The rules of Russian Solitaire

Setup

A deck of 52 cards, without jokers, is shuffled and dealt in full into 7 columns of 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 cards. The first column has a single face-up card. The other six columns start with 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 face-down cards respectively (one more in each successive column), followed by 5 face-up cards on top. In total: 21 face-down cards and 31 face-up cards. There is neither a stock nor a waste pile. The 4 foundations are empty.

Allowed moves

• Onto a column: a card can be placed on the last card of a column if that card is face up, of the same suit and exactly one rank higher. The 7 of hearts goes onto the 8 of hearts, never onto the 8 of diamonds or a black 8. This is the only difference from Yukon, where red and black alternate. In the app, the rule is called “Same color”; the rejection message says “same family.”
• A group, even out of sequence: the rule inherited from Yukon. You take any face-up card from a column along with all the cards above it, whether or not they are in sequence. Only the bottom card of the group must fit the destination column. For example, move 3 of the game on the Examples page moves the group 3♣, 7♦, A♠, 4♠, 10♥.
• A hidden card that is uncovered turns over by itself and becomes playable.

Ranks run from ace (lowest) to king: ace, 2 through 10, jack, queen, king.

The empty column

An empty column accepts only a king, alone or with the cards above it. No other group can go there, even to uncover a face-down card: the Examples page shows this rejection in an actual game.

The foundations

Each foundation takes a single suit: the ace first, then the 2, the 3 and so on up to the king, one card at a time, taken from the end of a column. In the app, each suit has a fixed place (spades, hearts, diamonds, clubs); when you drag a card, the app finds the correct foundation automatically.

The end of the game

The game is won when all 52 cards are on the foundations. The app does not declare a loss: when no useful moves remain, you undo moves or start a new game.

Relaxed rules

The New Game window offers two rule sets. Classic, selected by default, is the one described above. Under Relaxed rules (“Mixed colors” in the app), suits no longer matter in the columns: a card can go onto any card exactly one rank higher, regardless of suit. The deal, groups, empty-column rule, foundations and scoring remain unchanged. The game code records the rules: the same deal is written with a C for Classic and an R for Relaxed.

What the app adds

These points are specific to the Russian Solitaire app; other versions of the game score differently.

• No automatic moves: no card moves to the foundations on its own, and the game does not finish itself. Tapping the last card in a column sends it to its foundation when possible; two quick taps (the “Double click” setting, enabled by default) then look for a place on the tableau for the card and the cards above it (the longest column first, then an empty column for a king). You can also drag cards.
• Groups of at most 20 cards: the app refuses to move a larger group in a single move.
• Taking a card back from a foundation: the top card of a foundation can be dragged back onto a column without losing points; placing it on its foundation again earns another 10 points.
• Undo: the last 100 moves; undoing restores the cards, their face-up or face-down state and the score, but the move counter does not decrease.
• Assistance: “Placement help” shows possible destinations while dragging, and “Interactive rules” displays the rule when a move is rejected (both are enabled by default); “Auto placement” (disabled by default) chooses the destination column when you release the card.
• Game code: each deal has a code (for example RU1-C-AAAAABB) that reproduces it exactly, including its rules. See the FAQ.

Scoring in the app

The score starts at 0 and never falls below 0. A game won without taking cards back from foundations always ends with 625 points: 52 × 10 for cards placed on foundations, plus 21 × 5 for cards turned face up. The game bar also shows the time, move count and game code.