Four-Suit Spider Solitaire is a one-player, two-deck patience game played across ten columns. You build descending cards, preserve same-suit runs, and win by clearing eight complete King-to-Ace sequences from the table.
The name matters. Spider Solitaire (1 Suit) removes most suit pressure. Spider Solitaire (2 Suits) adds some. Four suit spider is the full version: spades, hearts, diamonds, and clubs all matter, and mixed stacks can trap good cards for a long time. It is often treated as expert spider solitaire because a legal move is not always a useful move.
The spider solitaire 4 suit rules are not complicated on paper. The difficulty comes from the timing. Every stock deal drops ten new cards onto the tableau, and every mixed-suit shortcut can become a debt you pay several moves later. Your first game is mostly about seeing that debt before it blocks the next useful card.
What is Four-Suit Spider Solitaire, exactly?
Four-Suit Spider Solitaire is the full-difficulty version of Spider Solitaire. It is played by one player with two standard 52-card decks, so there are 104 cards in the game and two copies of every card.
The board is made of ten tableau columns and a stock. Your job is to arrange cards in descending rank, from King down to Ace, until you can form complete same-suit sequences. A full sequence such as King, Queen, Jack, 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, Ace of spades is removed from play. Clear all eight such sequences and you win.
The sharp point is the phrase same-suit. You may often place a card onto the next higher rank even when the suit does not match, but mixed-suit stacks are awkward. They do not clear the board. They also restrict what you can move as a group. A tidy column of descending hearts can travel together; a descending run broken by a club in the middle cannot move as one clean unit.
That is why four suit spider feels different from the easier versions. The rules are few, but the consequences pile up quickly. A move that opens one face-down card can also bury three future cards behind the wrong suit.
How is the game laid out at the start?
The game begins with 54 cards in the tableau and 50 cards in the stock. The tableau has ten columns. The first four columns hold six cards each. The remaining six columns hold five cards each. Only the top card of each column is face up at the start.
| Area | Cards | What you can see | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| Columns 1 to 4 | 6 each | 1 face-up card each | They hide the most cards, so opening them is valuable. |
| Columns 5 to 10 | 5 each | 1 face-up card each | They are slightly quicker to empty. |
| Stock | 50 | No card choices | It gives five deals of ten cards. |
| Visible start | 10 | One top card per column | These are your only first moves. |
The stock is not a draw pile in the Klondike Solitaire (Turn 1) sense. You do not take one card and choose where it goes. A stock deal places one new face-up card onto every tableau column at once. That can help by giving you fresh ranks, or hurt by covering a carefully prepared run.
An empty column is powerful because it can accept any single card or any legal movable run. It gives you room to rearrange the board. In many positions, making one empty column is more important than making a neat-looking stack.
- Players: one.
- Decks: two standard decks, 104 cards total.
- Tableau: ten columns.
- Stock deals: five deals, ten cards per deal.
What do you actually do on a turn?
A turn is a choice between moving cards in the tableau or dealing from the stock. You may make several tableau moves before you deal, but each legal action follows a tight rule.
- Move a face-up card onto the next higher rank. A 7 can go onto an 8. A Queen can go onto a King. Aces are low, so nothing goes onto an Ace. The receiving card may be a different suit, but that choice has a cost because mixed suits do not form a completed sequence.
- Move a same-suit descending run as one block. If you have 9, 8, 7 of clubs in order, you can move those cards together onto a 10. If the run changes suit halfway down, only the clean same-suit part at the front can move as a run.
- Use empty columns as working space. An empty column can take any single card or any legal movable same-suit run. This is the main way to unpick a cramped position. It lets you shift a blocking card, expose a face-down card, then perhaps rebuild the column in a better order.
- Turn over newly exposed cards. When you remove the face-up cards above a face-down card, that hidden card is turned face up. Opening hidden cards is how you increase your choices before the next stock deal arrives.
- Deal from the stock when you are ready, and only with no empty columns. A stock deal adds one face-up card to each of the ten columns. It is usually legal only when every column contains at least one card. Deal too early and you cover useful cards. Wait too long and you may run out of productive moves.
The practical rhythm is simple: expose cards, build same-suit runs, create space, then deal. The hard part is deciding which imperfect move damages the position least.
How do you win, and how does scoring work?
- You win by removing eight complete sequences. Each sequence must run from King down to Ace in one suit. Because the game uses two decks, there are eight sequences to remove in all: two in spades, two in hearts, two in diamonds, and two in clubs.
- A completed same-suit King-to-Ace run leaves the tableau. Once the full run is assembled in order, it is cleared from the board. Those cards are no longer available, which is good: they no longer block columns or future stock deals.
- The game is lost in practice when the stock is gone and the tableau cannot be untangled. Some positions still contain legal moves that go nowhere. The real question is whether you can still expose hidden cards or build another same-suit sequence.
- The classic score starts at 500. Each move, including a stock deal, subtracts 1 point. Each completed same-suit sequence adds 100 points.
- Move count matters because scoring rewards economy. A win after many shuffling moves is still a win, but the score will be lower. Eight completed runs add 800 points in total; unnecessary moves steadily take points away.
- Do not confuse score with position quality. A move that costs 1 point but opens a face-down card is often better than a tidy move that preserves points and leaves the board locked. In four suit spider, access usually beats neatness.
Why play the four-suit version at all?
Four-suit Spider is worth playing because it gives every small decision weight. The rules fit in a minute, yet the board keeps asking different questions. Should you mix suits to expose a hidden card? Should you spend an empty column now, or keep it for a longer same-suit run? Should you deal and accept the mess?
The easier Spider games are useful. Spider Solitaire (1 Suit) teaches the rhythm of building down and clearing runs. Spider Solitaire (2 Suits) adds suit management without making every column feel fragile. Four-suit Spider is the version where those habits are tested hardest.
The evidence for exact win rates across casual online play is thin, and many published numbers depend on the software, deal selection, and use of undo. What is not thin is the rule pressure. With four suits active, there are more ways to make a legal stack that later refuses to move. That is the heart of expert spider solitaire.
It is not hard because the controls are obscure. It is hard because the obvious move is often only half-right. A good deal feels like a puzzle with a memory: each shortcut stays on the table until you find a way to pay it off.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. It is beatable because completed same-suit runs can be removed once assembled, and empty columns let you repair bad positions. It is still the full-difficulty game: some deals are lost, and many winnable deals are spoiled by one early shortcut. Treat it as a puzzle with imperfect information, not as a quick clearing exercise.
104 cards are used: two standard 52-card decks, with no jokers. That matters because every rank and suit appears twice, so a buried 7 of clubs is not the only 7 of clubs in the deal. You are trying to turn that mass into eight clean king-to-ace runs, one suit at a time.
People often think any descending run can be picked up together; the correction is that only a same-suit descending sequence moves as one block. A 9♥ on an 8♣ may be legal to place, but it has created a join you cannot lift together later. Mixed stacks buy time, then charge interest.
A real hand might leave one empty column after you move a 6♠-5♠-4♠ run onto a 7♠. Use that space to turn over face-down cards or to re-order one awkward stack, not as a dumping ground. Empty columns are the closest thing Four-Suit Spider gives you to a spare hand.
It depends on the face-down cards, because revealing one hidden card can be worth more than keeping a neat sequence intact. Break a same-suit run if it opens a column, exposes a face-down card, or creates a better empty-space manoeuvre. Do not break it just to make a move that leaves the board more tangled.
Compared with Spider Solitaire (2 Suits), Spider Solitaire (4 Suits) punishes temporary mixed builds far more often. In two suits, a wrong-colour join is usually repairable within a few moves. In four suits, the same join can sit there for half the game, blocking a whole column while the card you need hides under another suit.
Wait until you have improved the tableau; the exception is when no useful rearrangement remains and every column is filled. A stock deal adds one card to each column, so it usually makes existing problems larger. Before dealing, expose what you can, move complete same-suit blocks, and make any empty-column work count.
Most people park kings in the first empty column they see, then wonder why the board has no room left. A king cannot be moved onto another card, so it often becomes the floor of a long, stubborn pile. Put a king in space only when it helps reveal cards or starts a serious suit build.
A complete suit is a same-suit sequence from king down to ace: K-Q-J-10-9-8-7-6-5-4-3-2-A. Once that run is assembled, it leaves the tableau automatically. The game asks you to make eight of these runs, because two full decks are in play.
Replay lost deals and find the first move that made a column harder to open. Look for moves that reveal face-down cards, preserve same-suit runs, or create an empty column. If two moves look equal, choose the one that turns over information. Four-Suit Spider improves when you stop counting moves and start counting options.
Nobody knows precisely; there is no official public win-rate figure for Veena Games. The best available figure is your own win rate over a fixed run, ideally at least 50 deals played without cherry-picking restarts. Four-Suit Spider has a low win rate for ordinary play, and tiny samples lie.
Microsoft shipped Spider Solitaire with Microsoft Plus! 98 and later with Windows ME and Windows XP, which is how many players first met it. The name is commonly linked to the eight completed sequences you remove, echoing a spider’s eight legs. The four-suit version keeps the traditional full difficulty rather than the suit-reduced versions.
The cost of getting it wrong is a column that looks organised but will not move when you need it to. Descending order lets cards sit together; matching suit lets them travel together. If you build 10♦-9♣-8♦ early, you may have gained one legal placement and lost three future moves.
Final thoughts
If a friend had just learnt the rules, I would tell them to care less about making pretty columns and more about uncovering cards. Face-down cards are the unknown part of the deal. Until they turn over, you are making plans with missing information.
The second thing is to respect empty columns. One empty column can turn a jammed board into a playable one. Two can feel like breathing room. Spend them, but do not waste them on a move that merely changes the order of the same problem.
Mixed suits are not forbidden, and sometimes they are correct. A mixed stack that opens a hidden card can be a bargain. A mixed stack that only makes the tableau look lower is often a trap. The question is always what the move gives you next: a card, a space, a same-suit run, or nothing much.
Four-suit Spider becomes enjoyable when you stop expecting every deal to unfold cleanly. Some positions are rough from the first ten visible cards. Some recover after one brave stock deal. The pleasure is in spotting the move that keeps the game alive without pretending the board is kinder than it is.
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