Score-Tracked Game
Learn the scoring formula, then play a browser game that tracks score, moves, elapsed time, completed suits, and undo use on the same page.
Quick Answer
The live game starts you at 500 points. Every move subtracts 1 point, every undo subtracts 1 point because undo adds to the move count, and every completed same-suit King-to-Ace run adds 100 points. Elapsed time is tracked separately, and hint use does not change the score directly.
Scoring Table
This page reflects the scoring behavior used by Free Spider Solitaire's live game code on this site. It is a site-specific reference, not a universal claim about every Spider Solitaire implementation.
| Scoring part | Live behavior | Example / comparison |
|---|---|---|
| Starting score | Every run begins at 500 points. | A fresh board opens with 500 before the first move. |
| Move penalty | Each move subtracts 1 point. | 176 moves means -176 points from the 500-point start. |
| Undo penalty | Undo also subtracts 1 point because it adds another move. | If you undo once during a run, the score drops by 1 more point. |
| Completed suit bonus | Each completed same-suit King-to-Ace run adds 100 points. | Eight completed suits add +800 points. |
| Elapsed time | Time is tracked separately and does not directly change the score. | A slower and faster run can have the same score if moves and suits match. |
| Hint behavior | Hints do not directly change score. | Hint can help you choose a cleaner line, but it is not a score penalty. |
Example comparison: if you finish a 2-suit game with 176 moves and 8 completed suits, the score is 500 - 176 + 800 = 1,124. Trim 11 moves from the same finish and the score becomes 1,135. Undo is worth the same -1 as any other move, while hint stays outside the formula.
Daily Score Drill
A score is most useful when the board is repeatable. The project's June 2026 daily challenge notes recorded opening-board metrics for 2-suit daily seeds using the same deterministic shuffle path as the playable daily challenge. These are opening observations, not win-rate claims, but they show which boards are better for comparing move efficiency.
| Daily seed date | Legal top moves | Same-suit top moves | Score drill |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-06-12 | 8 | 4 | Use the extra mobility to reveal cards before spending moves on visible-only tidying. |
| 2026-06-14 | 2 | 2 | Treat this as a low-mobility replay board; every exploratory move needs to buy information. |
| 2026-06-17 | 7 | 1 | The board looks active by rank, but same-suit scarcity makes cleanup moves more expensive. |
Practical takeaway: replay the same daily board after a messy finish and try to cut only unnecessary moves. If the board had many legal moves but few same-suit moves, judge the score against that board's friction instead of against an easier deal.
Method And Evidence
This page is based on first-party product behavior and the site's June 2026 Spider research notes, not a copied generic rules summary. We checked the live score implementation used by the browser game on this site and paired it with the project's 25,000-seeded-deal-per-mode opening-board dataset so score advice stays tied to the actual product and difficulty structure.
Method note: the June 2026 internal study simulated 25,000 seeded starting deals for each mode using the same deck model, seeded random flow, and Fisher-Yates shuffle pattern as the live game. That dataset measured opening-board mobility rather than full-game win rate, which is enough to explain why the same scoring formula feels different across 1-suit, 2-suit, and 4-suit runs.
Formula
The site uses the same scoring behavior as the game code: score = 500 - moves + 100 points for each completed suit. That keeps score chasing focused on efficiency, not on padding the board with extra clicks.
Example
Say you finish a 2-suit game with 176 moves and 8 completed suits. The score is 500 - 176 + 800 = 1,124. If you replay the same difficulty and trim just 11 moves from the run, the score becomes 1,135. That is the point of this page: the score gives you a concrete number to beat on the next attempt.
Time still matters as a second benchmark. A faster run can feel better, but if it costs extra moves, the score drops. Hint can help you avoid those wasted moves, and undo is useful for learning, but both are best treated as tools for cleaner replay lines rather than as part of the scoring formula.
Replay Loop
The fastest way to improve a score is to replay the same difficulty and cut out unnecessary moves. Use how to play and the rules if you want a quick refresher, or try the daily board when you want a fixed target.
Benchmark
A higher score is not equally impressive across all modes. A 4-suit win usually requires more repositioning, more stock tension, and more recovery moves than a 1-suit win. Compare each mode against itself first, then use your own repeat runs as the benchmark.
Strategy
High scores usually come from fewer moves, not from flashy shortcuts. Reveal hidden cards when it opens the board, keep same-suit sequences together when you can, and check the mixed-suit rule when a merge looks close. Delay stock deals until the tableau has no useful work left.
Difficulty Benchmark
Free Spider Solitaire uses the same score formula across difficulties, but the opening-mobility data shows why high scores should be judged inside each mode. The number of rank-legal opening moves is almost identical across modes; the real split is how often those moves preserve same-suit mobility and prevent cleanup friction later.
| Mode | Starts with same-suit move | Avg same-suit top moves | Score-reading takeaway |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 suit | 99.34% | 6.46 | Best mode for learning cleaner score lines because almost every opening move keeps suit mobility intact. |
| 2 suits | 96.12% | 3.20 | Useful score benchmark mode because efficiency still matters, but suit friction starts to punish extra cleanup moves. |
| 4 suits | 82.34% | 1.61 | Do not compare this score directly with easier modes. More exploratory moves are often forced by lower same-suit mobility. |
Practical takeaway: a lower 4-suit score can still reflect a sharper run than a higher 1-suit score, because the harder mode starts with far less same-suit mobility. Use score to compare replays inside the same mode first, then use move count and time as secondary benchmarks.
Get the play-first overview before you chase a higher score.
Use the seeded lesson board when score decisions still feel noisy.
Review legal moves, empty columns, and stock timing.
Use the daily board for a repeatable score target.
Practice efficient scoring in the easiest mode.
Test whether your score holds up in the balanced mode.
Check when mixed-suit stacks are allowed and when same-suit runs matter.
Chase a harder score where every extra move matters more.
Open the main browser game and start a fresh run.
Spider Solitaire scoring on this site starts at 500 points, subtracts 1 point for each move, subtracts 1 point for each undo because undo adds another move, and adds 100 points for each completed same-suit King-to-Ace sequence.
Yes. Undo is available for recovery and learning, but it still counts as another move in the score formula, so repeated undo use lowers your final score.
Not directly. Hint is a decision aid, not a score penalty, but it can help you choose a cleaner move line and avoid wasting points on extra moves.
A useful score benchmark depends on difficulty and your own replay history. Compare 1-suit, 2-suit, and 4-suit runs separately, because the same score means different things once suit friction and move count change.
A run is a complete descending King-to-Ace sequence in one suit. On this site, each completed same-suit run clears from the tableau and adds 100 points to the score.
No. Elapsed time is tracked so you can compare repeat runs, but the score itself only uses moves and completed suits.
No. This page documents the live Free Spider Solitaire implementation on this site. It matches the familiar 500-start, move-penalty, and completed-suit bonus pattern, but other apps can track score, undo, hint, or time differently.