How to Play Spider Solitaire in Windows

1. Choose Start➪Games; in the Games window, double-click Spider Solitaire. A window appears where you can click the level of difficulty you prefer.

2. In the resulting window, click a card and click another card or drag it to the bottom of another stack or to an empty stack so that you match the same suit in each stack, moving in descending order from King to Ace.

3. Move a card to automatically turn over a new card in the stack.

4. After you complete a set of cards in a suit, those cards are moved off the game area. The goal is to remove all the cards in the fewest moves. You can

• Deal a new set of cards. Choose Game➪New Game or click the stack of cards in the bottom-right corner to deal a new set of cards. (Note: You have to have a card on each of the ten stacks before you can deal new ones.)

• Save your game. Choose Game➪Exit and then click Save in the Exit Game dialog box to save your game.

• Change the options. Choose Game➪Options and select a new difficulty level. Other options mainly affect how or whether you save games and open them to continue, and whether the variously annoying or angelic sounds play when you click a card, deal a card, or fold a stack (assuming your computer system is set up with a sound card and speakers).

5. When you finish playing, click the Close button and either click Save or Don’t Save in the Exit Game dialog box.

Stuck for a move? Try choosing Game➪Hint. Various combinations of cards are highlighted in sequence to suggest a likely next step in the game. If you’re not stuck but just bored with the appearance of the game, choose Game➪Change Appearance and select another desktop and background style.