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Card games in Russia

This page is part of the National and Regional Card Games Index of the Card Games Web Site.

French suited cards are in general use. In the characteristic Russian design the ace, king, queen and jack have indices , , , (standing for Tuz, Korol', Dama, Valet). The names of the suits are trefy or cresty (clubs), bubi or bubny (diamonds), chervi (hearts) and piki (spades).

The national game is Durak, which is known to almost any Russian who has ever played cards and has numerous variations and relatives, such as Perevodnoy Durak, Prostoy Durak and Svoi Kozyri. Durak is normally placed with a 36 card pack with cards from ace down to six.

Among more serious card players Preferans is popular - it is played with a 32 card pack, lacking sixes. Other characteristic Russian games with the 36 card pack include Bura, Koroli and King - also known as Zhenskiy Preferans ("Women's Preference"). Tysiacha (1000) uses 24 cards (ace down to 9 only).

Russia has its own versions of international children's games such as Verish' ne Verish' ("trust - don't trust", a version of I Doubt It) and P'yanitsa ("drunkard", a version of War).

501 is a variation of 500 Rum with somewhat relaxed rules. Players may rearrange their melds, causing other players' cards that have been laid off on those melds to be returned to their hands. 101 is a Russian variation of Crazy Eights.

In nineteenth century Russia some of the forerunners and relatives of Contract Bridge - especially Vint - were developed to a high level of complexity, but after the revolution these bourgeois games went out of favour and practically ceased to exist in Soviet Russia.

The World Casino Directory includes a listing of Casinos in Russia.