Russian Solitaire Tips: Building Down by Suit, the Free-Block Lift and Why Deals Die (2026)

1. The deal you actually get

One deck is dealt entirely into seven columns: the first holds one face-up card, and each of the others holds its index in face-down cards under five face-up cards — sizes 1/6/7/8/9/10/11, that is 21 face-down and 31 face-up cards, 52 in all. There is no stock and no waste: what you see is what you get for the whole deal, and there is nothing to re-deal or turn.

That shape is inherited from Yukon, its closest relative, and so is the second structural rule: any face-up card may be lifted together with everything on top of it, even when the lifted block is not itself in sequence. Unlike Klondike, you do not need an ordered run to move a stack. Only the card that lands is checked — and that is exactly where Russian Solitaire changes.

2. Columns build down by suit — one suit, one home

In Yukon a card can land on the next rank down in either colour, so a black 7 accepts a red 6 or a black 6. Russian Solitaire accepts neither of those unless the suit matches: a 6 of hearts goes on a 7 of hearts and on nothing else. The board proves it both ways — a black 7 on a black 8 is legal even though the colours match, and a red 7 on a black 8 is refused even though the colours alternate, because Yukon's alternating-colour rule is not the rule here.

The consequence is the whole game. A face-up card usually has exactly one legal landing spot on the entire board: the next rank of its own suit. If that card is buried, the card above it is dead weight until you dig. Digging is therefore not one option among several — it is the only plan the deal ever offers.

3. Foundations build up by suit; only a King opens a column

Four foundations each take one suit, from Ace to King, and any Ace opens any foundation. A foundation move is permanent: foundations only grow, so every card sent home is progress you can never undo by accident.

Empty columns are the opposite resource. Only a King — with whatever sits on it — may go on an empty column, and moving a whole column's King to another empty column gains nothing. So each empty column is a reserved parking slot for a King, and burning one on a non-King is a mistake you cannot take back.

4. The lift is the tool; digging is the purpose

Because the block you lift does not have to be in sequence, you can move a face-up card that is stuck under junk by taking the junk with it. Use that only when the move frees something: the card underneath the lifted block turns face up inside the same move, so a legal manoeuvre is one whose bottom card fits a target and whose top card opens something better.

Practically: read each column from the top down, ask where the top card of that suit is, and if it is buried under cards that can be carried elsewhere, carry them. A shuffle that buries another card instead is churn — the measured baseline that only reacts never recovers, and section 6 shows how quickly it dies.

5. Undo, Hint and the No-moves bar

Undo walks your moves back one at a time, Hint highlights a legal move, and a fresh board is one tap away on New. When no card can be placed anywhere — no foundation fit, no same-suit partner, no empty column for a King — the shell shows a No moves left bar. With no stock there is nothing to turn, so undo or a new deal are the only exits.

6. How hard is it, really? Measured against Yukon on the same deals

Russian Solitaire is the by-suit Yukon, and the single rule change is expensive. Playing 3,000 deals per game on identical seeds with the same deliberately weak greedy baseline (send a card home when it fits, otherwise move a block that uncovers a face-down card, never plan), the two modules separate cleanly at the opening:

Read those zeros honestly: the baseline wins 0 of 3,000 in both games and sends home less than one card on average, so the table is not a win-rate comparison — it measures how much the extra rule removes from the position a player starts from. Fewer than half the opening moves, three more orphaned cards per deal, and a shorter life. A reacting policy dies twice as fast in Russian Solitaire because almost every card has a single home and almost none of them is reachable.

The published win-rate literature for this variant reports roughly one deal in eight winnable with good play (about 13%, quoted by community rules references), and none of that comes for free: it comes from digging toward the ranks your foundations are missing and keeping Kings free until a column empties. This build measures its own numbers and quotes the literature as literature, clearly separated.

Termination honesty: the baseline stops on a genuinely stuck position, on the first repeated board (a state-set that forbids revisits), or when no legal move remains. Because both games have no stock, no step cap is needed and none is used; no capped deal is hidden inside any average.

FAQ

How do you play Russian Solitaire?

Deal one deck of 52 cards entirely into seven columns sized 1/6/7/8/9/10/11 (21 face-down, 31 face-up), with no stock. Build four foundations up by suit from any Ace and build the columns down by suit — a 6 of hearts only on a 7 of hearts. Any face-up card may be lifted with everything on top of it, even out of sequence, and only a King may fill an empty column. Win when all four foundations hold 13 cards.

What is the difference between Russian Solitaire and Yukon?

One rule: the columns build down by suit instead of by alternating colour. Everything else is the same — no stock, seven columns dealt 1/6/7/8/9/10/11, any face-up card lifts with everything above it, King-only on empty columns, foundations up by suit from the Ace. Measured on the same 3,000 deals, that one rule cuts the number of legal opening moves from 6.77 to 3.82.

Can I move a stack that is not in sequence?

Yes, as long as the bottom card of the stack fits the target and the stack starts from a face-up card. Only the card that lands is checked, which is why an unsorted block can move onto a same-suit partner. The card left behind turns face up in the same move, and undo puts both cards and the flip back.

Is there a stock pile or a redeal?

No. All 52 cards are dealt at the start, and there is nothing to turn, recycle or re-deal. When a deal has no legal move left, the No moves left bar appears and undo or a new deal are the only ways on.

Why do my deals die so fast?

Because a face-up card usually has exactly one legal home — the next rank of its own suit — and in a random deal that partner is often buried. In the 3,000 measured deals 27 of the 31 face-up cards had nowhere to go at the start, and a reacting baseline ran out of moves after about two moves. Digging toward the ranks your foundations need is the whole skill.

What is the deal number under the title?

It identifies the shuffle. Add ?deal=12345 to the page URL to replay that exact board, and share the number to compare the same deal. Without it every load deals a fresh random board.

Does it work on a phone?

Yes. The board is fitted to both production stages — 348x261 and 894x670 — with no overflow, all 52 cards inside the frame and a real touch tap moving a card exactly once through the same code path as a mouse click.

Where can I play it?

Right on this site's russian solitaire page. The engine, renderer, card model, RNG, sound and stylesheet are the MIT-licensed solitaire-collection by muzsor (commit 13ce580c) shipped byte-identical; that pin has no Russian Solitaire, so the rules module is Playnesta-original and follows the same contract as the upstream klondike module. Cards are DOM elements and sounds are WebAudio synthesis, so no bitmap, audio or font asset ships and nothing is fetched at runtime.