Dogmelon Solitaire

Spiderette

A smaller version of the popular game 'Spider'. It has the same rules, but is faster to play, and only requires a single deck of cards.

Aim:

To build ascending suit sequences in the foundation zone.

How to Play:

The opening tableau looks similar to Klondike, except for the different talon. Cards can be moved in the manoeuvre zone, onto cards of 1 higher rank, regardless of suit

Multiple cards can be moved as a run, but only if they form a descending sequence of the same suit

Any Card (or run), can be moved into a vacant manoeuvre stack.

Clicking the talon will deal one new card to each manoeuvre stack. Dealing these cards introduces new cards into play, but also covers other cards. A good strategy is to move as many cards as possible before dealing from the talon.

The game ends when all cards are moved into the 4 foundation stacks.

Strategy:

Same-suit sequences are more useful than mixed-suit sequences, because they can be moved all at once as a single block. Therefore when you have a choice, prefer same-suit sequences.

Empty columns are very useful, allowing more manoeuvres. Try using them as "free cells", using them temporarily, but leaving them empty.

Example:

Suppose that the initial deal looks like this:

You might place the 10 of Diamonds onto Jack of Diamonds, and the 3 of Hearts onto 4 of Diamonds. This has exposed some of the face-down cards, which is a good strategy. Unfortunately, we now have no more moves available:

It's time for a deal from the talon. Dealing more cards produces the following tableau:

This allows some more moves (9C to 10C, 8C to 9C), but it still doesn't help us to clear out the face-down cards.