The Imperiia Project: a spatial history of the Russian Empire

Play: The Game of Patience

The game of patience has a history dating back to the 18th century. It became wildly popular in the 19th, with dozens - if not hundreds - of variations proliferating across Europe. 

No matter when or where it is played, patience involves the sorting of cards from a shuffled deck - sometimes by suit, sometimes by value, and sometimes according to some other organizing principle. In other words, it is a game that challenges the player to create order from disorder. 

Ready to play?

The bad news is that in order to play, you need to read Russian. The good news is that if you win, you will have learned a crucial - and often overlooked - truth about how Russian space was understood.

To win, you must study the cards, discover the key to sorting them into order, and record the message hidden in the cards. In the spirit of sharing, we highly recommend that you translate the message into English and then attempt to impress your friends with your hard-won knowledge.

To play, go to the card collection. (Spoiler alert: the solution is not an alphabetical sorting.) Start looking. And thinking. And sorting. You can do it.

Note: There is only one solution to this game.

Ready for the solution?

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