Spiderette Solitaire Instructions

JSolitaire home page: http://www.idiotsdelight.net/

Overview

Spiderette is quite similar to spider. Stacks of cards are can be built in descending rank using any suit, but only stacks consisting of the same suit can be moved as a unit. Spiderette only uses one deck instead of two. While this reduces the playing time considerably, it also makes victory less likely. Several non-standard options have been added which increase the probablility of winning.

Layout

There are four areas of the screen:

Building Stacks There are seven building stacks in the bottom half of the screen. Only the top card of each stack is face up, with the others being turned over when the card above them is removed. An empty building stack can accept any card. The default number of cards initially in the building stacks ranges from one to seven, with each stack containing one more card than its neighbor to the left. These values can be varied, with a smaller number resulting in an easier game.
Stock The stock is found in the upper left corner of the screen and contains the cards which are not initially in the building stacks. When there are no more possible moves in the building stacks, clicking on the stock will deal an additional card to each building stack. All building stacks must contain at least one card when cards are moved from the stock.
Discard Pile The discard pile is located to the right of the button panel and is initially empty. All thirteen cards in a suit can be moved to the discard pile if they are arranged in descending rank from king to ace. (An ordered suit will be moved automatically unless the automatic moving option is turned off.) The game is won when all four suits have been moved to the discard pile.

Moving Cards

To move a card, click on the card (which will highlight it) and then click on the destination. Clicking on a card below the top will select all cards from the clicked card to the stack top if the cards have the same suit and are in descending order. Clicking twice on a stack selects all cards in the the stack which can be moved at the same time.

More than one card can be moved at a time. Using the default settings, a moveable sequence of cards consists of the cards on the top of a building stack having the same suit in which each card's rank is one less than the card above it. The suit requirements for a moveable sequence can be loosened so that a descending sequence cards of the same color or any suit can be moved as a unit. This makes winning a game considerably easier.

The following rules indicate how cards can be moved between stacks:

A card at the top of a building stack can be placed on top of another stack if the card's rank is one less than the rank of the card at the stack top. The suit of the cards does not matter.
A moveable sequence can be moved to another building stack if the card at the top of the destination stack has a rank one more than that of the card at the bottom of the moved cards.
Any card at the top of a building stack or a moveable sequence can be moved to an empty building stack.
Clicking on the stock will move a card from the stock to each building stack (if the stock does not become empty first.) Each stack must contain at least one card before a card from the stock is added to it.
A sequence containing all thirteen cards of a suit arranged in desending rank can be moved to the discard pile. This will be done automatically unless the automatic moving option is turned off.

Options

Click on the button labeled options to bring up a dialog box with the following settings:

Can Move: This option determines what sequences can be moved. The default setting will only allow descending sequences of the same suit to be moved. This can be change to allow sequences of the same color or of any suit to be transported as a unit.
# of cards in stacks: This option controls the number of cards in the building stacks at the start of a game. The default setting will place one through seven cards in each stack. Changing this option will place a fixed number of cards in each stack. The variation in which all building stacks begin with three cards is also called Will o' the Wisp. A new game must be started for changes in this setting to take effect. Placing fewer cards initially in the suit stacks will result in a more winnable game.

Click here for information about common options and buttons

History

Version 2.0.0 (2002/12/03): Variable card sizes, backgrounds and card backs added. Can Move option also added.
Version 1.0 (2001/06/15): First public release