Spider solitaire is a very well-known solitaire game, which has gained
a lot in popularity since Microsoft have started shipping it free with
windows. It is very hard though, and many people want to know how they
can increase their chances of winning.
The aim of spider solitaire is to build an ascending suit sequence in
the foundation zone. But this is easier said than done! Particularly
when playing 4 suit spider, it can sometimes seem nearly impossible to
finish the game.
But there are strategies you can use to dramatically increase your
chances of winning spider solitaire. But before I go into that, a quick
note. In this article, I assume you have a solitaire game that allows
multi-undo, and that you don't mind using it. Some people don't have a
solitaire program that supports multi-level undo, or feel that using
undo is somehow "cheating". These people can still get something out of
this article, but not everything they read may apply.
So what is the golden secret to winning Spider Solitaire?
It's simple! Empty-Columns are the key!
The first objective of spider solitaire is to get a vacant column. The
objective after that is to try and get another vacant column. Once you
have 2 vacant columns, the game starts to become winnable, but if you
can, try and form yet another empty column. Once you get to 3 or 4
empty columns, you have a very good chance of winning, unless you get
an extremely unlucky run of cards.
Getting The First Empty Column...
The first move you should make in the game is whatever the highest rank
card that can play is. If given a choice, play from the stacks on the
right hand side, as the 6 right hand stacks start with one less card.
From then on, play cards in this order or priority:
1) If a stack is closer to other stacks to being complete, play that card (if you can)
2) If you can't play from the stack which is closest to being emptied, than play the card with the highest rank.
3) If 2 or more cards have the same high rank, and one of them can be played into a same suit sequence, then play that one.
Keep playing like this, until a column is emptied, or you run out of moves
Once a column has been emptied, the focus of the game changes a little.
There are now 3 main objectives, "cleanup", "re-arrange", and "expose".
An overriding principal at this time is to try and keep the empty
columns. Vacant columns give you a lot more choices in the game, and
whenever possible, you only want to fill your empty columns temporarily.
CLEANING UP
The first objective for the second phase of spider solitaire is
"cleanup". This is my term for re-arranging columns so that they become
same-suit sequences.
For example, suppose you had 2 columns. The first one has:
-7 Diamonds
-6 Hearts
and the second one has:
-7 Clubs
-6 Diamonds
We can temporarily use the empty column, to rearrange the columns so that these columns become:
-7 Diamonds
-6 Diamonds
and:
-7 Clubs
-6 Hearts
We do this by moving:
-6 of Diamonds into the empty column
-6 of Hearts onto the 7 of Clubs
-6 Of Diamonds onto the 7 of Diamonds.
The main thing to note here, is that after we have finished cleaning up
this sequence, the empty column is still vacant. This is critical,
because we always need to keep our columns empty when possible.
RE-ARRANGING
After we have cleaned up any sequences we can find, the next objective
is to re-arrange any columns. This is simply moving any sequences we
can, to form longer sequences. If moving the sequence will expose a new
card (or a card that is not part of the sequence), then we always move
it. The rest of the time it's a judgement call, based on whether the
new sequence will be the same suit, as well as what other cards are
holding up the game at the moment.
EXPOSING
Lastly, we try and expose new cards, whilst trying to maintain our empty column. We do this by using multi-level undo:
-Move a card/sequence into the empty column, which exposes a new card.
-If the new card allows us to move the original sequence back do so.
If the new exposed card does not allow us to move it back, try moving a
different card/sequence instead. If you can't expose any new cards
whilst keeping the vacant column, then try dealing some cards from the
talon.
The most important thing is to create empty columns, and try and keep
them empty! Now, will these strategies help you to win every game of
spider solitaire? No, they won't. Are there better strategies? Yes, and
you'll probably come up with some of your own as you play the game some
more. But the strategies above should prove a good foundation to help
you start winning more games.
