How To Set Up Spider Solitaire

By Neal Taparia - 08/25/2023

All versions of Spider Solitaire (1 Suit, 2 Suit, and 4 Suit) are played with two decks with no jokers, or 104 cards, shuffled before every game. Following this, the cards are laid out in 10 piles or columns along a horizontal line, with 6 cards in each of the first four piles, and 5 cards in each of the last six piles. The last card in each pile is placed face up. The cards are placed one at a time in each pile. The first card dealt goes to the first pile, the second card to the second pile, and so on. The 11th card would go to the first pile, and you continue this process until all 54 cards are dealt.

After the face up cards are drawn, the remaining cards make up the stock pile and will be used to draw cards into the game. The column of 10 piles is known as the tableau.

Above the tableau is the foundation, where there are 8 empty piles. Once you sequence cards in the tableau from Ace to King, that group of cards is moved from the tableau and placed in the foundation. You need to sequence cards 8 times from Ace to King to win the game.

Spider Solitaire terms

As shown by the image, the layout of the cards is not too difficult to grasp and is very similar to the original Solitaire game.

Learn how to play Spider Solitaire here, and improve your game with these strategies.

About the author

Neal Taparia is one of the founders of Solitaired. He loves playing card games and is interested in understanding how games can help with brain training and skills building. In addition to card games, he also likes fishing and mountain biking.