Sources and verification

Sources consulted

• Simple Simon (solitaire) (new tab) (Wikipedia, in English): the layout (three columns of 8 cards, then 7, 6 and so on down to 1, all visible), placing a card on one rank higher, groups of the same suit, unrestricted empty columns, the four runs from king to ace to remove
• Spider (solitaire), Variants section (new tab) (Wikipedia, in English): Simple Simon described as a common single-deck variant of Spider
• Spider (game) (new tab) (Wikipedia): the rules of the family in French: a card can be placed on a card of the next higher rank regardless of suit, a sequence of the same suit can be moved, a run from ace to king of the same suit is removed from play

Links accessed on October 30, 2026. The rules described on this site are primarily those of the Simple Simon app, as read in its code.

How the examples are verified

Before each publication, a program checks the 3 example deals and every number on the site:

• the deal is recalculated from its game code, using the same shuffle as the app, and compared with the deal produced by the app's code;
• 52 cards with the correct composition for the number of suits, 10 columns of 8 to 1 cards, all visible;
• every move in the games is replayed and must be legal under the app's rules; every winning game must end with all 4 runs removed;
• the score and move count are recalculated and compared with those in the app;
• the rules cited (layout, placement, groups, empty columns, runs, scoring) are checked again in the app's code.

Strategy tips are presented as advice, separately from the rules. Rules for play with physical cards are attributed to their sources and do not describe the app. Found an error? Write to us through the contact page.