Play Astrocyte Solitaire Online — Spider With Four Cells

Astrocyte is two-deck Spider with FreeCell's pocket sewn on. Eight columns of eight are dealt with only the top card of each turned — fifty-six cards hidden — and build down regardless of suit; a run of one suit travels, and a complete king-to-ace suit run leaves the board. Four cells each hold one card of any kind. The stock deals a card to every column, empty ones included, five times. Eight suits wins.

Setup

Shuffle two decks together. Deal eight columns of eight cards, the first seven of each face down and the eighth face up. The remaining forty cards form the stock, which deals five rows of eight. The four cells and the eight scoreboard piles start empty.

Rules

• Building: a card goes on any card one rank higher, of any suit.
• Moving runs: only a packed run of one suit travels as a unit.
• Turning up: when a column's face-up cards leave, the hidden card beneath is turned.
• The cells each hold one card, any card. A cell's card may return onto a host or into a space.
• Spaces take any card or any one-suit run.
• Stock: each click deals one card to every column, including empty ones.
• Collecting: a complete king-to-ace run of one suit leaves the board at once.
• Win when all eight suits are collected.

Strategy

Fifty-six hidden cards make Astrocyte a game of digging, and four cells are what make the digging possible: a top card with no host can be parked to turn the card beneath. Spend the cells on reveals and get them back before you deal.

• Park to turn a card. The best use of a cell is a top card with no host over a hidden card. Turning a card is information; parking a card that reveals nothing is a cell lost.
• Empty the cells before dealing. A deal covers every column. Get parked cards back onto hosts first, or they wait a whole row.
• Suits first, always. Only a one-suit run moves as a unit. Prefer the same-suit host every time one shows, and use a cell rather than accept a mixed build.
• Dig one column at a time. A column cleared to the base is a space, and a space is the second-best thing on the board after a cell. Choose the column whose top cards have hosts and work it down.
• Deal onto spaces on purpose. The stock fills an empty column with one card — the easiest column to clear again. Sometimes emptying a column just before a deal is worth it.
• Count the suit before committing. Two decks give two of every card; a run of spades can borrow from either. Check which copies are already exposed.

Where It Sits in the Spider Family

Astrocyte is the family's four-cell member: Spider's two decks and hidden deal, Relaxed Spider's stock that deals onto empty columns, and four one-card cells beside the scoreboard. Spider Web has a single cell on one deck; Long Tail and Short Tail stretch a cell into a bottomless reserve.

Other Games to Try

• Spider — the two-deck original, no cells
• Spider Web — one deck, one cell, open columns
• Short Tail — a bottomless reserve on two decks
• FreeCell — where the cells come from

About This Version

Astrocyte 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.