How to Play Triple Russian Solitaire

Build up 12 foundation piles one suit at a time from a tableau of 13 piles dealt with varying amounts of face-down cards. The flexible stacking rules let you move groups of cards that aren't in strict order, making creative solutions possible.

Setup

1. Thirteen tableau piles start with a custom dealing pattern: the first nine piles have six face-up cards on top of a face-down stack that grows from 1 to 9 cards, and the last four piles are almost entirely face-down with just one face-up card on top
2. Twelve foundation piles (three for each suit) start empty and are visible on the board
3. There is no separate stock or waste; all cards start in the tableau

How to play

• Look for Aces in the face-up cards to start building foundations
• On the tableau, place cards one rank lower in the exact same suit (a 6 of hearts on a 7 of hearts)
• You can move any group of face-up cards together, even if they're not in order—only the bottom card of the group must fit where it lands
• As face-up cards move away, face-down cards underneath are automatically revealed
• Play cards to the foundations, building up each pile by suit from Ace to King; matching cards move automatically when no other move is possible
• Empty tableau piles can hold only a King

How to win

Objective: Move every card to the foundations, building up from Ace in each suit.

You win when all 156 cards are built into the foundations. You're stuck when no cards can move.

Tips

• Use the flexible stacking rule to unblock buried cards—you don't need perfect order to move groups
• Expose face-down cards aggressively; they might contain the cards you need
• When you have many face-up cards in a pile, look for opportunities to move groups of them together

Play Triple Russian free on Windows

CardTray is a free solitaire app for Windows that includes Triple Russian alongside 300+ other games. It saves every move as you play, so you can close the window and pick the game up later, replay any deal, and take on a new Daily Challenge deal every day. Browse every game in the Game Gallery.

Related games

More games from the Yukon family:

• Brisbane — A variation of Yukon with a staggered deal that lets you build the tableau regardless of suit, making it accessible and strategic.
• Double Russian — A two-deck variant where face-down cards are gradually revealed as you play.
• Dragon — This same-suit cousin of Chinese spreads the whole deck across seven tableau piles right away.
• Moosehide — A Yukon variant where tableau building requires different suits instead of opposite colors, and you can freely move any group of face-up cards together—creating puzzle-like rearrangement challenges.
• Russian — A challenging game where hidden cards drive the strategy and any face-up card can move with its entire fan.