What is Mrs. Mop?
Mrs. Mop is a two-deck Spider variant with a key structural twist: all 104 cards are dealt face-up at the start. Like Simple Simon (one-deck Spider with complete information), Mrs. Mop removes hidden information entirely — but at full two-deck Spider scale. The result is a long, fully visible puzzle where every card’s position is known from move one and losses come from wrong sequencing, not unlucky draws.
The name is British slang for a cleaning lady — appropriate for a game about methodically clearing the board through organized suit-run assembly.
Full rules
Two standard 52-card decks (104 cards) are dealt face-up into thirteen columns of eight cards each. There is no stock and no waste pile — the full puzzle is immediately visible.
Tableau columns build downward in rank. Any suit can be placed on any card one rank higher. Only a same-suit descending sequence can be moved as a unit. When a complete King-through-Ace same-suit run is assembled anywhere in the tableau, it is automatically removed. Empty columns accept any card or same-suit sequence. Win all eight suit runs (two per suit, since two decks are used) to finish the game.
How Mrs. Mop differs from Spider
Spider applies stock pressure — five deals of ten cards each can bury careful work. Mrs. Mop removes all pressure: every card is already dealt and the position only ever improves through your moves. Losses occur when the tableau becomes locked in a configuration that cannot produce any same-suit run.
The two-deck scale means twice as many same-suit cards to track and assemble compared to Simple Simon. Eight complete runs are needed instead of four. This makes Mrs. Mop substantially longer than Simple Simon and requires managing suit lanes across thirteen columns rather than ten.
Read the full Mrs. Mop strategy guide →
Suit separation strategy
With all cards visible, the opening move of Mrs. Mop should begin with a full board survey: locate each of the eight K–A suit runs needed and trace which cards from each suit are currently blocking others. Suit contamination — where a card of one suit sits on top of a different-suit card — is your primary problem to solve.
Because there are two copies of each card, you have more flexibility than in Simple Simon: if the 7♥ you need for suit run one is buried, the second 7♥ might be accessible for suit run two. But each copy occupies a column position, and with thirteen columns for eight runs, space is still the governing constraint.
Open Spider family
- Simple Simon — same concept, one deck, ten columns; shorter and more tractable
- Spider Solitaire — same two-deck scale but with stock pressure and hidden cards
- Relaxed Spider — two decks, hidden cards, stock skips empty columns
Related games and reference