What is Spiderette?
Spiderette is a one-deck adaptation of Spider Solitaire. It shares Spider’s objective — build four complete King-through-Ace same-suit runs and remove them from the tableau — and its core rules: sequences build downward in rank, only same-suit sequences move as units, and completed suit runs are automatically removed.
The key structural difference is scale. Where Spider uses two decks and ten columns, Spiderette uses one deck and seven columns with a Klondike-style opening deal. There is exactly one of each card instead of two, which makes tracking card positions much easier but also means there are no backup copies when a key card is buried.
Full rules
The 52-card deck is dealt into seven columns in a triangle: column 1 gets one card, column 2 gets two, and so on up to column 7 with seven cards. Only the top card of each column is face-up at the start. The remaining cards (52 minus 28 = 24) form the stock, which deals one card to each column when the player chooses to draw.
Build tableau columns downward in rank. Only a same-suit descending sequence moves as a unit. When a complete King-through-Ace run of the same suit is assembled anywhere in the tableau, it is automatically removed. Win all four suit runs to finish the game.
How Spiderette differs from Spider
The compressed format changes strategy in a specific way: empty columns are harder to achieve and more precious when they exist. With only seven columns available for four suit runs, losing even one column to an unproductive parking job creates a board tight enough to stop most reorganization plans.
The single-deck structure also means suit tracking is more tractable — you know there are exactly thirteen cards per suit to find and assemble — but the tighter column count means you have less room to stage partial runs while building others simultaneously.
Read the full Spiderette strategy guide →
Reveal timing in Spiderette
Column 7 starts with seven cards but only its top is face-up, hiding six face-down cards. Columns 1 and 2 are fully or mostly exposed from the start. Early play should balance two goals: clearing the short columns to create empty space quickly, and revealing face-down cards in the longer columns to gain information.
Unlike two-deck Spider where a specific card often has two copies, each Spiderette card appears exactly once. If the 7 of hearts is buried under five face-down cards in column 6, you cannot rely on a second copy appearing elsewhere — that 7♥ is the only one.
Spider family variants
- Spider Solitaire — two decks, ten columns, the full-scale version
- Will O’ the Wisp — one deck, seven equal-depth columns (3×7 deal instead of 1–7)
- Relaxed Spider — two decks; stock skips empty columns instead of filling them
- Simple Simon — one deck, all cards face-up at the start, no stock
Related games and reference