King-to-Ace same-suit sequences.
Difficulty: Easier to set up and quicker to play than full Spider, but can be quite challenging since there are fewer columns and less room to maneuver.
Spiderwort
Spiderwort is an expanded variant that uses three standard decks (156 cards) for an even grander challenge.
Cards: Three standard 52-card decks shuffled together (156 cards).
Layout: Thirteen tableau columns, with cards dealt in a pattern similar to standard Spider but extended.
Difficulty: Extremely challenging due to the sheer number of cards and the complexity of managing thirteen columns. Games can last well over an hour.
Simple Simon
Simple Simon is a Spider-like game that uses a single deck and deals all cards face-up from the start, making it a game of pure strategy with no hidden information.
Cards: One standard 52-card deck.
Layout: Ten tableau columns with all cards dealt face-up, holding 8, 8, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 cards. That is all 52.
Stock: No stock pile. All cards are dealt at the start.
Rules: Cards can only be built on cards of the same suit or moved to empty columns. This is stricter than standard Spider, which allows off-suit building.
Difficulty: Every card is visible from the start, so no luck of the draw is left and any deal can be worked out in advance. Whether it can be won is another matter: plenty of Simple Simon deals have no solution at all.
Scorpion
Scorpion is related to Spider but plays quite differently due to its unique movement rules.
Cards: One standard 52-card deck.
Layout: Seven tableau columns of seven cards each (49 cards). The first four columns hide three cards under four face-up ones, and the last three columns are entirely face-up. The remaining three cards are held back as a reserve.
Key Difference: Any face-up card can be moved along with all cards on top of it (regardless of sequence), as long as it is placed on a card of the same suit that is one rank higher. This makes movement more flexible but requires careful planning.
Objective: Build four complete same-suit sequences from King to Ace within the tableau.
Mrs. Mop
Mrs. Mop is a two-deck Spider variant where all cards are dealt face-up, creating a pure strategy game similar to Simple Simon but at Spider’s full scale.
Cards: Two standard 52-card decks (104 cards).
Layout: Thirteen tableau columns with all cards face-up. There is no stock pile.
Rules: Only same-suit sequences can be moved. Cards can be built on any card one rank higher of the same suit, or moved to empty columns.
Difficulty: While all information is visible, the strict same-suit building rule and large number of cards make this a very challenging puzzle.
1Spider Solitaire uses two full decks of cards (104 cards total), making it one of the few solitaire games that requires more than one standard 52-card deck.
2Spider Solitaire was named after the eight legs of a spider, corresponding to the eight foundation piles that must be completed to win the game.
3Spider gets harder with each suit you add, because a descending run of mixed suits cannot be moved as a group. No published study measures solvability per suit count, so treat any exact percentage you see with suspicion.
4Spider Solitaire became one of the most popular computer card games after Microsoft included it in Windows ME in 2000 and Windows XP in 2001.
5A Spider Solitaire game deals 54 cards across 10 tableau columns at the start, with the remaining 50 cards placed in 5 stock piles of 10 cards each.
6In Spider Solitaire, a completed sequence of 13 cards from King to Ace of the same suit is automatically removed from the tableau and placed on a foundation pile.
7Two-suit Spider is the usual step up for intermediate players: Spades and Hearts, 52 cards of each, so every stack you build has a one-in-two chance of being movable later.
