How to Play Big Spider Solitaire

This oversized Spider deals three decks across 13 tableau piles, most cards face down. Build ordered runs and promote complete sequences to the foundations.

Setup

1. Thirteen tableau piles hold 6 cards each, with only the top card face up and five cards face down beneath
2. Twelve foundation piles await complete runs (each run is 13 cards from King down to Ace)
3. The stock holds the remaining 78 cards

How to play

• Move the top card from a tableau pile to build sequences downward by rank, regardless of suit
• Move groups of cards together if each card in the sequence is one rank lower than the card above it and all cards are the same suit
• When a complete run of one suit (King through Ace) forms in the tableau, move it as a unit to a foundation pile
• Empty tableau piles accept any card or legal sequence
• Only the top card of each pile is playable; face-down cards are revealed as piles shrink
• Build sequences first, even mixed-suit ones, to expose hidden cards and create strategic spaces
• When tableau moves are exhausted, click the stock to deal 1 card onto every tableau pile; this only works when no tableau pile is empty, and there's only one pass with no redeal

How to win

Objective: Arrange every tableau pile into a complete run (13 cards, one rank lower in each position, any suit) and move all completed runs to the 12 foundations.

You win when all 12 complete runs sit in the foundations, collecting all 156 cards. You're stuck when cards remain and no sequence reaches Ace.

Tips

• Expose hidden cards quickly by building long sequences—even same-suit partial runs help
• Complete one full 13-card run at a time; moving it to a foundation opens space for other sequences
• The larger deck size makes this harder than standard Spider; plan several moves ahead before committing cards

Play Big Spider free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Big Spider alongside 300+ other games. It saves every move as you play, so you can close the window and pick the game up later, replay any deal, and take on a new Daily Challenge deal every day. Browse every game in the Game Gallery.

Related games

More games from the Spider family:

• Black Widow — This friendlier take on Spider uses two decks and lets you move tableau sequences even when their suits are mixed.
• Chinese Spider — A three-suit Spider where you build long runs on the tableau and complete sequences go to the foundations.
• Spider — Ten tableau piles let you stack cards downward in rank no matter their suit, but a run only travels as a group when every card in it shares one suit.
• Spider Three Deck — This variant scales Spider up to three shuffled decks and twelve tableau piles, giving you a longer haul toward filling twelve suit-ordered foundations.
• Tarantula — A friendlier take on Spider where matching color, not matching suit, is enough to move a sequence together.