Spider Solitaire Addicts: What's Your Record?

[RTFirefly]

Since Phil started the Freecell thread (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=96177), I thought it was time for a Spider Solitaire thread.

Here's how I'm doing in Spider:

One suit: too easy. I've played a few dozen games; lost only once.
Two suits: I play 100 games at a time, then reset. My last 100 was 63 wins, 37 losses.
Four suits: I've played only 6-8 times, haven't won a game yet.

So - how are you other Spider addicts doing?

[ladybug]

I just started playing a few weeks ago after reading a thread about it. Here are my records so far:

One suit: 23 wins, 20 losses for a win rate of 53 percent. My high score is 1195. My streaks are 6 wins and 8 losses.
Two suits: 120 wins, 478 losses, or 20 percent. I have a winning streak of 4 and a losing streak of 18, with a high score of 1190.
Four suits: I've only played a handful of times. I haven't won yet, and I have 7 losses.

[RTFirefly]

I've pretty much said, screw the high scores, which are a matter of getting to a win with the fewest moves; I'm going for the win, no matter how convoluted the path.

The problem is that there's a serious tradeoff: trying to be economical in your moves can really reduce your chances of winning.

[Tansu]

One suit: 72%
Two suits: 23%
Four suits: 0%, again, only played a handful of times

I haven't reset any of the stats since starting to play Spider a while ago. I know that I can always win on the one suit level now, and I seem to win most of the time on the two suit level these days. I'll do like you suggest, and play for 50 or 100 games and then reset.

[donniemckinney]

I set a goal to win 1,000 games in a row lol So far, I'm on game 701 - few to go. I'll post again when I get to game 1,000.

[Folacin]

I set a goal to win 1,000 games in a row lol So far, I'm on game 701 - few to go. I'll post again when I get to game 1,000.

I'd guess not all games can be won - without thinking about it how to actually do it, you should be able to build a deck that is impossible.

I know that people used to think that Freecell was always beatable, but I've seen setups that can't be beat.

[Wargamer]

Hard - 7 wins, 459 losses, for a staggering 1% win rate. (well, 1.something rounded down).

[TriPolar]

I assume people with these records are using undo and restarting games to find a solution. My record is 3 consecutive games at 4 suits, no undos, no restarts.

I play my own version of Freecell where I try to solve games without using the freecells (except for the automatic usage when columns are moved). Only 2-3% of games can be solved this way. It's a handy distraction because you can try several games in a one minute break. I got 3 in a row this way once, but even 2 in a row is extremely rare, and just the luck of the draw anyway.

[TreacherousCretin]

I've been playing four suits Spider since Windows XP first came out. My record so far is two wins in a row followed by another win the next day. This was just a couple of weeks ago.

On average, though, I'd say I win maybe once every 10 or 15 deals.

My wife is seriously good at it, and wins more often than I do.

.

[TreacherousCretin]

I've pretty much said, screw the high scores, which are a matter of getting to a win with the fewest moves; I'm going for the win, no matter how convoluted the path.

The problem is that there's a serious tradeoff: trying to be economical in your moves can really reduce your chances of winning.

Agreed. I sometimes backtrack almost to the very first moves. I count wins, not scores.

.

[Living Well Is Best Revenge]

I've won twice on 4 suits after playing more than 500 times! Those wins were special days in my life....

[TreacherousCretin]

I set a goal to win 1,000 games in a row lol So far, I'm on game 701 - few to go. I'll post again when I get to game 1,000.

Four Suits ???

[TreacherousCretin]

I assume people with these records are using undo and restarting games to find a solution. My record is 3 consecutive games at 4 suits, no undos, no restarts.

With no undo's? Now that's impressive. I salute you.

.

[Qadgop the Mercotan]

Thread made of zombie spider silk

[D_Odds]

Thread made of zombie spider silkWhich now puts it in the wrong forum.

That said, on my home desktop where I play, I win about 53% with two suits (over a thousand tries) and 4% with four (~400 tries). That is with liberal use of undo. Before my last windows reinstall, I was up to 58% on two suits with thousands of tries.

I've got a high score of over 1300 on two suit. Sadly, I only noticed a few weeks later that I had such a high score, so I didn't get to celebrate it at the time.

[Icerigger]

I play 2 suits, my winning average is 15% and I have never been able to increase that figure.

[Markxxx]

I've a 100% on one suit and two suits.

I never won a four suit game. I wish they had three suit games.

[TriPolar]

With no undo's? Now that's impressive. I salute you.

.

I've gotten good at playing, but it's still the luck of the draw. Not every game is winnable from every initial set of moves. I'm not sure every game is winnable at all with 4 suits. You just have follow a good strategy and get lucky. I play one or two games when I get a chance, and if I win, I keep going. So getting 2 or 3 just comes from consecutive deals that can be won based on obvious moves.

My strategy (somewhat summarized):

Move mismatched suits from high to low. Once you put a 3 of Hearts on a 4 of spades, the 4 of spades is stuck there until you can move the 3 again.

Given a choice, move a card to the same suit.

If the same suit is not available, given a choice, move a card to a suit of the opposite color. This prevents mistaking a club for a spade later on.

Try to uncover the smallest piles first. You need empty columns to make complex moves.

When you get an empty column, make all other possible moves first so you can pick the best card(s) to move to the empty column.

When you have an empty column, always uncover a new card if you can.

Maintain sequential cards of the same suit on a column so you can move the whole thing to uncover a card or free a column up.

Always try to consolidate cards under the same suit before a new deal. You may not have the freedom to do that later on.

This is the worst part. After each deal, every time a column becomes empty, and frequently otherwise, go through the possible moves you can make to see what works out best. I would probably win more games if I did this consistently.

[TreacherousCretin]

... After each deal, every time a column becomes empty, and frequently otherwise, go through the possible moves you can make to see what works out best...

Doing this without actually trying and undoing the various possibilities is usually beyond my capabilities. I'm terrible at games that require me to think several moves ahead. My wife is much better at it than I am. I can't even play Othello, much less something like Chess.

I'm pleased to note that I employ most of the strategies you listed, but without undo's I'm sure my win rate would drop to near zero.

.

[TriPolar]

Doing this without actually trying and undoing the various possibilities is usually beyond my capabilities. I'm terrible at games that require me to think several moves ahead. My wife is much better at it than I am. I can't even play Othello, much less something like Chess.


The reason I started playing my funny version of freecell was to develop the patience to work out several moves ahead. I also do things like clicking on a card to highlight one move, then hold the cursor over another to highlight the next move, giving me a bit of a trail to backtrack from. I'm not criticizing the use of undo either. If I started doing it I would waste hours trying to find the solution for each deal. I use the games as a seque between tasks, I find it a good way to get one subject out of my head and focus on a new one. But it's not something I can spend much time at. Except occasionally in the middle of the night when I can't sleep. And then I play horribly anyway.

[Spectre of Pithecanthropus]

Moved from IMHO to the Game Room, which didn't exist when this thread was born.

[Weedy]

I first learned to play Spider with 2 actual decks of cards shuffled together. Playing on the computer saves a ton of time shuffling between games. I can't count how many games I've played; I think it would be thousands. In all the 25+ years I've been playing, I've never won more than three games in a row.

[TreacherousCretin]

I'm not criticizing the use of undo either.

Understood. It never sounded like you were.

.

[BigT]

I've never figured out a decent strategy even on one suit. Whether I win or not seems to be luck. Learning any strategic game through experience has never been my strong suit

This is why I love basic solitaire. I still have no strategy, but I do win more often than not.

[TriPolar]

I forgot to mention something important. The Windows 7 version of Spider Solitaire will pop up a window that says 'There are no more possible moves'. Sometimes it lies. It doesn't seem to recognize that by consolidating suits card can be moved to create an empty column or turn over a new card. Just X out the box and keep playing.

Also a variation of Spider with one suit, at the beginning click on all the undealt cards and try to solve. I haven't kept track of the percentage but it might be around 5% can be solved that way.

[sunacres]

I never play Spider on my desktop computer, only on my phone. It's my go-to time burner when waiting in line, arriving early for appointments, taking a dump, etc.

It's odd, but I only play 4-suit and probably only win one game in dozens. But there's something about the gameplay that occupies my idle brain just perfectly. It doesn't bother me in the slightest to win so rarely.

TriPolar's strategy points sound similar to mine. I especially appreciated knowing I'm not the only one to prefer alternating colors just to reduce visual errors.

[Kitten Mitten]

I mainly play one suit Spider. This year so far I have played 1,540 times w/ 1,462 wins for a 94.9% win rate. My high this year is 1205; although I've gotten 1206 in previous years.

[11sdad]

I started playing 4 suits when 2 got too easy, but I never tried to win each game. some just got too difficult and it wasn't fun. Several months ago, a friend told me his winning percentage was 86%. I couldn't believe that that was really possible. But I decided to go for wins, not just fun, (being slightly competitive) I use the backup key quite a bit, and my personal best is 72 consecutive wins. I have a 96% win rate on 220 games played. I have had several games that have required over 2500 moves to win. And yes, I mean the four suit version.

[donniemckinney]

I set a goal to win 1,000 games in a row lol So far, I'm on game 701 - few to go. I'll post again when I get to game 1,000.

I forgot to report in at win #1,000, but I did achieve my goal ;)

I just finished 1,294 wins in a row! More to come.

[donniemckinney]

Four Suits ???

Nooo, two suits! My record when I attempted four suits was dismal lol

[davidsurvey]

I searched on Google and had found someone had 57 straight wins on Spider Solitaire 4 suit game.

At that time I was on about 40. Today I reached 58

I now see 11sDad has reached 72 - wow

Obviously this is with undo

Stats Spider-4

Fastest win 15:29
Total games won 157/183 85.7%
Current win streak 58 Longest 58
Av Win time 51.29

I think the longest game was around 260mins
iPhone4 using cardshark

Was soooo proud until I saw 11sdad score Well done....

And another with 88 found here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8o-mNq2VsC4

[donniemckinney]

I forgot to report in at win #1,000, but I did achieve my goal ;)

I changed my goal to 2,000 games, and just got there :) I'm going to paste a pic below if this forum will let me.

It wouldn't let me, so I stuck the screen shot on my website, if anyone's interested -

http://www.donniemckinney.com/SpiderSolitaire.htm

Hmmm, can't post a link, either. Oh, well. You can copy & paste ;)

[Mixolydian]

I'll have to check at home to see what my record is, but I'll admit that often when playing 2 suit (I don't bother with one or 4 suit typically), I'll deal again if I don't like the way the cards look - I've noticed this doesn't count as a loss - at least on the XP version.

Are all of you playing the hands as dealt?

BTW, MobilityWare's Spider for the IPhone has 3 suit capability - makes it tougher/more enjoyable.

[Savannah]

I only play four suit, and I play it too much:

Games played (on this computer only) 3102
Won: 131
Longest winning streak: 2

[meditek]

I have Win 7 x64.

A few months ago something very odd happened. Prior to this my best effort was 87 moves. I only play for best effort. Now, the deal seems to be fixed in so far as I believe the hidden cards are not fixed as in a real card game. MS seems to deal simply to screw you not only by putting the usual King on the bottom of your long row but by trying to screw you up on every row. Now, if I can break 100 moves I feel it is a major victory. Dealing to screw you has completely pissed me off this game. Does anyone know a Spider with a fair deal?

[Wargamer]

I'm up to 19 out of 931, for a still resounding 1%. (Soon to be 19 out of 932...)

[RTFirefly]

Damn.

I'm the OP, and I don't even remember Spider Solitaire. I have no mental image of what the game looks like anymore.

Ten years on the Web is a long, long time.

[Quartz]

I'm on 96%. Four suits. Current winning streak is 72 plays. Sometimes it takes a couple of thousand moves (that includes undos, obviously).

[BeemerBiker]

I got burned out on Plants -vs- Zombies and went back to MS spider solitaire. I believe it is impossible to lose in one suit. This assume you make an effort and also use the undo key. It seems that two suit is also winnable and I quit at 100 straight wins. The 4 suit is a real challenge and currently I am winning about %40 of all games. Some of my 4 suit wins run over 1000 moves but many are solved in 400 - 500 moves. I wrote a program using MS C# that reads the MS saved game file, converts to XML, and and produces solution(s) to remove columns. It runs about 6000 lines of C# code and works only on the 4 suit variation. Some observations:

If you fail to start a new game and change the option from 4 suit to 2 suit then your 4 suit loss is counted as a 2 suit loss which spoils your statistics.

If you make too many moves, undo too often, and repeatedly save, you will eventually corrupt the game file. A corrupted game file does not count as a loss but neither as a win.

Unless you use the debug tools, you must make a move before you can save a game. Sometimes the most obvious first move is the wrong one, and if you have saved the game after a "first move" it is not possible to undo to the original deal.

Those MS game debug tools do NOT allow a forced move on any of recent (win7, vista) spider solitaire games. They do allow you to save a game without making a move but you cant cheat anymore.

I have not figured out a way to update the MS save file from my program so I have to manually enter the moves into the game from my programs display panel.

[BeemerBiker]

I wanted to long and was unable to paste a link to my program.
http://stateson.net/images/msvs_spider.jpg

[Videohydra]

Started playing in october. One suit 100% and its boring, high score 1190. My fav is intermediate level, two suites . ive played 550 games so far and won 517 , highest score is 1276 winning percentage is 94. Longest winning streak is 74. Payed advanced level twice and lost them both. Anybody having luck playing 4 suites?

[scots_nomad]

Playing 4 suits my longest streak is 218, however that streak only ended because one time when I mean to undo a move I pressed the 'new game' buttons by mistake. I got the options to start new game, restart that game or go back and try again however I clicked on the 'restart game' option without even reading the third one, thinking it would take me back to where I was! Since then I have a streak of a further 47 with no failures in between so really the streak should be 265 by now if I had been a bit more careful with my options.
Win percentage is 53% - was 41 or 42% before I started this streak when I used to just play for high scores.

[pothole60]

I'm a spider addict as well.
Can anyone beat this --

I'm up to 600 games on intermeadiate with a 100% win record so far.

If anyone can I would be interested in any particular tactics used, or maybe you
would like to hear mine.

[TriPolar]

I'm a spider addict as well.
Can anyone beat this --

I'm up to 600 games on intermeadiate with a 100% win record so far.

If anyone can I would be interested in any particular tactics used, or maybe you
would like to hear mine.

There's another thread somewhere where I described my basic strategy. I don't use undo (except for a single use to undo am unintended move). But that's because I'd spend hours on a single game and I don't have time. As a result, my record is 3 wins in a row, which I may never hit again, it was just dumb luck that one time. Basically, I play a game, if I win, I play another. Just two wins in a row is pretty rare.

[Saki33]

I have Win 7 x64.

A few months ago something very odd happened. Prior to this my best effort was 87 moves. I only play for best effort. Now, the deal seems to be fixed in so far as I believe the hidden cards are not fixed as in a real card game. MS seems to deal simply to screw you not only by putting the usual King on the bottom of your long row but by trying to screw you up on every row. Now, if I can break 100 moves I feel it is a major victory. Dealing to screw you has completely pissed me off this game. Does anyone know a Spider with a fair deal?

I am going to assume you mean single suit games. That is what I play, and my lowest number of moves in the last four years is 84. I have 143 games lower than 90 in the last four years. The "deal to screw you king" is when you know you have been making all the right moves. Breaking 100 moves is no big deal. I think every single suit game that can be won can be done in 100 moves or fewer. I almost always score below 100. As you have realized, there is nothing random about the deals. Knowing that makes you realize there must be a correct way to play. I follow a formula I never deviate from. Rule # 1 is of course never clear a column before the last deal. Next in importance is never to rearrange cards in a sequence once they are in place until you have to do it on the last deal in order to win. On the first deal I start with the highest card I can move, and if more than one then I choose the one in the longest column or the one farthest to the left, since the longest columns are on the left. Besides not clearing a column I try to keep cards in play by not moving to a column that has all of the cards uncovered if there is an alternative; otherwise I consider the move mandatory.

[spider crazy]

When I started playing, I first needed to figure out how the game worked. Once I "got it" I could see the LOWEST score was the object. Since I had spent so much time on FreeCell, I didn't care if it had multiple suits or not, I just wanted the LOWEST SCORE.

So began my study. I have played thousands of games and have found you can win every one, if you set your mind to it. There is little difference if you back track...the score varies little, which you would THINK it would...

My AVERAGE lowest score is 86 moves. It's really nice when the next 'deal' of cards throws them up on right where they need to be. That's the ONLY difference that will lower the score, and you never know, till it happens.

I am going for 85 moves or lower and will post it, with proof, if I do.

That's my take, hope it helps anyone trying to win.

[AaronX]

My strategy is to turn on save on exit and restore on open. Play until you're one move from winning. Exit.

Open. Disable save on exit :D

[spider crazy]

I forgot to mention in my first comment, that you make every possible move, without removing the last card. If you remove all cards, you have to put another one there or you cannot proceed. That causes more moves, which is the LAST thing you ever want.

So, after you 'deal' you have a look at what all the possibilities are, then make the most efficient ones-and make every possible move before dealing again. If you aren't careful, you will miss moves that could have saved 'moves' after you deal... so a lot of caution is in order.

Only if it just isn't working...then you 'dig holes' by removing the last card. Very few games require this, but some do. But so far, I have always, and I do mean ALWAYS been able to finally finish the game.

There is not one game yet that I could not finish.

Too bad there isn't a game number like freecell. We could put the number up and compare how many moves it takes, but Spider doesn't have that, you just get a random deal each new game.

I like the idea of a 'challenege' but there doesn't seem to be anything to compare anyone's game against anyone elses, except just compare notes.

[Judah]

So, it looks like most Spider addicts use undo. Any other purists out there want to share their undo-less percentages?

My latest stats (since getting a new computer a few months ago): 140/341 games for a winning percentage of 41%. First time I've ever gotten that high (not counting winning the first game you play). Hoping I can go cold turkey and make it stick this time, but I'll probably slide back...

[Hopalong-lz]

I'd guess not all games can be won - without thinking about it how to actually do it, you should be able to build a deck that is impossible.

I know that people used to think that Freecell was always beatable, but I've seen setups that can't be beat.

I play spider solitaire, two suit and interested in winning streaks not so much in hig score which I have 1626. My goal is to go to 1000 so your quote caught my eye but confused as said you at 701 and then comment you didn't think all games beatable..
701 is that games played or your winning streak?

Right now I'm just over a 500 game winning streak and curious if anyone out there has long streak as takes a lot of persistence to keep it going like couple games nearly 5000 moves, about 4 ard 3000, several abt 2000. Average game is around 130 to 160 moves. Of course unlimited undo's. With 500+ games feel all games winnable.

[Hopalong-lz]

When I started playing, I first needed to figure out how the game worked. Once I "got it" I could see the LOWEST score was the object. Since I had spent so much time on FreeCell, I didn't care if it had multiple suits or not, I just wanted the LOWEST SCORE.

So began my study. I have played thousands of games and have found you can win every one, if you set your mind to it. There is little difference if you back track...the score varies little, which you would THINK it would...

My AVERAGE lowest score is 86 moves. It's really nice when the next 'deal' of cards throws them up on right where they need to be. That's the ONLY difference that will lower the score, and you never know, till it happens.

I am going for 85 moves or lower and will post it, with proof, if I do.

That's my take, hope it helps anyone trying to win.

What is your longest winning streak?

[Molesworth 2]

I've never won on the hardest difficulty, but I tend to play games like this and FreeCell on auto-pilot.

Is there one of these threads for the Pinball "Space Cadet" game that came with Windows XP? I once played a game of that which lasted around 5 hours. By the end I was completely sick of it, but I wanted to get a huge score for the high-scores list. I was so pissed when I found out that it apparently discards any score over 99,999,999. And I never completed the tier-2 "Secret" mission.

The tier-5 "Maelstrom" mission was fun as hell, though.

[Hopalong-lz]

I'd guess not all games can be won - without thinking about it how to actually do it, you should be able to build a deck that is impossible.

I know that people used to think that Freecell was always beatable, but I've seen setups that can't be beat.


FYI. Played freecell forever and found game I could not win. Got info later that game was indeed impossible to win but suppose to be the only one.

[Videohydra]

Intermediate level. I am improving . Now my current streak is 823 games 97% , really close to 98%.

[Hopalong-lz]

sounds like what I am doing also on intermediate. Was going for 1000 game winning streak and remain at 100% but after resetting because someone would ruin game and I have accidentally ended it by going to fast on the undo and hit new game. Gave up resetting and trjied to be more careful but tonight did it again. Hit new game by accident. Average had dropped down to 98% but this last streak got it up to 99% before screwing it up. Got to 538 straight games with a high score of 1626. Doubt if I'll go at 1000 again. Frustrating as hell when you wipe a game off after that long a streak!!!

Be interested in tough games on how many moves it took to win....
Have a couple at ard 5000 moves, few more 3000, several 2000,, rest sll over the place

[scots_nomad]

What is your longest winning streak?

Playing 4 suits I reached a win streak of 500 (I mentioned in an earlier post that when I reach 218 win streak I accidentally restarted a game when I intended to return and try again - I completed that game and then went on to a streak of 282 which made it 500 in a row even though my stats only show longest streak of 282)...Once I reached 500 I stopped caring and decided to go for highest scores for a while.. Never had to use 5000 moves but did have a couple about 4500. Quite a few times during the streak I thought I may have found an impossible game but because I was determined to keep the streak going I wouldn't give up and ultimately found a way to finish the game even though sometimes you needed to do a stupid move or two at the start of the game or deal new cards even when there were still obvious move which could be made so that things worked out later. can't say there is definitely a always a way to solve it but having found solutions to 500 in a row it seems that it may well be designed to always have a solution.

When I started my streak my win percentage was way down about 12% because I was playing for high scores at first. Thanks to the streak it is now up at 65% but I have noticed that ever since I reached 65% I have had a run of about 10-15 games in a row where I needed 1000+ moves (usually because in each games there is one card, such as jacks or eights or whatever that don't get dealt until very late in the game then they all come at the same time) - Up until I hit 65% such games were very rare but I have had that happen time after time since then.

[Videohydra]

Still playing 2 suits. Winning streak 1006 . My winning % is 98 now, I wish i tried harder when i started playing. I think now that 100% is possible. What do i need to do to get higher scores? right now its only 1277

[rvbn]

Has anybody got to a no-go position: that is a position with less than or equal to 9 cards on table and still have cards on the pile?

[Judah]

My brother did, once. I think he was playing with one suit.