Black Widow Solitaire
How to play Black Widow
Black Widow is a two-deck Spider solitaire in which a run moves together whatever its suits, though only a run of thirteen cards in one suit, King down to Ace, leaves the table.
Spider where a run in any suits moves together, though only a run of one suit leaves the table.
The goal of Black Widow
Build eight runs of thirteen cards, each from King down to Ace in one suit. A finished run leaves the table at once, and the game is won when all eight are gone.
How to set up Black Widow
Black Widow is dealt exactly like Spider: 104 cards, two packs' worth, in ten piles, with five face-down cards under each of the first four piles, four under each of the other six, and one face-up card on top of every pile. The other 50 cards are the stock.
Black Widow rules
A card can be laid on any card one rank higher, whatever its suit, so the Seven of hearts may go on the Eight of clubs. A King is never laid on an Ace.
Any face-up card can move together with every card above it, as long as they run down from it one rank at a time, whatever their suits. An empty pile takes any card or any such run.
Press the stock to deal one card face up onto every pile, ten cards at a time, five deals in all. The stock will not deal while any pile is empty. Whenever a face-down card is left on top of its pile, it is turned face up.
Only a run of thirteen cards of one suit, from King down to Ace, leaves the table. When one lies on top of a pile, it goes to a foundation at once, whether a move or a deal completed it. A run of mixed suits stays on the table.
Click a face-up card to move it with the run above it onto a pile whose top card is one rank higher, of its own suit first, else into the first empty pile. Drag a card to choose its place yourself.
How to win at Black Widow
You win when all eight runs are off the table. There is no redeal and no auto complete, since finished runs already leave on their own.
Black Widow strategy tips
A run of mixed suits is easy to move but never leaves the table as it is. Use that freedom to reach buried cards and to bring the cards of one suit together.
A long run of mixed suits goes in one move onto any card one rank above its bottom card. Use that to clear a pile down to its face-down cards and turn them up, which in Spider would take the run apart piece by piece.
To finish a run, sort it by suit. Find the first card where the suit changes and move it, with every card above it, onto a card one rank higher of its own suit; repeat until the run is one suit from King to Ace.
Empty a pile when you can. It takes any card or run, which makes it the best place to sort mixed cards back into suits, but fill it again before you deal, since the stock will not deal while a pile is empty.
Black Widow questions and answers
How do you play Black Widow solitaire?
Deal 54 of 104 cards into ten piles as in Spider and keep the other 50 as the stock. Lay a card on any card one rank higher, move any run that steps down one rank at a time whatever its suits, and press the stock to deal a card onto every pile. You win when eight runs of thirteen, each from King down to Ace in one suit, have left the table.
What is the difference between Black Widow and Spider?
In Black Widow a run moves together whatever its suits, as long as it steps down one rank at a time. In Spider only a run of one suit does. The deal, the stock and the runs that leave the table are the same in both: thirteen cards of one suit from King down to Ace.
Can every Black Widow deal be won?
Not necessarily. Of 871 shuffled Black Widow deals the game's solver searched, at up to a million positions each, it proved 57% can be won, against 45% for four-suit Spider. Deals it did not prove are not counted, so 57% is only a lower bound. With Winnable on, in the menu beside New deal, every new board is a deal the solver has proved can be won. Hint asks the same solver for a winning line before it suggests a move.
Is there a daily Black Widow game?
Yes. Black Widow has a daily board, the same deal for everyone that day, dealt the way a Winnable board is. You need to be logged in to play it.