Yukon Solitaire

How to play Yukon Solitaire

Yukon is a close cousin of Klondike, the solitaire most people know. The goal is the same: build four piles, one for each suit, from Ace up to King. But in Yukon every card is dealt at the start, there's no stock to turn, and you can move whole groups of cards at once, even when they aren't in order. That one rule makes it a game of planning rather than luck.

The deal

The cards are dealt into seven columns. The first column has a single card, face up. Each of the other six has some cards face down (one in the second column, two in the third, and so on, up to six) with five cards face up on top. The four spaces at the top right are for the suit piles, called foundations.

Moving cards

Any face-up card can move, together with every card on top of it. Tap the card to pick up the group (it lights up), then tap where it should go.
The card you pick up must go on a card one higher and of the other color: a red 8 on a black 9, for example. The cards on top of it come along, whatever they are.
When you move the last face-up card off a face-down one, the face-down card turns over by itself.
Only a King, with whatever is on top of it, can go into an empty column.
Cards go up to the foundations one at a time, starting with the Aces. Tap a card twice to send it to the best place, often its foundation.

Winning

You win when all 52 cards are on the foundations. Once every card is face up and the rest can simply go up in order, a Finish the game button appears and plays them up for you.

Tips

Dig into the tallest piles of face-down cards first. The sixth and seventh columns hide the most cards, and those cards are often the ones you need.
Use the group move to reach buried cards. If an Ace or a 2 is hidden in the middle of a column, look for a card above it that can move somewhere, taking everything on top along with it.
Plan two or three moves ahead. Often one move does nothing by itself but makes room for the next. That's exactly what the Hint button looks for.
Save empty columns for Kings that are covering face-down cards. Moving such a King (and its group) into the space turns over a new card.
Don't rush cards up to the foundations. A 5 on its foundation can't hold a 4 in the columns any more. Send low cards up freely, and higher ones when nothing still needs them.

Questions

How is Yukon different from Klondike?

In Klondike, part of the deck waits in a stock that you turn over, and only cards in order can move as a group. In Yukon there's no stock, and any face-up card can move with whatever is on top of it. Klondike asks for luck with the stock; Yukon asks you to find the right order of moves.

Can every game be won?

Not every deal, even with good play. In our tests, simply following the Hint button won about half of all deals, and looking further ahead won more, so careful planning pays.

What does the Hint button do?

It suggests a move, with the cards that would go along with it. If no single move helps right away, it looks several moves ahead for the quickest way to turn over a face-down card or send a card up, and suggests the first step. It only uses cards you can see, never the face-down ones.

Where does the name come from?

Like Klondike, Yukon is named after the far northwest of Canada, where the Klondike gold rush took place in the late 1890s.

Can I take back a move?

Yes. Undo takes back your moves one at a time, so you can try a different plan. Your game saves itself after every move.

What is the deal number?

Every deal has a number, and the same number always deals the same cards. Share the link to play the same game as a friend, or try today's deal, which is the same for everyone.