Open Spider, also called Beetle, is Spider with the deal turned face up. Ten columns of six and five cards — fifty-four in all — are dealt with every card showing, the remaining fifty wait in a stock that deals a card to every column at once, and the rules are Spider's own: a card lands on any card one rank higher, only a same-suit run travels, and a complete king-to-ace run of one suit leaves the board. Spider's difficulty comes from two places — what you cannot see and what you cannot move. Open Spider removes the first and keeps the second.
Plan the whole opening. Fifty-four known cards is enough to work out, before the first move, which columns can be emptied and which suit runs can be assembled. Spider players are used to guessing; here the opening is a puzzle with an answer.
Same-suit runs are the only currency. Landing on any suit is cheap; picking up is not. Every card you place on a card of another suit is a card you will have to move singly later. Build in suit wherever you have the choice.
Empty a column before each deal. A deal covers every column. Use a space to relocate runs first, then fill it — the stock will not deal over it — and deal only when nothing else moves.
The stock is the only unknown. Fifty cards in five deals is what you cannot see. Keep at least one column with a low top card, so a deal is likely to land something useful somewhere.
Spider's identity is the collected suit run and the row-dealing stock, and its members vary the deck count, the run rule and the deal. Open Spider changes only the deal: the same fifty-four cards, face up. That is the same relationship Queenie has to Rushdike in the Yukon family, and it produces the same effect — a game that is easier to plan and no easier to execute.
Open Spider 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.