Simple Simon

Simple Simon is Spider distilled into one deck and one deal. Ten columns in a stepped, pyramid-like shape, everything face up, no stock — and the same objective: build four complete King-to-Ace runs in suit and send them off.

Removing the stock changes the character entirely. Spider's central tension is managing the tableau against the next forced ten-card deal; here there is no such pressure, so the game becomes a clean open puzzle about untangling what you were given. It is the most approachable way into Spider's logic, and a good game in its own right rather than merely a training exercise.

All 52 cards are dealt face up into ten columns — three of eight, then descending from seven down to one, giving the tableau its stepped shape. Columns build down by rank with suit ignored for placing a single card, exactly as in Spider. Suit matters for moving: only an already same-suit descending run travels as a unit. Complete a King-to-Ace run in one suit and it goes to the foundations. Any card may fill an empty column, and there is no stock at all — everything is on the table from the first move.

This is Spider with the stock removed and empty columns unrestricted, which makes it much more tractable: no ten-card deal is going to land on your tidy tableau, and a cleared column is immediately useful. The core discipline is the same — build in-suit wherever you have a choice, because off-suit junctions are walls you will have to unpick with no stock to bail you out. The stepped deal means the short columns on the right clear quickly; use them to make early space rather than starting work in the eight-card columns.