_______ _______ ______ ______ _______ _______ / \ | \ | | | \ | \ | \ / _______| | __ | |_ _| | | | _____| | __ | | / | |__> | | | | |\ | | | | |__> | | \______ | | | | | | | | | |___ | | \ \ | ___/ | | | | | | | \ | __/ \_____ \ | / | | | | | | | ___/ | \ \ | | | | | | | | | | | | \ _______/ | | | \(.)/ _| |_ | |/ | | |_____ | |\ \ | / | | /(o)\ | | | | | | | | \ | \_______/ |__/ |______| |______/ |_______/ |__/ \__| Spider Solitaire strategy guide V1.0 by action52 *************************************************************************** I. INTRODUCTION *************************************************************************** Spider Solitaire. A game that almost all of us know, but very few of us have mastered. In spite of the fact that this game comes bundled with Windows, very few people have actually beaten it on the hard difficulty setting. Most people beat it on easy a few times, but give up in frustration when they try the medium or hard difficulty settings. I used to be one of those people. I've been playing this game for over a decade, but it wasn't until a year or so ago that I finally beat it on medium. I didn't beat it on hard until less than a month ago. It took me a long time--even finding help was difficult. Most guides and video playthroughs only help you on the medium or easy setting. But after scrounging the internet for tips and guides, I was finally able to work out a strategy good enough to get me through. In this FAQ, I am putting together all the gameplay tips and tricks I have found, both online and from my own experience. Hopefully this will help some people that always wanted to beat this game but never worked out how. *************************************************************************** II. GAMEPLAY BASICS *************************************************************************** Spider Solitaire uses 104 cards. That's 2 of each card on hard level, 4 of each on medium, and 8 of each on easy. When you start a new game, the computer lays out 10 piles of cards. The four left piles have five cards face down and one card face up. The six right piles have four cards face down and one card face up. The remaining 50 cards go into a pile in the lower right hand corner. Click the cards and drag them to other piles. Cards can be stacked in descending order. For example, if you have a King you can put a Queen on it, and a Jack on the Queen. Cards can be placed on each other regardless of suit. However, if you have a series of cards of the same suit in order, you can move those cards together. If the cards are not the same suit, you will only be able to move one at a time. If you move the card directly over a face down card, it will be turned face up. You can now move that card or put other cards on top of it. If you manage to move all the face-down cards in a stack, you can move your other cards into the empty slot. Clicking on the stack of cards in the lower right will deal out 10 cards face up, one on each pile. These cards will go on top of every stack, so you will have to move the new cards around before you can use the cards below them. You cannot deal a new card to each stack unless all slots have at least one card in them. If you have any empty slots, you must move cards onto them before you click on the stack in the bottom right. If you manage to build a stack of all 13 cards from King to Ace, all the same suit, that stack will be moved to the bottom left. Those cards are gone for the remainder of the game. If you move all 104 cards onto 8 stacks, you win the game. Sider solitaire Has three difficulty settings: Easy, Medium, and Hard. EASY: There is only one suit of cards, usually spades. Ridiculously easy. I can't remember ever losing on easy unless I had to quit in the middle of a game. In fact, it's actually kind of difficult to lose on easy. When you start out, It's a good idea to do a game or two on easy just so you can learn the way cards move and stack in this game. But it gets boring pretty quick, so you'll probably want to move on soon. MEDIUM: There are two suits of cards, usually spades and hearts. This is considerably more difficult, because now you have to deal with stacks that cannot be moved. Most players give up at this level. It can indeed be frustrating for beginners, but with a little patience you'll find it's not as hard as it seems. Skillful players can win almost every game. Even without any tips or strategy, if you keep at it long enough you should win eventually. It's just a matter of not giving up. HARD: All four suits are used. This is very hard. If you don't have a strategy worked out you may never win. I remember once I was on a plane that let you play this game (hard level only) using the video screen. I played for five hours but never even came close to winning. Even the best players have a difficult time on hard setting. I've never heard of anyone being able to beat this more than 50% of the time. *************************************************************************** II. WINNING STRATEGY *************************************************************************** Okay, enough of the easy stuff. You want to know how to win, right? Well, I would say the most important thing in winning this game is priorities. You need to know what takes precedent over what. When I play this game, I put my priorities in this order: 1. Open up slots so you can put other cards on them. 2. Expose face down cards so you can use them. 3. Build same-suit stacks. 4. Build stacks of cards with different suits. First, open slots. Open slots are your most valuable resource. I can't stress that enough. Getting an open slot is good. Getting two open slots is great. Getting three or more open slots means that with skillful gameplay you will probably win this game, as long as you don't run into any really bad luck later on. Exposing cards is also important. The more cards you have face up, the more you have to work with. This will make you better equipped to deal with the cards that the bottom right gives you, and let you build stacks of the same card. Finally, you want to build descending order stacks of cards wherever you can. Stacks of the same suit are obviously better than stacks of different suits, but getting the cards stacked is helpful no matter what. So basically, when you look at the cards you have to keep those priorities in mind. Let's say, for example, you have a 6 of diamonds with 5 face-down cards under it, and a 6 of clubs with 4 face-down cards under it. Next to them is a 7 of diamonds. A beginner might move the 6 of diamonds, but the 6 of clubs is better in this case. Bringing yourself closer to a free slot is better than having cards stacked in the same suit. If you do get any open slots, the first thing you should do is what most Spider Solitaire sources call "clean-up." Move the cards around so that cards of the same suit are stacked together as much as possible. If you can expose any face down cards or open up a slot, that's even better. But whatever you do, while you're cleaning up make sure to LEAVE THE SLOT OPEN. Once you are sure you've done as much clean-up as you can, put something on the empty slot. Again, use the priorities list. If you can expose some face- down cards, do so. One tip: try not to put stacks of cards with different suits on empty slots. If you make sure that all cards on a slot are the same suit, it will be easier to open up the slot later. Finally, once you cannot move any more cards, it's time to click the bottom right card pile. This is the part I hate. You have to close up your precious open slots, and you have no way of knowing what will come. All your best-laid plans can be destroyed in one mouse click. I once managed to open up THREE slots on my first round of cards. Then, when I clicked the bottom right, all three of those slots got a king placed on top of them. >_< *************************************************************************** IV. VARIOUS TIPS AND OBSERVATIONS *************************************************************************** -Be patient. Even skillful players lose most of the time, so expect to take a long time before you experience your first win. Just keep at it, and hone your strategy, and eventually you should be able to beat this game. -No matter how good you are, luck plays a big role. And bad luck affects you more than good luck. Even if you get off to a great start, one bad deal from the lower right can turn the tables in an instant. A terrible start, on the other hand, will usually not turn around no matter what cards you get later on. Accept this. -I think every game is technically winnable. By which I mean, it would be possible to win every time if you played the cards in the right way. But since you don't know what order the cards will come in, it's pretty much impossible to know which order to play the cards you're dealt. -There's really not much you can do to prepare yourself for a click on the lower right hand card pile. You either get lucky or you don't. The more cards you can stack and uncover, the better your chances are, but there are no guarantees. -This is a game where a lot of little things make a big difference later on. That's why getting all the cards exposed and using free slots to line them up by suit are so important. When you do that stuff a lot in the beginning you find yourself with a lot more options in the midgame. -Be thorough. Take your time, and make sure you aren't forgetting anything. Playing this game properly takes a lot of time. When you are cleaining up cards using free slots, especially, you might find yourself moving cards back and forth a lot to get cards of the same suit lined up as much as possible. -Kings suck. If a stack has a King on it, that means you can't touch the cards below it unless you use up a precious empty slot. Of course, if you manage to clear away a whole suit you can get rid of the King, but by the time you reach that point you're usually close to winning anyway. -Aces kind of suck too. Not as much as Kings, but you can't stack other cards on them which is annoying if you draw a lot of them. -I recommend you stay away from the "hint" function. If you don't already know, most versions of Spider Solitaire come with a "hint" function in which the computer will highlight two cards for you to move on top of each other. The problem is, the hint function only thinks one move at a time. So it will miss a lot of the options which involve moving multiple cards. It also will not tell you to "clean up" your cards using empty slots, which is key to winning. On easy level, the hint function will get you through but on the higher difficulty levels it will steer you wrong. Don't use it. *************************************************************************** V. THE "UNDO" FUNCTION *************************************************************************** The undo feature in this game is very powerful. It can allow you to go back many moves, and even put back face down cards you have exposed. I recommend that you do use the "undo" feature. It may feel like cheating, but keep in mind that this is a deliberate design aspect that is present in every version. It's obvious that the developers meant for you to be able to do this. Your score is penalized for using the undo feature, and there are limitations on it. For example, when you click the bottom right and distribute a card on every pile, that cannot be undone. When you clear a suit off the board, that also cannot be undone. Hell, even WITH the undo function this game is plenty hard. I have never heard of someone having even a 50% victory rate, whether they use the undo function or not. Of course, you're free not to use the undo feature if you want, but be warned that you will have to be really lucky in order to win without using undo. There are just too many places where you can screw yourself over because you don't know what's coming next. So don't think of the undo feature as a cheat or an exploit. Think of it as an aspect of gameplay that you would give up only if you want to give yourself an extra challenge. Recommended ways to use the undo function: -If you have two different piles to choose from, check both piles and go with the one with the most useful cards under it. -If you come across a King while trying to work your way down to a free slot, undo it and work on another stack of cards. -If you have an empty slot or two, try experimenting with various ways to use it until you find the one that takes care of the most cards. *************************************************************************** V. THE END *************************************************************************** Well, I don't know how helpful this guide will be, but I hope that some people read it and play this game through to the end. It may require you to adjust your gaming philosophy--we're used to games that allow you to win every time. But the fun of this game is in rising to the challenge, and playing every game to the best of your abilities. When you do manage to beat the odds, and everything's sorted into neat piles, and cards are disappearing off the board, it's a very satisfying feeling. Hopefully this guide will spread a little of the enjoyment around. THANKS TO: -All the various people who wrote FAQs that helped me get through this game -The person who invented this game, whoever (s)he is -Microsoft, for publishing this game and giving it to us for free with Windows -GameFAQs, for hosting such a treasure trove of game information and help =========================================================================== * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * =========================================================================== This FAQ is copyright (c) 2009 by action52. This strategy guide has been made with the intent of posting on GameFAQs. Feel free to copy this and use it however you want. You may post this on other websites, but please post the WHOLE document, unedited. If you want to modify this strategy guide, or have any questions, please email me at kirmite@hotmail.com.