♠ ♥ ♣ ♦ · 4
Spider Solitaire: 4 Suits
Four-suit Spider is the full game: 104 cards, all four suits, no simplifications. Every rule matches the Spider you already know — but with four card families competing for the same ten columns, in-suit runs stop happening by accident. On this site it is won 1.1% of the time, and the players who choose it consider that the point.
Four-suit Spider in 90 seconds: rules and expert strategy
The expert game: why off-suit moves are tools rather than habits, why empty columns are everything, and five habits for four-suit players. Full written strategy follows below.
In this video
01 · 104 / 10 / 8
The full Spider deck
Two complete 52-card decks are shuffled together: 54 cards land on the tableau, 50 wait in the stock and arrive ten at a time. Stacking stays rank-based — any card can sit on the next rank up — but with clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades all in play, every off-suit placement is a future roadblock you chose.
02 · K → A
Why 4 suits is the expert game
At one suit every build is automatically in suit; at two you manage a boundary; at four, in-suit runs must be engineered several moves ahead. Column space is scarcer than it looks — four families need sorting room — and each ten-card stock deal punishes an untidy board four times harder than the one-suit game does.
The six, five and four of spades move together onto the seven of spades. The hidden card underneath flips face up.
✦ 03 · 1.1% · player win rate
Honest odds
In June 2026, 1.1% of four-suit games on this site were won (177 games). Published estimates for skilled players run to a few percent. If you win one four-suit game in fifty, you are doing well; the variant is closer to a long-form puzzle than a coffee-break game, and long streaks of losses are its normal texture.
| 1 suit | 2 suits | 4 suits | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The pack | All 104 cards are spades | Spades and hearts, half each | The full pack — two of every suit |
| Run mobility | Every descending stack moves as a group | Only same-suit runs move together | Same rule, four ways to break a run |
| Winnable in principle | Practically every deal | Published verified pool: 90 of 90 | Most deals — if the line can be found |
| Actually won by players here | 50.0% | 10.4% | 1.1% |
04 · 1 × ↟
Four-suit strategy in brief
Everything from two-suit play applies, doubled: flips first, in-suit wherever possible, columns emptied deliberately. Add two habits — never deal the stock while an unprepared column will catch a random card, and watch where Aces and Kings land: Aces end runs (nothing stacks on them) and Kings start them (they stack on nothing), so their placement often decides the game.
01Uncover one face-down card.Four suits, one modest goal: uncover a single face-down card off the opening position.+
Four suits, one modest goal: uncover a single face-down card off the opening position.
05 · 5
Surviving 4 suits
No habit makes four suits easy. These make it winnable.
01Plan two moves out+
Play the board, not the move. Before each action, ask what it unblocks two moves out — at four suits, one-move thinking loses quietly and permanently.
02Break suit deliberately+
In-suit or know why not. Off-suit builds are for emergencies and for exposing flips; be sure which one you are doing.
03Guard empty columns+
Guard your empty columns. They are the only re-sorting space you will get; refill them only for a flip, a King, or a long in-suit run.
04Use undo to compare+
Undo is analysis, not weakness. Rewinding to test a different commitment is how four-suit lines are found — unlimited undo, no penalty.
05Prepare every column+
Count what the stock will do. Ten cards land on ten columns every deal; if three columns cannot absorb a random card, fix them before dealing.
06 · FAQ
4-suit Spider FAQ
Is 4-suit Spider the hardest solitaire?
It is among the hardest widely played variants. Our measured June 2026 win rates were 50.0% at one suit, 10.4% for historical Random two-suit games, and 1.1% at four. A few niche variants are statistically crueler, but among mainstream games this is the summit.
Is 4-suit Spider ever winnable?
Yes — a substantial share of deals are solvable with perfect play; humans convert very few of them. The 1.1% figure is what real players achieve here, not what the deals allow.
What changes from 2 suits to 4?
No rules change at all — only the deck. Four card families instead of two means in-suit runs need planning instead of luck, and every column is contested by twice as many suits.
Should I learn on 4 suits directly?
We would start at two suits: the same habits matter there, and at ten times the win rate you actually get to practise endgames instead of restarting openings.
How many cards and suits are in play?
104 cards — two full decks, all four suits. 54 start on the tableau across ten columns; 50 wait in the stock and arrive ten at a time.
Why do I keep losing early?
Usually the first stock deal hits an unprepared board. Before dealing, flip what you can, shorten mixed stacks, and try to hold an empty column — the deal is the moment a bad board becomes a dead one.