Play Spider Web Solitaire Online — One-Deck Spider With a Cell

Spider Web, also called Sea Spider, is Spider cut down to one deck and given a pocket. Seven columns are dealt face up in the shape 4, 4, 4, 3, 3, 3, 3, build down regardless of suit, and give up a run only when it is all one suit. A single cell holds one card of any kind. The stock deals a card to every column — empty ones included — four times. Assemble each suit from king to ace to lift it off the board; four suits wins.

Setup

Shuffle one deck. Deal seven columns: four cards in each of the first three, three in each of the last four, all face up. The remaining twenty-eight cards form the stock, which deals four rows of seven. The cell and the four 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.
• The cell holds one card, any card. Its card may return to a column 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 four suits are collected.

Strategy

One deck makes every suit run a long assembly — thirteen cards with no twins to help — and the stock covers every column each time it deals, so untidy columns get worse. The cell is your only slack, and one card of slack is not much.

• Keep suits together from the first move. A mixed run cannot be lifted, so a red seven on a black eight is a card you will have to move alone later. Prefer the same-suit host every time one exists.
• Empty a column before you deal. The stock deals onto empty columns, so a space is not protected — but a space filled by a dealt card is a one-card column, the easiest kind to clear again.
• Use the cell to unlock, not to tidy. Park a card only when the card beneath it has a same-suit host waiting. A cell holding a card with nowhere to go is a cell you no longer have.
• Deal late. Every deal buries every column under one more card. Make every move you can first, and only then deal.
• Watch the kings. A king can only sit at the base of a run. Get each king into a space or the cell early, and build the suit down onto it.
• Count the suit. Before you commit a column to hearts, find every heart on the board. A suit with three cards still in the stock cannot be collected until after the third deal.

Where It Sits in the Spider Family

Spider Web is Relaxed Spider's rules — the stock deals whether or not a column is empty — on one deck and seven columns, with a free cell added. It is the family's first member with a cell; Astrocyte has four on two decks, and Long Tail and Short Tail replace the cell with a bottomless reserve.

Other Games to Try

• Spiderette — one deck on the Klondike staircase, no cell
• Astrocyte — four cells over two hidden decks
• Long Tail — a reserve that never fills
• Spider — the two-deck original

About This Version

Spider Web 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.