Spider Solitaire, Four Suits

Four-suit Spider is the full game and the hardest version on this site. Two standard decks, all four suits, ten columns, eight runs to build. It rewards patience, and even strong players lose deals. This page explains what makes it different from the one-suit and two-suit versions, and how to approach it.

Rules step by step

1. The deal. Ten columns are dealt, the first four with six cards and the other six with five. Only the top card of each column is face up. The remaining 50 cards wait in the stock as five batches of ten.
2. Build down on any suit. A card can go on any card exactly one rank higher, whatever the suit. A 9 of clubs may sit on a 10 of hearts.
3. Move only same-suit runs. A descending run moves as one unit only when all of its cards share a suit. A mixed pile can be built but can only be taken apart one card at a time.
4. Uncover cards. When the top card of a column leaves, the face-down card under it turns up.
5. Empty columns take anything. An empty column accepts any card or any same-suit run.
6. Deal from the stock. Click the stock to put one new card on each of the ten columns. You cannot deal while a column is empty. A deal can be undone.
7. Remove complete runs. A run from king down to ace of a single suit leaves the table by itself. Mixed piles never do.
8. Win when all eight runs are gone. Stuck means no legal move and no stock left.

What four suits change

With one suit you build freely. With two you plan. With four you manage constraints. Eight runs means two complete runs of each suit, and any given card has four possible homes of which only one is its own suit. Most placements create a seam, and seams multiply quickly. The task is to keep the number of seams small enough that you can still sort the columns.

Strategy

• Hunt for empty columns. In this version an empty column is not a luxury. You need two or three at times to sort a tangled pile.
• Choose a suit to build. Pick the suit with the most progress and give its runs priority. Treat the others as material to shift around.
• Turn face-down cards first. Prefer the move that flips a hidden card, unless it breaks a clean chain.
• Keep seams shallow. If you must place a card on a different suit, do it where only one or two cards sit above, so that the seam is cheap to remove later.
• Deal late. Make every sensible move before dealing. Some deals cannot be avoided, but each one should come after you have exhausted the table.
• Use undo to explore. Undo is free and unlimited. Four-suit play involves a lot of looking ahead, and undo lets you test a line and take it back.

Frequently asked questions

Is every four-suit deal winnable?

No. This is a hard game. A deal drawn from the winnable pool was checked by an offline solver, which found a winning line, so that deal can be won. A random deal has not been checked, and some random four-suit deals cannot be won at all. The table says which kind of deal you have: new deals come from the pool, and a deal that does not is labelled as a random deal. Pool deals lean toward easier wins than a random shuffle, because only deals the solver could finish are kept; the Deal pool facts at the bottom of this page show how large that selection was.

Why is my run stuck?

Every card in a movable run must share a suit. Only the cards above a seam can move.

Why can’t I deal the stock?

A column is empty. Fill it with any card, then deal.

Should I start with four suits?

Most players learn on one suit, then two suits, and come here once seams and empty columns feel familiar.

What does the hint do?

It marks a legal move and favours one that keeps same-suit chains together or turns a hidden card. It does not search ahead, so treat it as a suggestion, not a plan.

Related games

If four suits is too much for today, try two suits or one suit. FreeCell shows every card from the start, Klondike is the classic seven-column game, and Pyramid is a short, different puzzle. Today’s shared deals are on the daily page, and all rules are on how to play.

Last updated 2026-10-30