What Is Yukon Solitaire?
Yukon Solitaire is a more strategic alternative to Klondike with one key difference that changes everything: you can move ANY group of face-up cards from one column to another, even if those cards are not in proper sequence with each other. The only requirement is that the bottom card of the group you are moving plays legally onto the destination card. This freedom creates far more move options and makes the game more about deliberate planning than luck.
What You Need
- One standard deck of 52 playing cards
- One player
- A large flat surface
Setting Up the Game
- Deal 7 columns of cards. Column 1 gets 1 card face-up. Column 2 gets 1 card face-down and 1 card face-up. Column 3 gets 2 cards face-down and 1 card face-up. Continue this pattern — each column has one more face-down card than the previous, always with one face-up card on top.
- After this initial deal, deal the remaining cards face-up onto columns 2 through 7: 1 extra face-up card to column 2, 2 to column 3, 3 to column 4, 4 to column 5, 5 to column 6, and 6 to column 7.
- No stock pile — all cards are in the tableau.
- Leave four empty spaces for Foundation piles in the upper right.
How to Play — Step by Step
The Yukon Move Rule
This is what makes Yukon unique. To move cards in the tableau, the BOTTOM card of whatever group you pick up must be one rank lower and the opposite color from the card you are placing it on. The cards ABOVE the bottom card in the group can be anything — in any order, any suits.
Example: if a Black 8 has a Red 3 and a Black King on top of it (face-up), you can pick up all three as a group and place them on a Red 9. The Black 8 plays legally on the Red 9 — the other cards just come along for the ride.
Uncovering Face-Down Cards
When you move all face-up cards off a column, the top face-down card is flipped face-up. Getting to face-down cards quickly is the primary goal.
Foundation Piles
Move Aces to the Foundation immediately. Build each Foundation up in suit order: Ace, 2, 3… King. The game is won when all 52 cards are on the four Foundation piles.
Empty Columns
When an entire column is cleared, only a King — or a group of cards headed by a King — can fill that space.
Winning
Move all 52 cards to the four Foundation piles.
Tips for New Players
- Use the Yukon move rule aggressively — pick up and move groups of face-up cards to expose face-down cards, even if the group is disorganized.
- Focus on columns with the most face-down cards — uncovering those buried cards opens up the most new options.
- Empty columns are very powerful — wait for the right King sequence to fill them rather than rushing.