The Spider layout
Spider is a mahjong solitaire layout, not the card game of the same name. Its 144 tiles make a spider seen from above: a round body in the middle, built up five layers high with four tiles on top, and eight long legs of single tiles reaching out to the corners and the sides.
The legs hold 40 tiles and the body holds the other 104. Nearly every leg tile is free from the very first move, so Spider opens with more choices than any other board here. The challenge is the body, which you can only work from its edges and from the top down.
Tips for the Spider
- Do not strip the legs first. It is tempting to match the free leg tiles with each other, but they block almost nothing. Save them as partners for the tiles you uncover in the body.
- Take the top of the body early. The four tiles on top and the layers beneath them cover the most tiles on the board. Each one you clear opens new tiles below.
- Watch the last of a kind. When three tiles of a kind are free, ask which two to take: leave the one that is easiest to reach later.
Every deal can be cleared, and if you get stuck, Hint shows the next pair, Undo takes back any move, and Shuffle re-deals the tiles left so they can all be cleared again.
How to play
Clear the board by taking away matching tiles in pairs. You can only take a tile that is free: nothing lies on top of it, and its left side or its right side is open. Pick one free tile, then a free tile that matches it, and both disappear. The full rules, with pictures.
- Matching tiles are identical: two East Winds, two 5 of Bamboo. The exceptions are the flowers and the seasons: any flower matches any other flower, and any season any season. Every tile and its name.
- Hint shows a pair you can take and explains why, in one sentence. It always picks a pair that keeps the whole board clearable.
- Undo takes back your last match, as often as you like.
- Shuffle re-deals the tiles that are left so that they can all be cleared again. Use it when no free pairs are left.
Controls
Click or tap a tile to pick it, then click or tap its partner. With a keyboard, Tab moves between the free tiles and Enter or Space picks one. H asks for a hint, U undoes, S shuffles and Esc lets go of a picked tile.
Tiles you cannot take yet are shown a little darker, so the free ones stand out. You can turn that off in Settings, where you can also make the text larger.
Other layouts
Try the Dragon, a long, high body with a raised head, or the Cat, a cat’s face with ears and a nose. The classic Turtle is the traditional shape, and Pyramid is narrower, with larger tiles on a phone.