Scorpion
A spider-style tableau: build down in suit and untangle every King-to-Ace run.
How to play Scorpion
Fifty-two cards are dealt into seven columns: the first four begin with three hidden cards, and the last three are fully face-up. Tap any face-up card to pick it up together with every card resting on top of it, then tap a destination column: the card you grabbed must land on a face-up card of the SAME suit and exactly one rank higher. An empty column accepts a King (with whatever pile it carries). When you are stuck, tap the stock pile to deal its three cards onto the bottoms of the first three columns. Uncovering a face-down card flips it up automatically. Win by forming all four suits into full King-to-Ace runs.
The move that makes Scorpion special
Scorpion looks a lot like Spider Solitaire, but one rule changes everything: you can pick up any face-up card along with the whole pile sitting on top of it, even when that pile is a complete mess. The cards you carry do not have to be in order. Only the card you actually grab matters, and it has to land on a card of the same suit exactly one rank higher. A 6 of hearts goes onto the 7 of hearts, never the 7 of diamonds.
That freedom to haul a disordered stack around is your excavation tool. The hidden cards buried in the first four columns are what stand between you and a finished game, so almost every early move should be aimed at flipping one of them face-up.
How to dig
- Chase the face-down cards. A move that uncovers and flips one is nearly always worth making, even if it uglifies a column, because information is everything in this game.
- Build in suit whenever you can. Same-suit runs are the only things that eventually vanish, so a heart on a heart is real progress while a heart on a spade is just temporary storage.
- Guard your Kings. A King only moves to a fully empty column, so a King buried deep can wall off every card beneath it. Try to free them before you spend the stock.
- Do all your useful shuffling before you deal. The stock fires three cards onto the first three columns at once, and there is no taking it back.
Here is the trade you are hunting, in one concrete example. Say the 9 of clubs sits face up in column five with four jumbled cards resting on it, and the 10 of clubs is exposed in column two. Grab the 9. The messy four ride along, the whole bundle lands on the 10, and if the 9 was covering a face-down card, that card flips. You have made the board uglier and better at the same time: one more card revealed, one more in-suit join made, and the mess is a problem for later. Scorpion is full of moves like this, and refusing them out of tidiness is how beginners strand themselves.
Value empty columns properly too. Only a King can move into one, so before you empty a column, know which King is going there and why. Parking a King that has no useful pile to receive wastes the rarest resource in the game.
Spotting a dead deal
Some Scorpion deals cannot be won no matter how well you play. Trouble comes when cards need each other in a circle: a card can only land on a card buried beneath it, and the card that would free the pair is trapped in the same loop. Once every way into the tangle runs through the tangle itself, the deal is locked. The stock can break one of these by dropping three fresh cards onto the first three columns, so a stuck board is not always a dead board. But if the stock is spent and the circle is still there, stop and redeal. Recognising a lock ten moves early is a real skill, and it saves the ten minutes you would have spent shuffling the same cards back and forth hoping.
Scorpion, Spider, and Wasp
Solitaire books file Scorpion in the Spider family, and the comparison teaches you the game. In Spider you also build down in suit, but completed runs fly off the table and fresh deals rain cards across every column. Scorpion removes nothing: all fifty-two cards stay on the table, and you win by untangling them in place, which is why it feels more like a sliding puzzle than a card game. The freedom to carry messy piles is the balance for that. There is also a gentler cousin called Wasp, identical except that any card, not just a King, may move to an empty column. Wasp wins far more often, and it is worth knowing which one you are playing before you judge your losing streak.
Winning and when to fold
You have won when all four suits form clean runs from King down to Ace. That is four unbroken sequences, and Scorpion is stingy about handing them out. A careless deal from the stock can bury a card you needed and quietly sink the whole game. Plan the tableau first, spend the stock last, and you will finish far more deals than a player who taps that stock the instant they feel stuck.
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Scorpion: frequently asked questions
How is Scorpion different from Spider solitaire?
Both build down by suit, but in Scorpion you may pick up any face-up card along with everything piled on top of it (even a jumbled group) and there is just a single three-card stock deal instead of full rows.
What goes on an empty column?
Only a King, either alone or as the top of a pile you are carrying. Freeing a column and parking a King there is a key way to dig buried cards loose.
How is the score calculated and can every deal be won?
Your score counts the cards resting in correct same-suit descending order, and reaching four complete King-to-Ace runs wins with a perfect score. As with all solitaire, not every random deal is winnable; your best score is saved.
Can I move a pile that is not in sequence?
Yes, and that is the whole twist. You may pick up any face-up card together with everything resting on top of it, ordered or not. Only the card you grab has to fit its destination, matching the same suit one rank higher.
What does the stock do?
Tapping it deals three cards at once, one onto the bottom of each of the first three columns. There is no redeal, so use it only after you have made every helpful move on the tableau.
Where can a King go?
A King, along with any pile on top of it, can only move to a completely empty column. Because emptying a column is hard, freeing your Kings early is often the difference between a win and a dead end.
How do I actually win?
Assemble all four suits into full runs from King down to Ace. When every suit forms one clean sequence, the board is solved.
How is Scorpion different from Spider?
Spider deals fresh rows across every column and whisks a finished run off the table. Scorpion removes nothing: all 52 cards stay put and you win by arranging them in place. You also get to carry unsorted piles around, which Spider never allows, so it plays more like untangling a knot.
Why do my cards only go onto the same suit?
Scorpion builds strictly by suit, unlike Klondike, which uses alternating colours. That makes it tougher, because a 6 has exactly one legal landing card rather than two to choose from.
Is Scorpion free to play?
Yes. Scorpion is completely free on Inkplay, with no download, no sign-up, and no in-game purchases. Open the page and play instantly on desktop or mobile.
Can I play Scorpion unblocked?
Yes. Scorpion runs entirely in your browser with no download, install, or plugins, so it loads instantly and keeps working even on school or work networks where bigger game sites get blocked.
More games to play
In the mood for more? Try Chess, Tic Tac Toe, Connect Four, Reversi, or browse all board games and the full games list on Inkplay. Scorpion also appears in Solitaire.