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How to set up Spider Solitaire

This guide will teach you how to set up a game of spider solitaire, one of the most popular variants of the classic soliatire game. You will learn how to set up a spider solitaire game using two standard 52-card decks. Since there are three variations of spider solitaire, we will first start with the setup of a spider solitaire game that uses one suit and move to the harder variants which use two and four suits.

If you only have one deck of cards but still want to play spider solitaire, check out out guide on how to set up spider solitaire with only one deck, this variant of spider solitaire is also known as spiderette solitaire.

How to setup a game of Solitaire

These are the three simple steps to setting up a game of spider solitaire.

Step 1: Setting up the tableau

Take your two decks of 52 cards and shuffle them together to create one large deck of 104 cards. Once these decks are combined we can start the deal to set up the tableau. For a game of spider solitaire you will need to deal out cards into ten total columns to create the tableau. We can do this by dealing out cards from left to right in rows as follows:

If completed correctly the first four columns will each have six cards, and the next six columns will have five cards for a total of 54 cards dealt between the ten columns. The top card in each column should be faced up.

One suit spider solitaire setup

For a game of spider solitaire that uses one suit, you can follow the method above to set up the cards in the tableau. However, once it comes to playing the game, you will need to pick a suit and treat all cards as if they are that suit. Alternatively, you could play with eight decks of cards and pick one suit out for each deck to create your deck of 104 cards.

Two suit spider solitaire setup

Similar to one suit solitaire if you are playing with two decks of cards you will need to combine two suits for purposes of playing the game. It is easy to think of clubs and spades as one suit and diamonds and hearts as another suit. Alternatively, if you have four decks of cards, you can play two suit spider solitaire by picking two suits out of each deck to create your 104 card deck.

Four suit spider solitaire setup

Four suit spider solitaire setup is easy and one that you only need two decks of cards to complete. Each suit corresponds to the suit on the cards that are dealt out. However, since this variant of spider solitaire restricts your moves by adding in an additional two suits, it is much more challenging.

Step 2: Setting up the foundation piles

Spider solitaire uses eight foundation piles. Since there are two full decks in play, this means that there is a foundation pile for each suit twice. At the start of the game these foundation piles will be empty.

Step 3: Setting up the stockpile and waste pile

The remaining cards will be included in the stockpile which will be used to draw cards into the waste pile once the game begins. Much like the foundation pile at the beginning of the game the waste pile will not have any cards in it. However, it is important to make sure you have room for the waste pile once you start drawing cards.

That completes this guide on how to set up a game of spider solitaire in three simple steps. Starting with the set up of the ten columns in the tableau, moving onto the creation of the eight foundation piles and lastly finishing off with the stockpile and waste pile.

Spider solitaire can be a lengthy process to set up. You can use an online version to help speed up setup, as well as keep track of your other useful stats. For the one suit, two suit and four suit spider solitaire online versions make it easier to track the cards without the need for more than two decks of cards.