Trace the blocker before moving the run.
Mrs. Mop deals all 104 cards face-up in thirteen columns of eight. There is no stock. Every card you need is visible, so the challenge is to make it accessible without trapping the groups you will need to move later.
Last updated: September 2026
Work backward from a buried card
Pick a card needed to connect a same-suit run. Read upward from that card to the column top: each card above it is a blocker. Check which top group can move together, and which single card needs a temporary home. Then check the destination column for the next card it will bury. This turns an attractive surface move into a testable sequence of access changes.
Mrs. Mop has two copies of each suit and rank. If one needed card sits under several blockers, inspect its duplicate before dismantling that column. The more accessible copy may let you complete a useful run first; the other can remain in place until you have room to release it. That is a choice available in this two-deck open deal, not in one-deck Simple Simon.
Choose the first empty column for what it unlocks
Since no stock row will arrive, an empty column stays available until you fill it. Look for a short column whose cards have legal destinations. Before clearing it, identify the next group you will stage there and the buried card that staging will expose. Clearing a column without that follow-up may only relocate a mixed stack.
One column ends K♥–Q♥ and another ends 9♠–J♥. Moving J♥ onto Q♥ creates a longer heart run but leaves its source column occupied. A separate lone 8♦ can move onto 9♣ and empty its column, though those two cards then form a mixed group that cannot move together.
If the new space lets you stage J♥ and then reach 9♠, the clearance line may improve access. If it has no useful next move, the heart extension may be cleaner. The example compares two engine-legal moves in a constructed position; it does not establish a universal priority or guarantee a win. The Spider family guide explains the shared space tradeoff.
Keep a route through the thirteen columns
A complete same-suit King-to-Ace run is removed automatically. Before committing several moves toward one run, compare the cards they cover with the cards needed for another. A move that lengthens one run while burying the only accessible copy of a different rank may narrow your next choices. When both copies are blocked, use the open layout to decide which blocker chain is shorter and which temporary placements can be undone.
Mrs. Mop has no stock timing decision. For the rules that transfer across Spider relatives, including which descending groups move together, see the family lesson on movable runs.