Play Steve Solitaire Online — Carlton With Spider's Move

Steve is Carlton's board with Spider's discipline. Two decks are dealt into eight columns one to eight deep, all face up. 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 sixty-eight cards and deals one to every column per click. Eight foundations build up in suit from the ace. Bank all 104 to win.

Setup

Shuffle two decks. Deal a staircase of eight columns, one card in the first and eight in the last, all face up. The remaining sixty-eight cards form the stock above eight foundations.

Rules

• Foundations build up in suit from the ace; each suit has two piles.
• 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: one card face up to every column per click, an empty column included, as far as the cards go. There is no waste and no redeal.
• Win when all eight foundations are complete.

Strategy

The two rules pull against each other. Building by rank alone is easy, and it is a trap: a seven of hearts on an eight of spades sits legally and can never move together with it. The game is won by building in suit whenever there is a choice, and by using cross-suit builds only to free a card for a moment.

• 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.
• Build in suit when you can. A same-suit run travels whole and banks in order; a mixed run must be unpicked one card at a time.
• Cross suits to reach, not to keep. Park a card on a foreign eight to free what was under it, then move it on before it is buried.
• Spaces gather suits. An empty column is where a same-suit run is assembled from cards scattered across the board.

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

Steve is the Gypsy line's Spider-moving member on the Yukon engine: Carlton's open staircase and row-dealing stock with a rank build and same-suit runs. Milligan Harp is the same deal hidden with the alternating-colour rule.

Other Games to Try

• Carlton — the same deal with the alternating-colour rule
• Milligan Harp — the same deal hidden
• Spider — the rank build with same-suit runs, suits collected whole
• Eclipse — thirteen columns built down in suit

About This Online Version

Steve 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.