Strategy

Advanced Spider Solitaire: recover a crowded tableau

When Spider turns messy, buy time and workspace rather than trying to perfect every column at once.

Advanced8 min readSpider Solitaire

Choose one column to clear

A specific empty-column target is more useful than moving cards randomly across an equally crowded board.

Place unavoidable mixed cards carefully

Mix suits under high cards that are unlikely to move soon, and never break a nearly complete clean run without a strong reason.

Improve the board before every deal

The last move before dealing should reveal a card, clean a run or strengthen a working column.

Keep in mind

  • Pick a column to empty.
  • Protect clean sequences.
  • Make one useful improvement before dealing.