Simple Simon Solitaire: Spider with one deck and nothing hidden
If you like Spider but wish you could see every card, Simple Simon is your game. It uses Spider's rules almost unchanged — build down in any suit, move only same-suit runs as a block, and complete a King-to-Ace suit to clear it off the table — but with a single deck, every card dealt face up, and no stock at all. Everything that will happen in the game is on the table from the first moment.
That makes Simple Simon one of the most winnable games on our Spider-based difficulty ladder. Our solver, playing the exact rules on this site, found a winning line in 86.5% of 3,000 deals and proved 5.2% impossible; the remaining 8.3% were left unsettled, so the true share of winnable deals lies between 86.5% and 94.8%. We also have to be upfront about something: that result does not match a published estimate, and we explain below what we know and what we do not.
Simple Simon on the difficulty ladder
| Game | How we measured it | Result |
|---|---|---|
| Simple Simon | Our solver, 3,000 deals, all cards visible | 86.5% won; 5.2% proven impossible; 8.3% unsettled |
| Spider, 1 suit | Our no-peeking player, 4,000 deals | 52.8% won |
| Spider, 4 suits | Published solver that sees every card | 98.5% |
| Scorpion | Our solver that sees every card, 3,000 deals | 12.9% won; 67.5% proven impossible |
Simple Simon and Scorpion both run on the Spider engine on this site, both use one deck, and both clear completed suits automatically. Yet one is mostly winnable and the other mostly not. The difference is in the details: Simple Simon lets any card fill an empty column and builds in any suit, while Scorpion allows only Kings in a gap and builds in suit only.
Simple Simon's layout and moves
- Deck: one standard 52-card deck, all face up.
- Tableau: ten columns, three of eight cards and then one fewer in each column after that, down to a single card.
- No stock. Every card is dealt at the start.
- Building: rank is all that counts; a 6 of any suit takes a 5 of any suit.
- Moving runs: a run of the same suit in descending order moves as a block, of any length. A mixed-suit run must be taken apart.
- Empty columns: any card or same-suit run can fill them.
- Clearing suits: a full King-to-Ace run in one suit is removed automatically. Clear all four and you win.
From Spider to Simple Simon
Spider players will find their instincts mostly work. Same-suit runs are still what matter, mixed-suit building is still a temporary convenience, and an empty column is still the most powerful thing on the table. What changes is the information. With nothing hidden and no stock to deal, there is no reason to rush, and every problem can be planned out before you touch a card.
What the deals tell you
You start with very little order
On average a deal begins with just 0.76 same-suit links already in place — a card sitting directly on the next-higher card of its own suit. Almost all the sorting is up to you.
Some deals are dead from the start
A few deals have no legal first move at all. In one of ours, every column ended in a card with nothing one rank higher showing anywhere. If that happens, the only thing to do is deal again.
Playing Simple Simon well
- Look for the shortest route to an empty column. The three columns on the right hold one, two and three cards. Clearing one of them early gives you a free space that any card can use.
- Build in suit when you have the choice. Any-suit building gets cards out of the way, but only same-suit runs move as a block and only same-suit runs clear.
- Collect one suit at a time. Pick the suit that is least buried and aim to complete it. Removing thirteen cards transforms the table.
- Keep a gap in reserve. Use an empty column to reorganize, then clear it again rather than leaving a card parked there.
- Use Undo to explore. With every card visible, trying a line and taking it back costs nothing and teaches you the deal.
Tools for an open-card game
When every card is visible, Undo becomes a planning tool rather than an apology: rewind as far as you need and try another order. Hint, Restart and Auto Play complete the set. Simple Simon is free and loads in the browser on desktop, tablet or phone with no account. Ten columns fit comfortably with zoom or fullscreen, cards move by drag or tap, and a small counter keeps wins, time and moves. Sound and felt color can be changed in settings.
How we tested Simple Simon, step by step
The spidersolitaire.us team ran this test on September 19, 2026.
- Traced the rules in the Simple Simon branch of our Spider engine. The code deals every card face up into ten stepped columns, lets any suit build on any other, moves same-suit runs with no length cap, accepts any card in a gap and clears finished suits on its own.
- Rebuilt the game as a program that allows exactly those moves.
- Dealt 3,000 numbered hands, seeds 1 to 3,000.
- Used a solver. Every card is visible, so a search for a winning line gives a true answer, not a ceiling. Each deal got up to 200,000 positions.
- Sorted every deal into won, proven impossible or undecided.
- Compared with published research, and found a gap. Blake and Gent (2026) estimate Simple Simon at 97.450% winnable, which implies at most about 2.55% of deals are impossible. We proved 5.2% impossible. The two numbers do not line up, we do not yet know why, and we prefer to tell you that openly. To check ourselves, a separate brute-force program, written independently of the solver, re-examined six of our "impossible" deals and confirmed every one; one of them has no legal first move at all. As far as we can tell, the rules on our site match the rules described in the paper. Until someone finds the cause, please read our Simple Simon numbers as provisional.
- Worked out the margin of error. For 86.5% won the 95% range is 85.3% to 87.7%; for 5.2% impossible, 4.4% to 6.0%.
- Named the limits. 8.3% of deals went undecided, and the disagreement above is unresolved.
Solving Simple Simon in Python
Simple Simon shares spiderlike.py with Scorpion; both are Python 3.11 and use only the standard library. The solver keeps its candidate positions in a priority queue, always expands the one that scores best, and records each position so it is never explored twice. Across 19 processes the 3,000 deals soaked up about 33 hours of combined processor time, more than any other game we added in this round. Ranges are Wilson score 95% intervals. Anthropic's Claude assisted as we coded and checked the solver and drafted this page, but every count above was produced by the solver.
Simple Simon questions
Does seeing every card make it easier than Spider?
Being able to see every card helps a great deal. Our solver proved at least 86.5% of Simple Simon deals winnable, while our no-peeking Spider player won 52.8% of one-suit deals and far fewer at two or four suits. The two numbers come from different kinds of test, but both point the same way.
Will a mixed-suit sequence move as one?
No. Only a same-suit run moves as a block.
Do I need Kings for empty columns?
No. Any card or same-suit run can go into a space.
So who is right, you or the paper?
We cannot say yet. Every impossible deal we re-checked stayed impossible, so the gap probably comes from a difference in rules or method that neither side has spelled out. Until then we report our numbers and flag them.
Where should a Simple Simon player go next?
For the hidden-card version, try one-suit Spider or two suits. For a much harsher cousin, try Scorpion.
By Admin, spidersolitaire.us (Solitairen OOD). Research run September 2026.