A modified Pinochle deck (with the Jokers removed and Ace's replaced with 8's) is used in Spider Go. The deck consists of 48 cards made up of four of each rank card ranging from 8 through King and two different suits. This means there are four 8's, 9’s, 10’s, Jacks, Queens, and Kings of Hearts, and four 8's, 9’s, 10’s Jacks, Queens, and Kings of Spades.

The deck is shuffled and then six columns are dealt onto the Gameboard vertically. Each column receives four face down cards and one face up card. Cards in the columns partially overlap the previous, with the last card being fully visible thus making it available for play.

The remaining cards are dealt face down in the Stockpile, available for use at a later time.
After the game is set up, the objective is to completely clear the Gameboard and Stockpile of all cards and move them to the Foundations. This can be achieved by creating full runs on the six columns and moving them to the Foundations.

You are able to move face up cards around the columns onto cards ranking one above their value, regardless of suit. For example, any 10 can be moved onto any Jack. User’s may also move partially completed runs amongst the columns. However, only runs of the same suit are able to be moved. For example, if a run of Jack of Spades, 10 of Hearts, and 9 of Spades is present on the Gameboard, it cannot be moved to a Queen of any suit. Any card is able to be placed in an empty column assuming it follows the rules above.

When a face up card is moved from its column, the face down card behind it, if applicable, is turned face up.

At any point during a game you may tap the Stockpile to deal a Mini-Deal. This places 1 face up card on each column, regardless of what is in the column. This is the only situation where cards of greater value can be placed over lower ranked cards. For example, a 9 dealt from a Mini-Deal may be present atop a King.