Russian Solitaire
Play Russian solitaire free online — no download, no sign-up, works on any device. Russian solitaire is Yukon with one merciless change: tableau sequences build down in the same suit, not just alternating colors. Same open deal, same move-any-group freedom, and one of the hardest patience games ever devised. Undo and hints are built in.
How Russian solitaire works
The deal is identical to Yukon’s: 52 cards across seven columns — one face-up card on the first, one to six face-down cards under five face-up on the rest, no stock, no waste. Any face-up card moves with everything stacked above it, ordered or not, and only the bottom card of the group is checked against its destination. The check is the hard part: a card may only land on the next rank up in its own suit. The 6♠ goes on the 7♠ and nowhere else. Foundations build Ace to King by suit, one card at a time, and taking all 52 up wins.
Why same-suit building is brutal
In Yukon a 6 has two legal homes — either red 7 or either black 7 gives you four targets across the deck. In Russian it has exactly one: its own suit’s 7, which may be buried face-down, already spoken for, or sitting uselessly on the foundations. Every placement decision carries three times the commitment, and mistakes compound — parking a card in the wrong suit line can lock a column for the rest of the game. Expect to lose often; among traditional patiences Russian is widely regarded as one of the toughest to bring home, which is precisely its appeal.
Russian vs Yukon
One rule apart, worlds apart in feel. Yukon is a forgiving excavation — most tangles can be hauled somewhere. Russian is a precision instrument: the same scrambled stacks, but each card has a single legal destination, so you plan whole suit-lines rather than single moves. If you are new to the family, learn the group move on Yukon first; when its freedom starts feeling roomy, Russian will fix that. Alaska solitaire sits between the two — same-suit building that may run up as well as down.
Strategy: protect the suit lines
Winning Russian games are built backward from the foundations. Trace each suit’s sequence early: where is the 7♠ that the 6♠ will need, and what is on top of it? Moves that flip face-down cards still come first, but never at the cost of wrecking a suit line you will need intact. Kings claim empty columns here too, and choosing the right King matters more than in Yukon — its whole suit follows it. The Hint button runs a complete search of the deal — Russian’s strict rule shrinks the game tree enough that our solver examines every reachable position: if your deal has a winning line, hints follow it move for move. And we can finally put a number on the game’s reputation: we solved 2,000 random deals exhaustively, and only about 7% can be won by any line of play. Losing most Russian games is mathematics, not you.
Five habits for surviving Russian solitaire
Russian punishes improvisation. These habits are how experienced players convert the few deals that can be converted.
- Map each suit’s chain before moving — every card has exactly one tableau destination, so find the blockers on day one.
- Flip face-down cards early, while your board still has slack to absorb what comes up.
- Never bury a card on a foreign suit without a plan to move it again — in Russian, wrong-suit parking is usually permanent.
- Spend empty columns on the King whose suit line is closest to complete, not the first King you can move.
- Restart without guilt. Strong players fold bad Russian deals quickly and spend their effort where a line exists.
Russian solitaire FAQ
What’s the difference between Russian solitaire and Yukon?
Exactly one rule: tableau building is same-suit descending in Russian, alternating-color descending in Yukon. The deal, the move-any-face-up-group freedom, the King-to-empty-column rule, and the foundations are identical. That single change makes Russian far harder.
How hard is Russian solitaire, really?
The hardest game on this site, and now we can prove it: our solver searched 2,000 random deals exhaustively (Russian’s single-destination rule makes a complete search possible), and only about 7% can be won by any line of play. That is the mathematical ceiling with perfect information — human rates run lower, and we will publish our measured one once enough real games are logged. Losing here is the default; the wins are the story.
Can I move cards that aren’t in sequence?
Yes — the Yukon family’s group move applies. Any face-up card moves with everything above it, however scrambled; only the bottom card must land on the next rank up in its own suit.
Are the hints reliable?
Yes — uniquely so. Russian’s strict rule lets our solver search a deal completely, so the hint knows whether your deal can be won at all: on a winnable deal, every hint is a move from an actual winning line; on the ~93% that cannot be won, it plays the strongest continuation (most cards freed and banked). Following hints on a winnable Russian deal is watching a full solution play out.
Why is it called Russian solitaire?
The name is traditional and its origin is murky — card historians record it as an established name for this Yukon variant rather than a documented Russian invention. The same game occasionally appears in old collections under other names.
What goes on an empty column?
Kings only, alone or with their stack. With same-suit building above them, an empty column claimed by the wrong King can freeze a suit for the whole game — spend them carefully.