Russian Solitaire Strategy Guide
Russian Solitaire deals exactly like Yukon: all 52 cards are on the table, there is no stock and you can lift any face-up card together with everything on it. The catch is the building rule. Columns are built down in the same suit, so each card has only one possible home. That makes the game tight, and only a small share of deals can be proved winnable. This guide covers how to read the layout, how to use empty columns and when to stop.
Opening principles
The first column has one face-up card. Each column to the right has one more face-down card than the last, up to six, with five face-up cards on top. You build the four foundations from Ace to King by suit. On the table you build down in the same suit, and only a King, with whatever sits on it, can go into an empty column.
- Scan for same-suit pairs. A card can only go onto the next rank up in its own suit, so list which of those pairs are available right now.
- Turn hidden cards first. Every card you flip adds options. Prefer the move that uncovers a face-down card.
- Dig where the hidden cards are. The right-hand columns hide the most, so make progress there before you build on them.
Moving stacks
Any face-up card can carry what is above it, so the length of a pile is rarely a problem. The question is whether the card you lift has its same-suit partner one rank higher exposed somewhere.
- Lift a card to reach what is under it. If the card you want is buried under face-up cards, move the whole group onto a matching card if one is exposed.
- Prefer moves that build a longer same-suit run. A run of one suit is the only kind of stack that can later move as a tidy unit.
- Do not bury the column you want to dig. Before you build onto a column, check how many hidden cards it still has.
Empty columns and Kings
An empty column is the most useful tool in this game, but only a King fits in it, so it is only worth making when a King is within reach.
- Empty a column when a King is ready. An empty space with no King available is wasted.
- Move Kings that sit on hidden cards. A King on top of face-down cards is the one to relocate; it frees the hidden cards under it.
- Leave a King that is already first in its column. Moving it to an empty column gains nothing.
Foundations
Aces and 2s should go up at once. After that, think before you send a card to a foundation, because cards cannot be taken back from it on this site.
- A low card can be a landing spot. If a card of the same suit one rank lower is stuck beneath something, the card above it may be its only partner. Keep it in the column until that card is free.
- Send a card up when nothing needs it. If the next rank down in its suit is already on a foundation or fully free, the card has no job left on the table.
- Once every column is face up and descending, you are done. The rest is collected for you.
Common mistakes
- Burying hidden cards. Building on a column that still has face-down cards makes them harder to reach.
- Moving stacks that free nothing. A move that does not turn a card, open a column or enable another move only wastes your options.
- Forgetting that each card has one home. If the card one rank higher in its suit is buried under a stack, the card you hold is stuck until that stack moves.
- Sending cards up too early. They cannot come back.
- Playing on after the deal is lost. If the cards you need are locked under each other, start again.
Advanced techniques
- Look two moves ahead. Before moving a stack, check what the card under it will be able to do once it is free.
- Use Undo freely. This game rewards trying a line and backing out when it fails.
- Use the Solver after a loss. It tells you whether the position could still have been won.
- Count the Kings. Each empty column needs a King to fill it; if the Kings are buried, an empty column may never be useful.
How winnable are the deals?
In our screening, the solver found a full winning line within its search limit for about 6.7% of 12,000 random deals (799 of them). That is a lower bound, because the search is limited, but it shows how tight the same-suit rule makes the game. New games and the Daily Challenge only use deals the solver has proved winnable, so a winning line always exists, and the pool is small, so you may meet a repeated deal. The solver knows every hidden card and you do not, so winnable does not mean easy.
Practice and play
Play a few deals with one rule: before you move a stack, say what card it turns over or what column it opens. If the answer is nothing, look for a better move.