Russian Solitaire

Overview

Russian Solitaire is Yukon with one rule changed, and that one change is brutal. All 52 cards start on the table in seven columns — 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 cards, with the top five of each column face up — and there is no stock to fall back on.

In Yukon you build tableau sequences down in alternating colours. In Russian you must build down in the same suit. Everything else is identical: the same deal, the same freedom to move a card with everything piled on top of it, the same rule that only a King fills an empty column. Swapping "opposite colour" for "same suit" cuts your legal destinations roughly in half and removes most of your escape routes.

Because there is no stock, every card you need is already somewhere on the table. A card can be exactly what you need and still be completely unreachable, and no fresh deal is coming to rescue you. The order in which you uncover cards decides the game from the first move.

Goal

Move all 52 cards to the four foundations. Each foundation takes one suit and builds upward from Ace to King: Ace, 2, 3, and so on to Queen, King.

Foundations are built separately, so a card can only go up when every lower card of its suit is already there.

Tableau rules

• Build down in the same suit. The 7 of Hearts goes only on the 8 of Hearts — never on the 8 of Spades or 8 of Diamonds.
• Any face-up card moves together with every card on top of it, even if that group is in no order at all.
• Only a King, alone or leading a group, may fill an empty column.
• A face-down card turns up automatically once it is exposed.
• There is no stock and no redeal.

That second rule is what keeps the game alive. You are never required to build a tidy sequence before moving it — you can pick up a card with a jumble sitting on it and drop the whole lot onto a same-suit card one rank higher. It is the only real freedom the game gives you.

Empty columns

An empty column is not automatically an advantage, because only a King can go into it.

Clear a column with no King available to move and you have created a hole you cannot use. Before you empty one, find the King you intend to put there and check that moving it actually exposes something or builds something. Used at the right moment an empty column is a second base to reorganise from; used early it is dead space.

How to play

• Drag a card or group onto a valid tableau card.
• Send exposed cards to their foundations when they fit.
• Tap a card to move it automatically when there is one clear destination.
• Use Undo to take moves back, or New Game for a fresh deal.

Strategy

• Turn face-down cards first. Given two legal moves, the one that exposes a hidden card is usually worth more — it is the only way new options appear.
• Track the same-suit links. If you can see the 8 of Spades but not the 7, avoid any move that buries the 7 deeper.
• Do not rush the foundations. A card sent up is a card that can no longer carry a group. Sometimes the 6 is more useful in the tableau than on the pile.
• Open a column only with a King in hand. An empty column no King can reach is worse than no empty column.
• Plan several moves out. With half the destinations Yukon offers, a harmless-looking move can quietly block a suit for the rest of the game.
• Use Undo to explore. Play a line, see whether it opens the tableau or dead-ends, and take it back. There is no penalty and no timer.

If you liked Russian Solitaire

Yukon is the game to play first or next — identical in every respect except that you build down in alternating colours instead of the same suit. It is noticeably kinder, and the best way to see how much that single rule costs you.

Scorpion is the other same-suit builder here, and closer than it looks: build down by suit, move any card with whatever is stacked on it, only Kings fill gaps. It differs in that a completed King-to-Ace run is removed automatically, and a small three-card stock gives you one deal when you are stuck — a lifeline Russian never offers.

For a different kind of difficulty, Spider lets you build down in any suit but only moves same-suit runs as a group, FreeCell deals every card face up so nothing is hidden, and Klondike is the familiar one with a stock to draw from.