The player should choose to leave the disorder (more suit changes) in columns where they are less likely to hinder a win. This is usually much easier to accomplish when at least one column is vacant. Many times in games, it's advantageous to leave a run disordered, meaning that it contains more suit changes than it has to.ĭisorder can often be shifted from one column to another by removing changes in suits from one column at the expense of adding them to one or more runs in other columns. This also has the advantage that turning hidden cards later in the game is likely to be easier.įor the 4-suit player who does not undo movies, this is an extremely important lesson to learn if they wish to maximize their win ratio. Very often, the better option is to add order to the game. However, when an experienced Spider Solitaire player is faced with a choice of, say, giving up an empty column to either turn a hidden card or to add more order to the game state, they will carefully examine the game state and choose the option that they feel is most likely to result in a win. Only when all the hidden cards have been flipped does their attention then shift to ordering. Inexperienced players tend to overlook the order of the game and concentrate almost solely on turning hidden cards. In a sense, it a measure of freedom to move cards about, and it is subjective. Thus, the concept of order provides a measuring stick. There is no exact number for the amount of order in a game state, it's more about adding or removing order. In short, more order means a better chance of winning the game. Thus, the more order contained in a game state, the easier it usually is to move cards between the columns and it's more likely that certain cards can be accessed when needed, which also means that it's more likely that a suit can be built. Many players find this technique extremely unintuitive and therefore never even consider it.Īdding order to a game state means both to combine runs in the game state and to reduce the number of suit changes within runs (or changes that bring the game state closer to completing suits) Before continuing, the player should take into account everything contained in the current game state, not just the number of hidden cards. The convention wisdom is to choose the column which contains the fewest number of hidden cards, thinking that the chances of soon regaining a clear column are maximized. There are many occasions in Spider Solitaire games where the player is presented with a choice of which column to turn a hidden card in.įor example, it might be possible to use a clear column to turn a hidden card in either the first column or the second column, but both cannot be guaranteed.

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