SPIDER SOLITAIRE 4 SUIT

UPDATE 2015: I now play 4 suit spider solitaire in puzzle mode. That means I backtrack as much as necessary to win the game. I now win almost every game I play, using the hints listed below. Here is my new page showing how it works.

No More Moves? DON'T BELIEVE IT. Here's a game I WON AFTER getting that message.

Game Play Hints

Basics:

Move suited cards first, since they merge into movable units. The results might change your strategy for future moves.

Your goal is a hole, so when you have a choice, work on the pile with the fewest cards underneath.

Kings are dead, so bury them! Before dealing the next round, move as many cards as you can onto the king piles. Also, if you can swap cards, put the mis-matched cards on the king piles and the suited runs on the clean piles.

I made up these names, so you might see these techniques somewhere else by other names.

Parking
This is the easiest--you're probably doing this already.

Borrowing
This one is more advanced.

Hokey-Pokey
This one isn't too difficult, it just takes a lot of moving around.

Swapping
This is the most complex maneuver I use.
It takes 2 holes, so it can't always be used when needed.

Cleanup
Before turning the next round of cards:
1) Dump everything you can onto the "king" piles, since they aren't going anywhere and can't help you get holes.
2) Rearrange the piles so the "good" ones have the fewest number of suits, making it easier to move them on the next round.
HINT: You don't have to make every available move. If a king pile has a card that plays, but doesn't improve the game (or actually makes things worse) leave it where it is.

Here is my personal best stat screen from May 29, 2015. Now that I've reached my goal of 50, it's time to go back to the real world. Good luck, Everyone! Enjoy!

NOTE: These old pages work for Windows XP. I'm not sure about Vista, but Windows 7 and 8 no longer allows for saved games except when you exit the program, so some of this info is outdated. I'm leaving it here for those of you still using vintage technology.

Now you can download my best Spider Solitaire .sav games, and 2 great utilities for managing your saved games, Free. Enjoy!

Spider Solitaire has been my game of choice for 30 years. I use the free Windows 8 version. I only play the difficult, 4-suit option.

One day I found a great game, and wanted to share it with my husband. I wanted a way to send my game to his computer. Here's what I found out and how I sent it to him:

• The single saved game, spider.sav, is automatically stored in the "My Documents" folder. It takes up less than 1KB of space.
• I renamed "spider.sav" to "spider1.sav", attached it to email, and sent it to my husband (took less than 30 seconds).
• I downloaded the email attachment on his machine--it went to My Documents automatically. (If you try this, be sure your file goes to My Documents.)
• I deleted his "spider.sav" file, since he didn't have anything special saved, then renamed my "spider1.sav" to "spider.sav."
• He was then able to load my game, choose "Restart this game" and play my Super Challenge.

Now I save my favorite games. I took some screen shots and made a web page for my Super Challenge game.

I'm smarter, now--put all of my favorite games into a spreadsheet. It looks like I can use Google Base to publish it, so you can share my favorites. I save them at the beginning of the last round, so they play the same for everyone. (You can also start over and play them from scratch.)

For now, you must request them via email, but I'm also trying to put them online for you to download directly. I'll let you know when I figure it out.

NO-WIN SCENARIO. This game cannot be played online, yet, but I'm going to search for a program that will set it up.

Super Spider Solitaire Challenge Game
The toughest game I ever won--over 100 moves in the last round alone.

I have a new favorite to send out, now. What makes the new one special is that every card plays in the first round. I thought that would make it easy to win, but I had to start over 3 times to make it happen. (Screen shots of this one coming soon.)

Too Easy
This one was a "laydown"--no challenge at all,
so I dealt out the whole game at once and played it face-up.

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