Russian Solitaire
Dealt exactly like Yukon, with one rule tightened: columns build down in the same suit. That single change makes it one of the hardest patience games there is, which is why most random deals are impossible — we filter those out.
ObjectiveBuild the four suits up from Ace to King, with tableau columns that only accept the same suit.
Yukon's layout, an unforgiving build rule
Russian solitaire deals exactly like Yukon — seven columns, twenty-one cards face down, the rest fanned face up, no stock — and changes one word in the rules: columns build down in the same suit instead of alternating colours. A Nine of Spades accepts only the Eight of Spades. One legal parent per card instead of two.
That halving is brutal in a game where disordered piles move freely. You can still shift any face-up card with its whole stack, but every destination is now one specific card that may itself be buried under the pile you were hoping to move. Russian is widely considered one of the hardest patience games in the standard repertoire, and it earns the reputation.
- Dealt exactly like Yukon: a face-up card moves with everything on top of it.
- Columns build down in the same suit — this is what makes it brutal.
- Empty columns take a King.
- No stock, no redeal, so read the board before you commit.
How much the suit rule actually costs
It is worth being precise about the difference, because “builds in suit” sounds like a detail and behaves like a different game.
| Yukon | Russian | |
|---|---|---|
| Legal parents for any given card | 2 (both opposite colours) | 1 |
| Cards that can accept a Nine | Both black or both red Tens | Only the Ten of that suit |
| Deal, hidden cards, stock | Identical | Identical |
| Deal claim on this site | Verified winnable | Screened for dead ends |
Halving the destinations does not halve the difficulty — it compounds, because each card you place also removes the only home some other card had. Boards that would be routine in Yukon close entirely here.
Playing a game this tight
- 01
Find the safe moves before the clever ones
Locate every card whose single parent is already exposed. Those moves are free, and doing them in the right order often opens two more. Everything else is a commitment you probably cannot reverse.
- 02
Look two or three moves further than in Yukon
Legal moves are scarce, so the cost of a wasted one is much higher. Where Yukon rewards momentum, Russian rewards sitting still until you can see the consequence of the move you are about to make.
- 03
Excavate toward suits you can already place
Digging out a card whose parent is buried achieves nothing but rearrangement. Spend your scarce moves uncovering cards that have somewhere to go the moment they appear.
- 04
Choose your King before you empty a column
With same-suit building, an empty column is frequently the only legal home for anything at all — and it takes only a King. Committing the wrong King can lock a suit for the rest of the game.
What this page claims, precisely
Deals here are screened rather than fully proven. The solver rejects every deal it can show is dead, and what remains passed that filter without the search completing a full winning line — Russian's branching resists exhaustive solving.
The practical difference is small, but the distinction is real and this site would rather state it than round it up. Where a page says verified, a line was found; where it says screened, the impossible ones were removed. If you want the same movement rules with double the destinations, Yukon is the fully verified version.
Questions about this game
- Is Russian solitaire harder than Yukon?
- Much harder. The move freedom is identical, but same-suit building halves the legal destinations for every card in the deck. Players comfortable winning Yukon regularly should expect Russian to feel like starting over.
- Are these deals guaranteed winnable?
- Screened, not guaranteed: the solver removes every deal it can prove unwinnable, and the remainder pass to you. Russian's search space keeps a full proof out of reach for some deals, and the badge on this page says exactly which claim is being made.
- Is it the same as Alaska?
- Closely related. Alaska allows tableau building up or down in suit, which is materially more forgiving. This is the stricter descending-only version.