One, two or four suits: which Spider should you play?

Card Lounge has three versions of Spider: one suit, two suits and four suits. The layout, the stock and the rules for placing cards are the same in all three. So what actually changes, and which one should you play?

What stays the same

• 104 cards: ten columns of 6, 6, 6, 6, 5, 5, 5, 5, 5 and 5 cards (54 in all), and a stock of 50 dealt in five rounds of ten.
• Any card may be placed on a card one rank higher, regardless of suit.
• You cannot draw from the stock while any column is empty.
• You win by completing eight runs from King down to Ace, each of which is removed automatically.

What changes: the cards

• One suit: eight sets of spades, Ace to King.
• Two suits: four sets of spades and four sets of hearts.
• Four suits: two full decks.

Every mode has eight cards of each rank. What differs is how many of those eight share a suit.

Why it matters: moving runs

Placing a card ignores suit, but moving a run does not: a run moves as one unit only if it is in descending order and all one suit. So in Spider the suit question comes up when you want to move cards, not when you place them.

Take any 9 on the table. There are eight 8s in the pack, and every one of them may legally go on it. How many would form a two-card run that can move together?

• One suit: all 8.
• Two suits: 4, the 8s of the same suit as the 9.
• Four suits: 2.

In other words, of all the 8s you could legally put on that 9, every one keeps a movable run going in one-suit Spider, half do in two-suit and a quarter do in four-suit. That ratio is the heart of the difference between the modes.

Worked example: the same column, two modes

One suit. A column ends 10♠ 9♠ 8♠ 7♠, and another column shows J♠. The four cards are a descending run of one suit, so they move onto the J♠ in a single move.

Two suits. Now the column ends 10♠ 9♥ 8♠ 7♥. Every card in it was legally placed, but no two neighbours share a suit, so only the 7♥ can move on its own. To get the 10♠ onto the J♠ you must take the column apart one card at a time: the 7♥ needs an 8 or an empty column, the 8♠ needs a 9 or an empty column, and the 9♥ needs a 10 or an empty column. Only then can the 10♠ move. That is at least four moves and three separate landing places, instead of one move.

Choosing the better home. Still in two-suit Spider, a column ends 10♠ 9♥ 8♥. The 9♥ 8♥ pair is a movable run, but the 10♠ is not part of it. If one column shows a 10♥ and another shows a 10♠, both are legal homes for 9♥ 8♥. On the 10♥ the run grows to 10♥ 9♥ 8♥ and stays movable; on the 10♠ it would be legal but split into two pieces again. Choose the same-suit home whenever there is one.

Completing a run

In one-suit Spider, any descending run from King to Ace is complete, because every card is a spade. In two and four suits, the run must be one suit from top to bottom. A column reading K♠ Q♥ J♠ and so on down to A♠ is not removed, however tidy it looks.

Choosing a difficulty

• One suit is the place to learn how Spider flows: when to deal from the stock, how to use empty columns and how to plan around five deals. Suits never get in the way.
• Two suits adds suit sorting with only two suits to keep apart. Empty columns become essential, as described in why an empty column is so valuable.
• Four suits is the full puzzle. Mixed stacks appear quickly, so plan further ahead and make good use of Undo, which goes all the way back to the deal; see hints and undo.

Each mode keeps its own statistics, so trying a harder level does not touch your record on an easier one. A sensible moment to move up is when you are winning regularly at your current level and the games are starting to feel routine.

Try it

In two-suit Spider, a column holds, from the bottom up: K♥ Q♥ J♠ 10♠ 9♠ 8♥ 7♥.

1. What is the longest run you can move as one unit?
2. How many separate same-suit runs does the column contain?
3. If the same seven ranks were all spades in one-suit Spider, how many cards would move together, and where could they go?

Answers: Two cards, 8♥ 7♥, because the suit changes between the 9♠ and the 8♥. Three runs: K♥ Q♥, then J♠ 10♠ 9♠, then 8♥ 7♥. All seven cards would move together, but because the run is headed by a King, the only place it could go is an empty column.

Play Spider one suit, Spider two suits or Spider four suits, or browse all the games.