Play Incompatibility Solitaire Online — Fred's Spider With Spaces That Last

Incompatibility is Fred's Spider with one change to the stock. Two decks are dealt into ten open columns of five. Columns build down by rank regardless of suit, but a run moves as a unit only when it is all one suit; any card or run fills a space. The stock holds fifty-four cards and deals one to every occupied column per click: an empty column is skipped, so a space you have made survives the deal. Eight foundations build up in suit from the ace, one card at a time. Bank all 104 to win.

Setup

Shuffle two decks. Deal five cards face up to each of ten columns. The remaining fifty-four cards form the stock.

Rules

• Foundations build up in suit from the ace; each suit has two piles, and a banked card never returns.
Unlike Spider, the foundations take cards one at a time.
• Columns build down by rank: any seven on any eight.
• Only a same-suit run travels. A group of cards moves as a unit only when every card is one rank lower and the same suit as the card beneath. A mixed sequence is a legal build but a frozen one.
• Any card or run fills a space.
• The stock deals a row to the occupied columns: one card face up to every column that holds cards, as far as the cards go. An empty column is left empty. There is no waste and no redeal.
• Win when all eight foundations are complete.

Strategy

The skipped deal changes what a space is worth. In Fred's Spider a space is lost the moment you deal; here it is yours to keep, so clearing a column early and keeping it clear turns the whole stock into a sorting exercise with a permanent workbench.

• Deal only when stuck. A row covers every column at once, an empty one included, and cannot be taken back except by undo. Play everything that will go before you click the stock.
• Keep runs packed. Only a packed run travels, so a card dropped out of sequence freezes everything above it until the run is rebuilt.
• Bank as you go. Foundations are one-way; a card on a foundation never blocks a column again.
• Make a space and keep it. The deal will not fill it; use it to assemble same-suit runs between deals.
• Build in suit when you can. A same-suit run travels whole; a mixed run must be unpicked.
• Fewer columns, fewer cards per deal. Each empty column is one card fewer dealt, so the stock lasts longer the more you clear.

Every game in this line runs on one clock: the stock. It never reshuffles and never comes back, so the number of rows left is the number of times the board can change on its own. Deal a row to reach a card you need only when no move can reach it, and before each deal read the tops of the columns, because those are the cards the row will bury. The hint button names a legal move; when it names the stock, nothing else is left.

Where It Sits in the Gypsy Line

Incompatibility is Fred's Spider on the Yukon engine with a row deal that skips empty columns, the rule Grounds for a Divorce plays on the Spider board. Its foundations are card-by-card, like Spidike's.

Other Games to Try

• Fred's Spider — the same board, every column dealt to
• Grounds for a Divorce — the skipped deal with suits collected whole
• Spidike — one deck, a staircase, kings into spaces
• Steve — the same move on Carlton's staircase

About This Online Version

Incompatibility runs in your browser — free, no download, no sign-up. Install it as an app on your phone or computer and it works offline. You get unlimited undo, a hint button that names a legal move, statistics that track your wins and times, and seeded deals: every game has a seed you can replay, so a board you enjoyed (or lost) can be played again exactly.