Russian Solitaire

How to Play Russian Solitaire

What Is Russian Solitaire?

Russian Solitaire is one of the most challenging solitaire games ever devised. It is played with a single standard deck of 52 cards, and every card is dealt onto the table at the start. There is no stock pile and no cards held in reserve: everything you will ever get is in front of you from the first move. The layout is the same as Yukon Solitaire, but one strict rule change, building down in the same suit instead of alternating colors, turns a friendly game into a genuine test of patience and planning. Your goal is to move all 52 cards onto the four foundations, building each suit up in order from Ace to King.

The Layout

The game deals seven tableau columns across the table:

• Column 1 receives a single face-up card.
• Columns 2 through 7 receive 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 6 face-down cards respectively, and then each of those six columns is topped with 5 face-up cards.

That accounts for all 52 cards: 1 + (1+5) + (2+5) + (3+5) + (4+5) + (5+5) + (6+5). In total, 21 cards start face down and 31 start face up. Above the tableau sit four foundations, one for each suit. Each foundation begins empty, takes the Ace of its suit first, and then builds upward in order: Ace, 2, 3, and so on up to the King.

Building in the Tableau: Same Suit, Going Down

Here is the rule that defines Russian Solitaire. A card may be placed on another tableau card only if it is one rank lower and the same suit. The 7♠ may be placed only on the 8♠, nowhere else. The Q♥ fits only on the K♥. Color is not enough: a 7♠ can never sit on the 8♣, even though both are black. Compare this with Yukon or Klondike, where any red 7 could land on either black 8. In Russian Solitaire, every card in the deck has exactly one card that can receive it. If that one card is buried, your card has nowhere to go except, eventually, the foundation.

Moving Groups: Order Does Not Matter

The move that makes this game playable at all is the Yukon-style group move. Any face-up card may be picked up and moved to a legal spot, together with every card sitting on top of it, no matter how jumbled those cards are. The cards riding along do not need to be in sequence or in the same suit.

An example: suppose a column shows, from bottom to top of the face-up section, 9♦, 2♠, K♥, 6♣. If the 10♦ is available at the bottom of another column, you may grab the 9♦ and move it onto the 10♦, and the 2♠, K♥, and 6♣ all travel with it, still in the same messy order. Only the connecting move itself must be legal: the 9♦ onto the 10♦, same suit, one rank lower. This ride-along rule is your main digging tool, so use it boldly.

Empty Columns

When you clear the last card from a column, that empty space accepts only a King, or a group of cards whose bottom card is a King. Any King of any suit will do, and it may carry a pile of other cards along with it. Choose which King you place carefully, because that column will likely stay anchored to that suit for the rest of the game.

No Stock, No Redeal

There is no stock pile in Russian Solitaire. You will never draw fresh cards, and there is no redeal. Progress comes only from two things: turning face-down cards face up by clearing the cards above them, and moving cards to the foundations. Whenever the last face-up card leaves a column that still has face-down cards, the top face-down card flips over automatically.

How to Win

You win by building all four foundations from Ace to King, all 52 cards home. Be warned: Russian Solitaire is famously difficult, and even skilled players win only a small percentage of deals. Losing is normal here, and every win is worth savoring.

Playing on This Site

Drag and drop any face-up card to move it along with everything on top of it, or double-click a card (double-tap on a touch screen) to send it straight to its foundation when it fits. The buttons above the table offer a New deal, Undo, Redo, a Hint when you are stuck, and Auto-finish to sweep the last cards home once victory is certain. Undo is unlimited, so you can rewind and test a different plan as often as you like. Every deal has a seed number too, so you can replay the exact same shuffle or share it with a friend and see who cracks it.

Russian Solitaire Strategy & Tips

Accept the Odds, Then Beat Them

Play Russian Solitaire well and you will still lose most games. With good decisions the win rate is only a few percent, which is exactly why regular players treat every victory as a trophy. The goal of good strategy here is not to win every deal; it is to avoid throwing away the rare deals that can be won.

Every Burial Is Nearly Permanent

The single most important idea in this game: for any card, only one card in the whole deck can ever receive it in the tableau. If you drop the 5♦ onto the 6♦ while cards you need are trapped underneath that 6♦, they may stay trapped forever, because no other 6 will ever accept that 5. So before you cover anything, stop and ask two questions:

• What exactly am I burying, and will I need it soon?
• Is the receiving card sitting somewhere safe, or is it perched on cards I must dig out later?

A move that merely looks tidy can quietly lose the game ten moves later. When in doubt, leave the cards where they are and dig somewhere else.

Excavate the Deep Columns First

Columns 6 and 7 hide five and six face-down cards, the biggest unknowns on the table. The face-down cards are where your missing Aces, low cards, and key connectors live. Direct your early moves toward flipping cards in these deep columns, even when easier moves are available elsewhere. Column 1 starts fully exposed and the shallow columns reveal themselves quickly; the deep ones will not open up unless you work at them from the very first moves.

Use the Ride-Along Rule as a Shovel

Because a moving card carries every card above it, order be damned, you can relocate an entire messy block in one move as long as its bottom card has a legal landing spot. Hunt for these block moves constantly. Shifting six jumbled cards off a column in one motion can flip a face-down card that a cautious single-card approach would never reach. Sometimes it is even worth moving a block onto a slightly awkward spot purely to expose a face-down card, since information is the scarcest resource in this game.

Think Several Moves Ahead

Fast play kills. Before each move, trace the chain: this move uncovers that card, which lets me move this block, which flips that face-down card. If the chain fizzles after one step, look for a better line. Pay special attention to the order of a suit inside one column: if the 8♣ lies above the 9♣ in the same pile, they are fine, but if the 9♣ sits on top of the 8♣ with junk between them, untangling that pair will cost real work, so plan for it early.

Kings, Empty Columns, and Undo

Only Kings may enter an empty column, so an empty space is only as useful as the King you have ready for it. Before you empty a column, know which King is going there and why; the best choice is usually the King whose suit has the most cards still tangled in the tableau. Do not send cards to the foundations greedily, either. A low card parked on its foundation can no longer receive anything, and in this game you may need it in play. Finally, use Undo freely and replay lost seeds. Rewinding a failed line and trying another route is not cheating; it is how people learn to win this beast at all.

Frequently Asked Questions

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