Spiderette Solitaire

A shorter table, a single deck

Spiderette puts twenty-eight cards into seven columns and keeps twenty-four in reserve. Four completed sequences finish the game rather than eight, so a deal fits into the wait for a train instead of an evening.

The rule that gives it teeth is the one about moving cards. Anything can be laid on a card one rank higher, whatever the suit, but only cards already in the same suit may be picked up together. The columns fill with tidy descending piles that are welded in place, and prising them apart is the game.

The reserve is small and there is no second pass at it: three deals of seven cards and a last one of three, and a deal is refused outright while any column sits empty. Emptying a column is the strongest move you have and the one most likely to cost you the deal if you time it badly.

- A hundred moves of undo, and a hint when nothing looks playable

- Wins, streaks and quickest games kept between sessions

- Card backs and table colours to suit the room you are in

- Plays without a connection, in 33 languages

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