How to Win 4 Suit Spider Solitaire: Tips and Strategies

If you’re looking for a new variation on one of the most popular and widely played card sorting games in the world, allow us to introduce you to… 4 Suit Spider Solitaire. Played with two full decks of cards and all four suits, Spider puts your Solitaire skills to the ultimate test of patience and strategy. Of course, your chances of winning this game improve drastically if you know how to win 4-suit Spider Solitaire. So, with this guide, we’ll help get you started with this complex variation of Solitaire, and offer some tips and strategies for success.

How hard is 4 Suit Spider Solitaire?

4 Suit Spider Solitaire is a difficult game. With perfect gameplay, one game in every three is winnable, and the odds of winning your first few games as you get used to the gameplay can be quite low.

It's important to recognize that 4 Suit Spider is a difficult game and that success won’t be guaranteed from the first, second, or even third round, but if you’ve made it this far then you’re likely already skilled at implementing new strategies into your games of Solitaire.

4 Suit Spider Solitaire comes with a unique ruleset and, with it, new tactics to learn. This can be an exciting challenge to your Solitaire skills, so try not to be disheartened if you’re not winning those first few games.

In this article, we’ll familiarize you with various 4 suit Spider Solitaire tips and tricks such as making the most efficient use of your moves, stacking your tableau for success, the advantage of vacant spaces, and much more!

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Make Spider Solitaire 4 Suits winnable with these strategies

There are plenty of strategies from standard Solitaire that can make Spider Solitaire 4 Suits winnable as well. This guide will focus less on ubiquitous pieces of game advice on how to play 4 suit Spider Solitaire and more on advanced Spider Solitaire strategies. Some of the best tactics to set yourself up for a successful game of Spider Solitaire will include efficiently interacting with your early hidden cards, optimal usage of stock and natural builds, and even more.

Expose hidden cards as soon as possible

As far as Spider Solitaire tips go, this won’t come as a surprise to you, especially with the experience you likely already have playing standard Solitaire. However, it is still important to reiterate. Revealing the hidden cards in your tableau will make or break your game.

If you can’t reveal your cards promptly then the game may be over before it’s even begun. As many cards as possible should be revealed before even thinking about taking more cards from the stockpile.

There’s a reason for this, of course, beyond these cards eventually being necessary to win the game. Having freedom of movement of all the cards in your tableau is critically important, and any hidden cards will stifle and limit your movement. 4 Suit Spider Solitaire utilizes two entire decks, so allowing even a single roadblock to persist in your gameplay can quickly become a glaring frustration. Don’t let it happen to you -- flip those cards!

Use the stock as a last resort

Using the stock replenishes the tableau with a whole new batch of fresh cards, one for each stack with at least one card present. Of course, this will be necessary to progress the game -- if utilized at the right time -- but using the stock isn’t always the optimal choice.

If you haven’t fully exhausted any potential moves you can make, avoid drawing from the stock. Solitaire is a complex game -- it’s perfectly normal to arrange your tableau cards multiple times over before even touching the stock. Draw from the stock too early, and you risk burying existing moves under new cards that must now be arranged. Aim to get your existing cards organized, first, and you’ll have an easier time once the stock cards come into play.

Another thing to remember is that drawing from the stock can only be done if all 10 tableau spaces have at least 1 card within them. Be cautious of this if you’re playing around a vacant column, as you might lose its advantage if it gets flooded with cards.

Maximize moves by achieving multiple goals in a single move

Whether you’re playing for points or just trying to optimize your game time, a single move can make or break your game. Here we’ll discuss a few tactics to maximize the potential of your moves.

Play to create same-suit or “natural” stacks. It’s not always possible to do this with every turn, but aiming to keep each suit together as much as possible makes the later game much easier after you’ve revealed all of your cards.

You can also focus on emptying a single-column space first to give yourself a vacant tableau to utilize. These are great for having a “free space” to swap cards around if they’re in a somewhat tricky arrangement, with many different suits piled together.

Move fully packed builds

With 4 Suit Spider Solitaire, keep in mind you can only move multi-card builds around the tableau if they are the same suit. This is why it’s important to build “naturally”, keeping builds the same suit so they can be easily moved across the tableau -- and later transferred to the foundations during the final period of the game.

Fished-out aces can almost always go immediately to your foundations -- but don’t be too hasty with stacking your foundations. If they’re unbalanced, you might tuck away a card you will need later during sorting.

Use vacant columns wisely

Vacant columns in your tableau can be useful as a “free space” to arrange tricky tableau configurations which have become a little too scattered. There are caveats, however. As we mentioned earlier, keep in mind that you cannot draw from your stockpile unless there is at least one card in all 10 tableau spaces.

When you’re ready to start a whole new build on a vacant spot, it’s important to always try and start it with a king. The more cards that are added afterwards only make it harder for you to slot the highest-value card in at the very top.

If you’re playing online, don’t be afraid to undo

Even the best of the best Solitaire players make mistakes.

Sub-optimal moves or simply not seeing a potential move to make happens all the time. That’s precisely what the undo button is for! It can be a helpful learning tool, as seeing exactly the consequences of mistakes or misplays can be valuable information to take into your future games, tweaking your strategies with the knowledge you’ve accrued.

You can undo a single move or multiple, which can come in handy as, sometimes, playing solitaire we make moves which have far-reaching consequences we’re not expecting. Being able to trace a game that’s become difficult to play to the error which caused it is another boon of online Solitaire.

Ready to put your 4 Suit Spider Solitaire strategies into action?

With all that in mind, you’re now ready to face the cards in 4 Suit Spider Solitaire! Keep practicing and don’t let your losses discourage you. Not every game is in the cards and the only way to improve is to practice, which will sometimes mean reaching success or sometimes not. The most important thing is to have fun and enjoy the game!

If you’d like to put your skills to the test, visit us at 247 Solitaire and play 4 Suit Spider or other of our unique Solitaire variations!

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