Playing Spider Solitaire is definitely something we have all done in our life. How many times has this simple but addicting game saved us from boredom in working hours, or simply helped us when we wanted a relaxing moment in front of the PC?
Here, for the few who did not have a minimum of familiarity with this card game, we retrace its fundamental characteristics, those that made it the king of pre-installed computer games .
The lonely spider
First let’s define precisely what we mean when we talk about spider solitaire.
It is a classic card game that takes place with a deck of French cards, those of poker, the 40 scale and many other famous games.
It fits into the category of solitaire and its variants , that is, the type of card games that take place with a single player, and that require a series of predetermined moves to reach the end of the game. In practice it is a kind of card puzzle, in which we should get to the bottom by performing a series of moves controlled by the rules of the solitaire in question.
In the case of spiders, let’s now see what are the rules that can allow the moves to reach the final solution of solitaire.
How to play spider
In a solitaire card game there are a certain number of allowed moves that guide us to the solution of the game. Even spider does not escape this rule , and therefore let’s see how to complete one of these solitaires correctly.
The primary goal in spider is to remove all cards from the table, creating neat piles with the cards themselves. Each of these rows must follow a precise order, which specifically must be descending by organizing it from the King to the Ace as the last card.
At the beginning of the game we would have 10 columns of cards, 4 of which consist of 6 cards and 6 with 5 cards. Each of these columns holds the last card uncovered, which will be the one that we could move between the various columns present. At the bottom right we would always have the deck of cards still available that will be distributed only if we have no more moves to do with the cards in the columns.
As mentioned, the movement allowed is the one that respects the descending order therefore we should always be careful to move a card towards a column where it can be hooked to one of an immediately higher value. For example we can move a queen (Q) to a king (K) but not vice versa.
Through these movements we would free the columns with which we could build our sequences of cards in descending order, that is the true final goal of the solitaire.
Spider difficulty level
The spider difficulty level can only be selected by varying the number of seeds present on the game . In fact, the sequences of cards to be completed must be of the same suit, but be careful, the movements are however allowed even between different suits. So, to give an example, you can connect a Queen of Hearts to a King of Spades, but this is only useful for making moves between the columns, but not for the purpose of completing the sequence.
If we find ourselves in difficulty with no apparent moves to perform, we can ask for help through a suggestion of bones that will appear on the screen. But be careful that the suggestion will reveal all the possible moves, but it is not certain that these are necessary for the solution. This aspect leads us to talk about the score, which is influenced by the number of moves.
Scoring in spider
In spider solitaire the score is given by several factors. First of all it is good to specify that in the standard version of spider you start with 500 points . With each move made the score drops by 1 unit while when we complete a sequence we are added 100 points. Obviously the aim is to score as many points as possible in the shortest possible time , as we would also have a timer that controls the duration of the game. This means weighing the moves, and avoiding useless ones if we don’t want to have a score at the end of the game.
Solitaire spider solitaire
When we removed all the cards from the table we would find the solution to our spider solitaire. In short, we would have formed our decreasing sequences from King to Ace all of the suit in case of a high difficulty game.
Beware though, that like all respectable solitaire games, even spider is totally random. This means that it is absolutely not obvious that the single game has a certain possibility of resolution. When we would have concluded all the draws from the deck of the remaining cards and not on the table we would still have columns, and without possible movements available, here is that at that moment the specter of the impossible game materializes.
Tips and tricks for playing spider
There are some tips and tricks for becoming an expert spider player, and solitaire solitaire even on maximum difficulty. Here are a few.
- Empty columns: Having empty columns gives you a much greater number of available motion options. When you have the possibility to empty a column it is better to seize it on the fly, to have more room for maneuver towards resolution
- Movement of the King: the card of the King having none preceding it in value can only be moved to an empty column. As soon as you have the opportunity, it is a good rule to move it, this to unlock the other cards, both face down and face up, which are on the same column
- Hole Cards: Better to favor moves that can reveal the cards as soon as possible. The reason is soon said, in fact the more cards we have, the more probable are the permitted motives
Play free spider solitaire
One of the reasons that made spider one of the most popular solitaire games in the world is certainly the fact that it has been possible to play free for at least 25 years on Windows PCs all over the world. In the latest version of Windows 10, spider is selectable in the solitaire collection, which also includes variants other than this, of numerous other card solitaire. Obviously this game is also available with its own app for Apple users and also in this case you can download the version of spider solitaire for free.
This enormous diffusion, and the continuous variety of games, always different from each other, has sanctioned the global success of this free card game, a solitaire that has made spider the game that everyone has at least once opened on their PC to escape boredom for a few minutes.
