Daily Spider Solitaire Challenge

Daily Spider gives everyone the same deal of Spider Solitaire each day, using one suit. Every deal is checked to make sure it can be won, the deals get harder from Monday to Sunday, and a new one arrives at midnight your time. Win each day’s deal to build your streak, then challenge your friends to beat your time.

How Daily Spider Works

The deals are numbered, and they share their numbers with Daily Solitaire, so Daily Spider #5 is dealt on the same day as Daily Solitaire #5.

• Your first game is your first try. It starts with your first move, and it’s the game that will count for the daily leaderboard. If you restart or deal again before you win, the rest of your games don’t count for the leaderboard, but they do count toward your winning streak.
• Practice as much as you like. You can replay today’s deal as often as you want, and a practice win still counts toward your streak.
• Undo and Hint are allowed. Use them whenever you like, but each one lowers your score.
• Every past deal stays open. Choose Replay past days under the board to play any deal back to Daily Spider #1 as practice. Replays don’t change your streak.

How to Play Spider Solitaire

Daily Spider uses one suit and two decks, for 104 cards. The first four columns of the tableau get six cards each and the last six get five, with only the top card of each column face up. The other 50 cards make up the stockpile.

• Build down in descending order. Any card can go on a card one rank higher, such as a 7 on an 8.
• Move single cards or whole runs. A run of cards in descending order moves together, so you can shift long runs in one go.
• Fill empty columns with any card or run. Unlike Klondike, an empty column doesn’t need a King.
• Deal from the stockpile when you get stuck. Each deal puts one card face up on every column, and every column needs at least one card before you can deal, unless fewer than 10 cards are left in the tableau. The stockpile has five deals in it.
• Complete eight runs to win. A finished run from King down to Ace moves to a foundation on its own, and the game is won once all eight are done.

Every Daily Deal Is Winnable

Every daily deal comes from our bank of Winnable Spider deals. Before a deal joins the bank, a computer solver plays it to a win, and the winning line is replayed with the same rules this page uses.

Winnable doesn’t mean easy, so each deal is also rated for difficulty. We play it two ways, using only the cards a player could see. First we follow the Hint button from start to finish, and then we play it many more times by picking sensible moves at random. Deals that the Hint wins in fewer moves and that random play often wins are rated easier, and the week is scheduled from easiest to hardest.

• Monday and Tuesday are Very Easy and Easy. They’re good days to start a streak.
• Wednesday and Thursday are Medium and Tricky. Expect more cards buried under long columns and fewer empty columns to work with.
• Friday and Saturday are Hard and Harder. Runs break up more often, and a careless deal from the stockpile can bury the cards you need.
• Sunday is the Hardest. Plan ahead, keep an empty column free as long as you can, and use Undo when a line doesn’t work out.

Build Your Daily Spider Streak

Your streak is the number of days in a row you’ve won that day’s Spider deal. Miss a day and your streak starts again from zero, but your best streak is kept. Each daily game keeps its own streak.

The panel under the board shows this week’s deals, marked as won, not won, or not played. Your streak also shows in the game bar here and in the Daily link on our Spider pages, so you can keep an eye on it while you play something else.

After a win, use Challenge a friend to send your result. It shows the puzzle number, your time, and your streak once it reaches three days, but never the cards, so it won’t spoil the deal for anyone. For now, streaks are saved in the browser you play on, so clearing your browsing data resets them.

Today’s Leaderboard

A daily leaderboard is coming soon, so you can see how your first try compares with everyone else’s. Until then, daily games don’t count toward the regular Spider leaderboard or your saved stats.

Tips for a Faster Score

Your score rewards speed and efficiency, so it goes up the fewer moves you make and the less time you take. Every card or run you move, every deal from the stockpile, and every Undo or Hint counts as a move, and Undo and Hint also count as penalties. For more ideas, see our Spider Solitaire strategies.

• Turn up face-down cards first. When two cards could make the same move, choose the one that flips a face-down card.
• Empty the shortest columns. An empty column lets you park a run or rearrange cards, which makes every other move easier.
• Keep runs long. When you have a choice between two cards of the same rank, move the one that sits in a longer run.
• Deal only when you’re out of useful moves. Each deal puts a card on every column and can cover cards you were about to play.
• Fill an empty column with a high card. A King can’t go on any other card, so an empty column is the best place for one.