Is Russian solitaire the same as Yukon solitaire?

No, though they share a deal and a pickup rule. Russian solitaire builds down in the same suit; Yukon builds down in alternating colour, which is a much easier target to hit.

Can you move more than one card at a time in Russian solitaire?

Yes — any face-up card and everything stacked on top of it, whether or not that stack is itself in order. Only the bottom card of the group needs to legally fit the destination.

Does an empty column take any card in Russian solitaire?

No — a King only, or a run headed by one. This is the one place Russian solitaire is stricter than Yukon rather than matching it.

Is Russian solitaire harder than Klondike?

Generally yes. The Yukon-style pickup rule gives you more freedom to move cards, but same-suit building cuts down where anything can actually land, which tends to cancel most of that advantage out.

Russian Solitaire

Russian solitaire deals like Yukon — one card in the first column, five extra face-up cards on top of the face-down cards in each of the rest — and lets you lift any face-up card together with everything stacked on it, in any order. The difference from Yukon is what you can drop it on: a card one rank lower of the same suit, not merely the opposite colour. Only a King may fill an empty column. Bank all 52 cards to win.

Time0:00Moves0Score0Deal#20260726

New game deals a fresh shuffle, Hint highlights a legal move, and the three-dot menu at the end of the bar holds redo, auto-finish, today’s deal, the keyboard shortcuts and the rule set.

Your statistics

Played: 0
Won: 0
Win rate: 0%
Streak: 0
Best streak: 0
Best time: —

Kept in this browser, on this device only. Abandoning a deal in progress counts as a loss, so the win rate means something.

Today’s deal

Everyone playing Russian Solitaire today gets deal #1249968370. It changes at midnight UTC.

Track the month on the daily challenge page.

Replay a deal

Every deal is a pure function of its number, so deal #20260726 is the same shuffle on any device, any time.

Keyboard

U / Z: Undo
R: Redo
H: Hint
N: New deal (asks first)
F: Full screen
A: Auto-finish
Esc: Deselect, or leave full screen

Deck: One deck, 52 cards
Tableau: 7 columns, Yukon's deal
Build: Down, same suit
Empty column: King only

How do you play Russian solitaire?

The deal is exactly Yukon's: the first column gets a single face-up card, and each of the other six gets an increasing number of face-down cards topped with five face-up cards. There is no stock and no waste — every card you will ever get is on the table from the first deal.

The pickup rule is Yukon's too: you may lift any face-up card and every card sitting on top of it, in one motion, regardless of whether that stack is in any kind of order. What changes is where it can land. Russian solitaire builds down in the same suit — a red eight of hearts needs a red seven of hearts, not merely any black seven the way Klondike or Yukon would allow.

What is the difference between Russian solitaire and Yukon?

Russian solitaire against Yukon
	Russian Solitaire	Yukon
Deal	Same 1/6/7/8/9/10/11 shape	Same 1/6/7/8/9/10/11 shape
Pick up	Any face-up card + everything on it	Any face-up card + everything on it
Build on	One rank lower, same suit	One rank lower, opposite colour
Empty column	King only	Any card

One rule and one rule only separates the two games, and it changes the whole feel of play: same-suit building gives every card exactly one potential home instead of two, so a Russian solitaire deal offers far fewer places to put anything you pick up.

Why can't you fill an empty column with any card?

Because the same-suit build rule already makes cards scarce for their landing spots — letting any card claim an empty column as well would remove the one real bottleneck the game has. Restricting empty columns to Kings, matching Klondike rather than Yukon's more permissive rule, is the majority ruling among published Russian solitaire references and the setting used here.

How do you get better at russian solitaire?

Dig for hidden cards before buildingAs in Yukon, uncovering a face-down card gives you new options; rearranging cards you can already see usually does not. Prioritise moves that expose something new.
Do not scatter one suit across several columnsBecause building is same-suit only, a suit split across the board is a suit with nowhere to consolidate. Try to keep a run of one suit together rather than trading it piece by piece.
Save Kings for columns worth emptyingAn empty column is only as useful as the King you can put in it. Do not empty a column you cannot immediately refill — you will simply have traded one blocked column for another.
Use the free pickup rule to test lines with undoBecause any face-up stack can move regardless of order, it is easy to try a rearrangement, see what it uncovers, and undo it if it does not help. That freedom is the whole compensation for the strict build rule.

Russian Solitaire questions people ask

Is Russian solitaire the same as Yukon solitaire?: No, though they share a deal and a pickup rule. Russian solitaire builds down in the same suit; Yukon builds down in alternating colour, which is a much easier target to hit.
Can you move more than one card at a time in Russian solitaire?: Yes — any face-up card and everything stacked on top of it, whether or not that stack is itself in order. Only the bottom card of the group needs to legally fit the destination.
Does an empty column take any card in Russian solitaire?: No — a King only, or a run headed by one. This is the one place Russian solitaire is stricter than Yukon rather than matching it.
Is Russian solitaire harder than Klondike?: Generally yes. The Yukon-style pickup rule gives you more freedom to move cards, but same-suit building cuts down where anything can actually land, which tends to cancel most of that advantage out.

The rules in six lines

1Deal Yukon's shapeColumn one gets a single face-up card. Each of the other six columns gets a growing number of face-down cards topped with five face-up cards.
2Pick up any face-up card and its stackLift a face-up card together with every card resting on it, in whatever order it happens to be in — the stack does not need to already be a valid run.
3Build down in the same suitA card may only be placed on a card one rank higher of its own suit.
4Only a King fills an empty columnA King, or a same-suit run headed by one, is the only thing an empty column will accept.
5Bank Ace to King by suitFour foundations, one per suit, build up from Ace to King. There is no stock to draw from — every legal move comes from the tableau.
6Win with all 52 cards on the foundationsThe deal is over the moment every card is banked, or the moment no legal move remains.

The long version, with worked examples and the questions beginners actually ask, is on how to play russian solitaire.

Put Russian Solitaire on your own site

The board runs in an iframe with no tracking, no cookies and no sign-up. Paste this wherever you want it. See all the embeddable games for the rest.

<iframe src="https://www.cardgamenook.com/embed/russian-solitaire" width="100%" height="620" style="border:0;border-radius:10px;max-width:900px" title="Russian Solitaire — free online" loading="lazy"></iframe>
<p style="font:14px system-ui;margin:6px 0 0"><a href="https://www.cardgamenook.com/russian-solitaire">Play Russian Solitaire</a> at Card Game Nook</p>