Scorpion Solitaire Guide: Rules, Tactics, and How It Differs From Spider

Scorpion is the sharp-tailed cousin of Spider. It uses a single deck, builds sequences down by suit, and shares Spider's ultimate goal of assembling long King-to-Ace runs. But Scorpion hands you a freedom Spider never does: you can move any face-up card, dragging everything piled on top of it, no matter how tangled. That one rule makes Scorpion feel less like tidy stacking and more like carefully unpicking a knot.

This guide covers the layout, the rules, a practical set of tactics, and a clear comparison with Spider so you know exactly what changes. You can try every idea here free on 247solitaire.my.

The Scorpion Layout

Scorpion uses one standard 52-card deck dealt into seven columns. The deal is distinctive: in the first four columns the top three cards are dealt face-down and the rest face-up; the remaining three columns are dealt entirely face-up. That accounts for 49 cards. The final three cards are set aside as a small stock for one use later in the game.

There are no separate foundation piles in Scorpion. You build everything within the tableau itself. The game is won when the tableau holds four complete suit runs, each descending from King all the way down to Ace.

The Core Rules

Build down by suit

This is the crucial difference from most solitaires. In the Scorpion tableau you build down in the same suit — a six of spades goes only on the seven of spades, the five of spades on the six of spades, and so on. Colour and mixed suits do not help you here; only a matching-suit, next-lower card forms a valid sequence toward a finished run.

Move any face-up card with its pile

Like Yukon, Scorpion lets you grab any face-up card together with every card stacked on top of it, even if that group is a chaotic mix of suits and ranks. The card you pick up must land on a card of the same suit and one rank higher (that spade six onto the spade seven), or onto an empty column. Whatever mess rides on top comes along for free. This is your main tool for reaching buried cards.

Flipping and the one-time stock

When you clear all face-up cards off a face-down card, it flips over and joins the game. When you have exhausted your useful moves, deal the three-card stock: one card goes face-up onto the top of each of the first three columns. This happens only once, so time it well — those three cards can either unblock you or bury a column further, and you cannot take them back.

Tactics That Win Scorpion Games

1. Expose face-down cards first

The twelve face-down cards in the first four columns are your obstacles. Prioritise clearing the face-up cards above them so they flip. Every reveal adds options; leaving them buried starves you of moves.

2. Untangle before you build long

Because you can move any face-up card with its tail, use that power to relocate blockers rather than to build pretty runs early. Ask what is trapping the card you need, move the obstruction onto a legal same-suit spot, and free the card underneath.

3. Fight to empty a column

An empty column is gold. It accepts any card and its whole pile, giving you a workspace to dismantle a stubborn stack. Emptying a column often turns a stuck game around, so a King with a clear tail is a strong emptying target since nothing stacks above a King.

4. Do not waste the stock

Hold the three-card stock deal until you are genuinely stuck, because it is one-time only. But do not cling to it so long that a column becomes hopeless first. Ideally the three new cards each connect to something, or at least land where they do the least harm.

5. Watch the buried Aces

Since every run must end on an Ace, an Ace stranded under half a column is a run you cannot complete. Note where the Aces sit early and plan your excavation so the low cards of each suit become reachable.

6. Consolidate suits gradually

You do not need to build a full King-to-Ace run in one sweep. It is often smarter to grow several short same-suit sequences in parallel and merge them once the connecting cards surface. Keep an eye out for a card that would join two existing fragments of the same suit; linking a run of nine-to-six with a five-to-two is a big step, and moves like that tend to open several columns at once.

7. Avoid burying what you just freed

Every move in Scorpion can cover a card as easily as it uncovers one. Before dropping a group onto a column, make sure you are not sealing a face-down card or a low card you will soon need. Because the stock deal is a single lifeline, a self-inflicted block is usually fatal, so favour moves that keep your future options open over ones that merely look tidy right now.

Scorpion Versus Spider

The two games rhyme, but the differences matter:

• Decks: Scorpion uses one deck; Spider uses two.
• Building: Scorpion always builds down by suit. Spider also aims for same-suit runs but lets you build down across suits as a temporary measure.
• Moving cards: Scorpion lets you move any face-up card with everything on top of it. Spider only lets you move a properly ordered same-suit run as a group.
• Stock: Scorpion has a single three-card stock deal. Spider deals ten cards across all columns multiple times.
• Goal: Scorpion needs four King-to-Ace suit runs; Spider needs eight.

In short, Scorpion is smaller and more forgiving to move around in, but its strict build-by-suit rule and single stock deal keep it challenging.

Conclusion

Scorpion rewards players who dig with intent: flip the face-down cards, use the move-anything rule to clear blockers, empty a column for breathing room, and spend your one stock deal at exactly the right moment. Get those habits right and the four suit runs fall into place. Ready to untangle a deal? Open Scorpion and start clearing.