Yukon

How to play Yukon

Yukon deals the entire deck at the start: one face-up card in the first column, and each later column gets one more face-down card than the last, topped with five face-up cards. Your goal is the classic one — four foundations built Ace to King in suit. On the board you may pick up any face-up card together with everything stacked on it, ordered or not, and set the group down where its bottom card lands on a card one rank higher of the opposite color. Only a King-led group may take an empty column.

Tap a card to send it to its best home — foundation first — or drag a group yourself. Once every column is face-up and sorted, an auto-finish button plays out the rest. Undo is unlimited.

Strategy tips

• Face-down cards are the whole game. Twenty-one cards start hidden, stacked deepest on the right — favor moves that flip one over almost any other move, and work on the tall columns early.
• Moving a messy clump is often right. Unlike Klondike you don't need tidy runs — dumping five unordered cards onto a safe parking spot to free the card underneath is standard technique, not desperation.
• Mind what you bury. The lift rule giveth and the placement rule taketh away: once a card has junk on it, freeing it again needs a legal landing spot for that junk. Check the exit before you park.
• Don't spend empty columns on the first King you see. A column is the most flexible space on the board — fill it with the King whose suit unblocks the most face-down cards.
• Delay foundation plays you can't take back. A low card sent up early (especially a 3 or 4) may be needed as a landing spot to excavate its neighbors.

Yukon vs. Klondike

Yukon is usually described as Klondike without a stock: the same foundations, the same alternating-color building, but every card dealt to the board and a far looser lifting rule. That trade makes it a purer excavation puzzle — nothing is hidden in a draw pile, so every loss is on the plan, not the deal. If you enjoy the lift-anything rule taken to its extreme, try Scorpion, which keeps the messy lifts but demands strict in-suit building.

Frequently asked questions

How do you win Yukon Solitaire?

Build all four foundations from Ace to King in suit, exactly like Klondike. The difference is how you get there: all 52 cards are dealt at the start — there is no stock to draw from — and you dig cards out by moving whole face-up clumps between the seven columns.

Can I move cards that aren't in sequence?

Yes. Any face-up card can be picked up together with every card sitting on top of it, in order or not. The only rule is about where it lands: the bottom card of the moving group must go onto a card one rank higher of the opposite color, or a King-led group onto an empty column.

How is Yukon different from Klondike?

Two ways. First, there's no stock — every card is on the board from the start, with 21 of them face-down. Second, you may move any face-up group regardless of order, where Klondike only moves tidy alternating-color runs. The building and foundation rules are otherwise identical, which makes Yukon feel like Klondike with the training wheels off.

How is Yukon different from Scorpion?

Both share the 'lift anything face-up' rule, but they aim at different targets. Scorpion builds King-to-Ace runs in suit directly on the tableau and places only onto the same suit; Yukon places onto the opposite color and sends cards off to Ace-to-King foundations. Yukon is the more forgiving of the two.

Are most Yukon deals winnable?

Yes — with careful play the large majority of deals can be won. Losses usually trace to burying a needed card under a clump you can't legally lift back off, or spending an empty column on the wrong King. Unlimited undo lets you walk back a bad excavation.

Do I need an account to save my stats?

No. Games played, win rate, streaks and best times are stored in your browser on this device. Nothing is uploaded and there is nothing to sign up for.