NOTE: These pages work for Windows XP. I'm not sure about Vista, but Windows 7 no longer allows for saved games except when you exit the program, so some of this info is outdated if you're on Windows 7.

NEW! 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 20 years,I use the free Windows XP 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.

Game Play Hints
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 on 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.