Spider Solitaire, also known as Microsoft Spider Solitaire (Spider in the About box in some versions), is a
solitaire (NA)/patience (EU) card game that is included in
Microsoft Windows
Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for serv ...
. It is a version of
Spider
Spiders ( order Araneae) are air-breathing arthropods that have eight legs, chelicerae with fangs generally able to inject venom, and spinnerets that extrude silk. They are the largest order of arachnids and rank seventh in total species ...
. , it was the most played game on Windows PCs, surpassing the shorter and less challenging
Klondike-based
Windows Solitaire.
The game was first included as part of
Windows 98
Windows 98 is a consumer-oriented operating system developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows 9x family of Microsoft Windows operating systems. The second operating system in the 9x line, it is the successor to Windows 95, and was released to ...
's
Microsoft Plus!
Microsoft Plus! is a discontinued commercial operating system enhancement product by Microsoft. The last edition is the Plus! SuperPack, which includes an assortment of screensavers, themes, and games, as well as multimedia applications. The Micr ...
package on its release on June 25, 1998 and has been since featured on most subsequent versions of Windows. Spider Solitaire was not included in
Windows 2000
Windows 2000 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft and oriented towards businesses. It was the direct successor to Windows NT 4.0, and was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), releas ...
, but was added to
Windows Me and later on
Windows XP
Windows XP is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It was released to manufacturing on August 24, 2001, and later to retail on October 25, 2001. It is a direct upgrade to its predecessors, Windows 2000 for high-end and ...
; the game gained popularity subsequent to its inclusion in the latter.
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...
again saw a new version, which was mainly unchanged in
Windows 7
Windows 7 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was released to manufacturing on July 22, 2009, and became generally available on October 22, 2009. It is the successor to Windows Vista, released nearly ...
. Finally,
Windows 8
Windows 8 is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was Software release life cycle#Release to manufacturing (RTM), released to manufacturing on August 1, 2012; it was subsequently made available for downl ...
has another updated version available in the
Windows Store as part of
Microsoft Solitaire Collection
''Microsoft Solitaire Collection'' is a video game developed by Smoking Gun Interactive, Microsoft Casual Games and Arkadium and published by Microsoft Studios for Microsoft Windows. It combines the Solitaire, FreeCell and Spider Solitaire titles ...
but not bundled with the operating system.
Windows 10
Windows 10 is a major release of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system. It is the direct successor to Windows 8.1, which was released nearly two years earlier. It was released to manufacturing on July 15, 2015, and later to retail on J ...
has the Microsoft Solitaire Collection app updated and bundled with the OS.
Gameplay
The game is played with two decks of cards for a total of 104 cards. Fifty-four of the cards are laid out horizontally in ten columns with only the top card showing. The remaining fifty cards are laid out in the lower right hand corner in five piles of ten with no cards showing.
In the horizontal columns a card may be moved to any other card in the column as long as it is in descending numerical sequence. For example, a six of hearts may be moved to a seven of any suit. However, a sequence of cards can only be moved if they are all of the same suit in numerical descending order. For example, a six and seven of hearts may be moved to an eight of any suit, but a six of hearts and seven of clubs cannot be moved together. Moving the top card in a column allows the topmost hidden card to be turned over. This card then enters into the play. Other cards can be placed on it, and it can be moved to other cards in a sequence or to an empty column.
The object of the game is to uncover all the hidden cards and by moving cards from one column to another to place cards in sequential order from King to Ace using the fewest moves. Each final sequence must be all of the same suit. Once a complete sequence is achieved the cards are removed from the table and 100 points are added to the score. Once a player has made all the moves possible with the current card layout, the player draws a new row of cards from one of the piles of ten in the lower right-hand corner by clicking on the cards. Each of the ten cards in this draw lands face up on each of the ten horizontal columns and the player then proceeds to place these in such a way to create a sequence of cards all in one suit.
Features
There are three levels of difficulty in Spider Solitaire: Beginner (one
suit
A suit, lounge suit, or business suit is a set of clothes comprising a suit jacket and trousers of identical textiles worn with a collared dress shirt, necktie, and dress shoes. A skirt suit is similar, but with a matching skirt instead of tr ...
), Intermediate (two suits), and Advanced (four suits).
[Spider Solitaire Help]
Spider Solitaire has an "
undo
Undo is an interaction technique which is implemented in many computer programs. It erases the last change done to the document, reverting it to an older state. In some more advanced programs, such as graphic processing, undo will negate the las ...
" feature that allows moves to be retracted. Any number of moves can be retracted, back to the last non-retractable move, but each "undo" subtracts one from the score.
To aid the player, the key H (
Windows Vista
Windows Vista is a major release of the Windows NT operating system developed by Microsoft. It was the direct successor to Windows XP, which was released five years before, at the time being the longest time span between successive releases of ...
or later only) or M will highlight possible moves, whereas in the Windows XP version this is done by clicking on the score panel. The player can also undo previous moves and try again. Windows keeps track of scores for the player's reference; these may be viewed by going to Game and then Statistics. In Windows 7, these scores appear in the Games Explorer by clicking the game and selecting the Statistics tab in the Preview Pane. There are two measures of performance in Spider Solitaire: number of games won and highest score. In a certain sense these two measures are negatively correlated: maximizing games won may yield lower scores per game and vice versa.
The final score in a Spider Solitaire game is calculated as follows. The initial score is 500 and every move subtracts one from the score. Using the “undo” feature also subtracts one point from the score. Every time the player is able to place an entire sequence of cards of the same suit in order (kings, queens, jacks, 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 ace), 100 points are added to the score. There is a total of eight such sequences in the game yielding a maximum achievable number of 800. Therefore, in a winning game the total score is 800 plus 500 minus the number of moves and "undo"s.
In popular culture
Spider Solitaire was referenced on the February 27, 2021 episode of
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...
. In the, "So You Think You Can Get the Vaccine," cold opening sketch 85-year-old contestant, Seymour Forman, (played by
Mikey Day
Michael William Day (born March 20, 1980) is an American actor, comedian, writer, and producer. He is the host of the Netflix show ''Is It Cake?'' He joined ''Saturday Night Live'' as a writer in its 39th season, became a featured player in it ...
) was asked if he was computer literate enough to make an appointment online for a
COVID-19 vaccine
A COVID19 vaccine is a vaccine intended to provide acquired immunity against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‑CoV‑2), the virus that causes coronavirus disease 2019 ( COVID19).
Prior to the COVID19 pandemic, an e ...
. After replying "on what?," Mr. Forman was then asked if he had a computer at home. He replied, "for Spider Solitaire."
[Archived a]
Ghostarchive
and th
Wayback Machine
See also
*
List of games included with Windows
Video games have been included in versions of the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, starting from Windows 1.0x, all published by Microsoft. Some games that have appeared in ''Microsoft Entertainment Pack'' and Microsoft Plus! have be ...
References
{{Windows Components
1998 video games
Microsoft games
Patience video games
Video games developed in the United States
Windows games
Windows-only games
he:ספיידר סוליטר (חלונות)