How to play Yukon
Yukon is a close cousin of Klondike with one big difference: there is no stock. All 52 cards are dealt into seven columns at the start, so everything you need is already on the table.
Build the four foundations up from Ace to King by suit. The twist that makes Yukon special: you can pick up any face-up card, together with everything on top of it, even if those cards are not in order.
Rules
- Seven columns are dealt with 1, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 cards. The first column is a single face-up card; in the others, the bottom 1 to 6 cards are face down and the top five are face up.
- In the columns, build down in alternating colours: a red 9 goes on a black 10.
- You can move any face-up card along with every card on top of it, whether or not those cards are in sequence. Only the card you grab has to fit.
- Only a King (with whatever is on it) can go into an empty column.
- When a face-down card is uncovered it turns over. Move all 52 cards to the foundations to win.
- Russian rules are the same deal and moves, but you build down in the same suit instead of alternating colours — noticeably harder.
- Scoring borrows Klondike’s: +10 for a card to a foundation, +5 for turning a card face up, −15 for taking one back off a foundation.
Controls
- Drag
- Move a card and everything on top of it
- Click / tap a card
- Send it (and the cards on it) to the best spot
- ← → ↑ ↓, Enter
- Pick a column and how deep to grab from the keyboard, then move it
- U / Ctrl+Z
- Undo
- A
- Auto-finish once every card is face up and the rest plays itself
- N
- New deal
- R
- Toggle Russian rules (starts a new deal)
Tips
- Look at the face-down cards first: the columns with the most hidden cards need the most attention.
- Because you can move unordered stacks, a card in the middle of a column is not stuck — think of what you can put it on, not what is on top of it.
- Clear a column only when you have a King worth moving into it.
- Get the aces and twos out early; low cards buried under long stacks are what lose Yukon games.
Yukon strategy
Find each column’s key card
To reach a face-down card you have to move the face-up card lying directly on it, with everything above. That card is the key to its column. It needs a home one rank higher in the other colour, or in the same suit in Russian, or an empty column if it is a King. At the start, look at the six key cards and note which homes are already showing. Open those columns first.
Use the single-card column
The first column holds just one card. If it can go to a foundation or onto another column, you have an empty column after one move. Keep that space for a King that sits on face-down cards, since Kings can only move into empty columns. Moving a King that already heads a column gains nothing, so save the space for the one that is blocking something.
Don’t bury the low cards
Moving a big unordered stack is easy in Yukon, and that is the trap. Every stack you drop lands on top of whatever its target column holds. If that column has an Ace or a 2 further down, you have just put five or ten more cards over it. Before a large move, check what lies under the target card, and prefer columns that hold nothing you need soon.
Russian gives each card one home
Under Russian rules a card can only build on the one card of its own suit one rank higher, where classic Yukon offers two cards of the other colour. That halves your options, so plan suit by suit. Watch for a key card whose only home lies beneath it in the same column: building can never open that column, and the foundations have to reach it instead.
About Yukon
Yukon belongs to the Klondike family of patience games and is named, like Klondike, after the Canadian gold-rush country. It has been a staple of solitaire collections for decades, prized because there is no stock to luck into: the whole deck is dealt face up or face down from the first move, so a lost game is usually a planning mistake.
Russian Solitaire uses the same deal and the same freedom to move unordered stacks but makes you build in suit, which turns a friendly game into a hard one. This version offers both, with unlimited undo, tap-to-move, auto-finish and separate stats for each.
Questions
How is Yukon different from Klondike Solitaire?
There is no stock or waste: all 52 cards are dealt at the start. And you can move any face-up card together with everything on top of it, even if those cards are not in sequence.
What is Russian Solitaire?
The same game as Yukon, but cards in the columns are built down in the same suit rather than in alternating colours. Press R or use the Russian button to play it.
Can I undo in Yukon?
Yes, as many times as you like: press U or Ctrl+Z.
Is every Yukon deal winnable?
No. Many deals can be won with careful play, but not all of them. Undo lets you test a line of play and back out of it, and your win rate is tracked separately for Yukon and Russian rules.