  Empirical rules of solar cycle evolution form important observational
constraints for the solar dynamo theory. This includes the Waldmeier rule
relating the magnitude of a solar cycle to the length of its ascending phase,
and the Gnevyshev--Ohl rule clustering cycles to pairs of an even-numbered
cycle followed by a stronger odd-numbered cycle. These rules were established
as based on the "classical" Wolf sunspot number series, which has been
essentially revisited recently, with several revised sets released by the
research community. Here we test the robustness of these empirical rules for
different sunspot (group) series for the period 1749--1996, using four
classical and revised international sunspot numbers and group sunspot-number
series. We also provide an update of the sunspot group series based on the
active-day fraction (ADF) method, using the new database of solar observations.
We show that the Waldmeier rule is robust and independent of the exact sunspot
(group) series: its classical and $n+1$ (relating the length of $n$-th cycle to
the magnitude of ($n+1$)-th cycle) formulations are significant or highly
significant for all series, while its simplified formulation (relating the
magnitude of a cycle to its full length) is insignificant for all series. The
Gnevyshev--Ohl rule was found robust for all analyzed series for Cycles 8--21,
but unstable across the Dalton minimum and before it.
