# Spider solitaire win rate
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-solitaire-win-rate/631489
**Category:** The Game Room
**Created:** [August 14, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-solitaire-win-rate/631489 "2012-08-14T18:02:54Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Spookaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spookaloo)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2012, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-solitaire-win-rate/631489/1 "2012-08-14T18:02:54Z")
I’ve been trying to figure out if my win rate is, well, kind of up there.
I play the 4 suit difficult game, and have won over 200 straight games over the last few months. After a few years of playing, I think I figured the game out. I had to quit caring about the score and only care about winning the game.
I back up incessantly, of course. In fact, I back up so frequently that the score gets absolutely confused and resets itself to zero.
Does anybody have a win rate like this? Does this prove I have no life? 😛
---
### Author:  [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2012, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-solitaire-win-rate/631489/2 "2012-08-14T18:07:07Z")
> [@Spookaloo](#):
>
> Does this prove I have no life? 😛
Yes it does. Also, you back up a lot, so it’s meaningless. Try doing it without backing up. I got lucky and won 3 in a row once. See if you can do 2.
There’s another thread about this if you search.
---
### Author:  [@Spookaloo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spookaloo)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2012, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-solitaire-win-rate/631489/3 "2012-08-14T18:13:30Z")
> [@TriPolar](#):
>
> Yes it does. Also, you back up a lot, so it’s meaningless. Try doing it without backing up. I got lucky and won 3 in a row once. See if you can do 2.
>
> There’s another thread about this if you search.
The game allows for backing up, so it’s not meaningless. It’s strategy. 😉
---
### Author:  [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2012, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-solitaire-win-rate/631489/4 "2012-08-14T18:59:57Z")
If you back up, the win rate is determined by little more than your willingness to keep trying, because almost all the games can be solved. You can win hundreds of games in a row. Sometimes there may only be one or two good ‘paths’ through the game, and they are not obvious at the beginning (i.e. you have to make what look like counter-productive moves like breaking apart suits intentionally), but you can solve them.
So, a high streak in Spider is more a measure of tenacity than anything else.
If you don’t back up, winning two or three games in a row is either very lucky, or a combination of good skill and a lot of luck.
---
### Author:  [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2012, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-solitaire-win-rate/631489/5 "2012-08-14T21:01:21Z")
> [@Spookaloo](#):
>
> Does anybody have a win rate like this?
Yes. I too have no life. 🙂
---
### Author:  [@sitchensis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sitchensis)
#### Post date: [August 14, 2012, 9:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/spider-solitaire-win-rate/631489/6 "2012-08-14T21:10:45Z")
I was carrying a 90% win rate on FreeCell for a while, with over 800 games played. I think it has dropped to 85% but I pretty much stopped caring.