You've been playing for twenty minutes. You've uncovered most of the hidden cards. You can see exactly what you need to complete that King-to-Ace sequence. And then... nothing. No legal moves left. The game is over, and you didn't win.

If you've ever slammed your laptop shut in frustration after a particularly brutal Spider Solitaire loss, you're not alone. The question that haunts every player eventually creeps in: Is Spider Solitaire even winnable? Or worse, is the game secretly rigged against you?

Here's the good news: the game isn't rigged. The bad news? Spider Solitaire is genuinely, mathematically, provably hard. We're talking about a game that computer scientists classify as NP-Complete, putting it in the same computational difficulty category as some of the most challenging logic puzzles ever created.

But don't close this tab just yet. The numbers might actually make you feel better about your losses.

The Math Behind the Frustration

Let's start with some perspective. When researchers want to study whether solitaire games are actually solvable, they use something called "Thoughtful Solitaire." This is a theoretical version where you can see every card in the deck, including all the face-down cards. It removes the luck element entirely and turns the game into a pure logic puzzle.

The results? They're surprisingly encouraging.

That means almost every single deal you've ever been given could have been won. The cards were there. The solution existed. So why does it feel like half your games are impossible?

Because you're not playing Thoughtful Solitaire. You're playing regular Spider Solitaire, where 54 of your 104 cards start face-down. You're making decisions with incomplete information, and every choice you make early on ripples through the entire game.

What Are the Real Win Rates?

Let's get into the actual numbers that matter: what percentage of games can a human player expect to win? The answer varies wildly based on which difficulty you're playing.

Want to dive deeper into the hardest difficulty? Check out our guide on how to play 4 Suit Spider Solitaire for strategies specific to this brutal mode.

Why Spider Solitaire Is Genuinely Hard

Here's something that might make you feel validated: computer scientists have proven that Spider Solitaire belongs to a class of problems called NP-Complete. Without getting too technical, this means:

• There's no known algorithm that can quickly solve every Spider Solitaire game
• Even computers have to essentially "try things" and backtrack when they fail
• The number of possible move sequences is astronomically large

Think about it: you have 10 columns, a stockpile that deals 5 times, and potentially dozens of legal moves at any given moment. The decision tree branches exponentially with every move you make. By the time you're halfway through a game, the number of possible paths you could have taken is larger than the number of atoms in the observable universe.

You're not bad at this game. You're playing one of the hardest single-player card games ever designed.

Yes, Some Games Really Are Unwinnable

While the vast majority of Spider Solitaire deals are technically solvable, that 0.1% to 1.5% of truly unwinnable games does exist. These are deals where no sequence of moves, no matter how perfect, can lead to victory.

How does this happen? Usually it comes down to card distribution. If all four Kings are buried at the bottom of different columns, and the cards above them create impossible dependencies, you might have a genuinely unsolvable puzzle. The game doesn't check for this when dealing, it just shuffles and goes.

But here's the thing: if only 1% of games are truly unwinnable, and you're losing 90% of your 4-suit games, the math is clear. Most of your losses were winnable. You (and all of us) just made moves early on that closed off the winning path.

How to Actually Win More Games

Knowing that most games are winnable should motivate you, not frustrate you further. Here are the key strategies that separate players who win 5% of their games from those who win 20%:

Embrace the Undo Button

The undo button isn't cheating. It's a learning tool. When you make a move and flip a new card, ask yourself: was that the best choice? Could a different move have revealed more useful information? Our guide on using the undo button strategically covers this in depth.

Prioritize Information Over Tidiness

New players often make "clean" moves, building pretty same-suit sequences when they should be flipping hidden cards. Every face-down card is information you're missing. Uncover cards aggressively, even if it means making ugly mixed-suit stacks.

Empty Columns Are Everything

An empty column is like having a superpower. It lets you temporarily store cards while you reorganize sequences. Target smaller columns early and fight to keep at least one column empty whenever possible.

Think Before Dealing

Clicking the stockpile covers every column with a new card. It's irreversible and often destructive. Exhaust every possible move before dealing. Then exhaust them again. That stockpile click should be a last resort, not a habit.

For a complete breakdown of all the features and benefits of our free Spider Solitaire game, including unlimited undos and detailed statistics tracking, check out our features page.

The Bottom Line

Spider Solitaire isn't rigged. The random shuffle doesn't hate you. Your computer isn't secretly dealing you impossible hands.

What's actually happening is simpler and, honestly, more interesting: you're playing a genuinely difficult game. One that computer scientists classify alongside the hardest problems in mathematics. One where even perfect players with perfect information still lose occasionally.

So the next time you hit a wall and can't find a legal move, take a breath. Statistically speaking, there probably was a solution somewhere in that 104-card puzzle. You just didn't find it this time.

And that's okay. Hit "New Game" and try again. The cards will shuffle. A new puzzle will appear. And somewhere in those ten columns is a path to eight completed suits, just waiting for you to find it.

Ready to put these odds to the test?