Playable solitaire
Yukon
Yukon looks like Klondike’s seven-column cousin but plays very differently: there is no stock and no waste. After the deal, every remaining card is already on the tableau — mostly face-up in thick stacks. You may pick up any face-up card and move it together with everything piled on top of it, even if that pile is not a legal alternating sequence. The destination still must follow Klondike-style rules: place onto a next-higher opposite-color card, or put a King into an empty column. Foundations build Ace to King by suit.
That “messy stack move” rule is Yukon’s signature. You rearrange buried face-up cards by sliding whole chunks, flip the few face-down cards when exposed, and work everything home without waiting on a stock. Auto finish is available when the board is ready.
How to play Yukon
- Build foundations up by suit from Ace to King.
- Build tableau targets down by alternating color (same placement rule as Klondike).
- Move any face-up card plus all cards above it as one unit — the moved cards need not be in order among themselves.
- Empty columns accept Kings only (or King-led moved stacks whose bottom card is a King).
- Flip newly exposed face-down cards and continue until foundations are complete.
- Use Undo anytime; Auto finish when offered.
Setup
Classic Yukon deal (52 cards, no stock):
- Column 1: 1 face-up card.
- Columns 2–7: Klondike-style base (face-down under a face-up top), then four extra face-up cards on each of columns 2–7.
- Foundations: four empty suit piles.
- Stock / waste: none.
Rules
- One deck; no stock draws or redeals.
- Foundations: Ace → King by suit.
- Tableau placement: descending, alternating color; Kings on empty columns.
- You may move a face-up card with any cards above it (disordered stacks allowed).
- Win when all 52 cards are on foundations.
Strategy
Yukon is about liberation. Face-down cards are few but critical; face-up buried cards can be excavated by moving the stack that sits on them — if you have a legal landing spot for the bottom card of that move.
- Hunt face-down cards — each flip expands your options permanently.
- Don’t fear messy stacks — legality is checked at the destination bottom card, not inside the moving pile.
- Empty columns are King gates — opening one without a King can stall you.
- Build foundations when it frees a key mover, not only when a card “can” go up.
- Keep color flexibility so large chunks still have landing sites.
- Use Undo to try heroic stack shifts that might unblock an Ace.
Short prose: imagine picking up a slice of the column from any face-up depth. If that slice’s bottom card fits the target, the whole slice comes along — chaos on top is fine. That single idea separates Yukon from Klondike.
FAQ
Is there a stock?
No. Yukon deals the whole deck onto the tableau.
Can I move cards that aren’t in sequence?
Yes. The cards above your chosen face-up card move with it even if disordered. The destination must still accept the bottom card of the moving bunch (alternating color, one rank lower — or empty column for a King).
How is Yukon different from Klondike?
No stock, thicker face-up piles, and freer stack moves. Foundations and empty-column King rules feel familiar; mobility does not.
Does Auto finish work?
Yes, when remaining cards can safely complete on the foundations.
Can I undo?
Yes.
Trivia
Yukon is often grouped with Russian Solitaire and related “build and shift” Patience games from the twentieth century. The no-stock deal and permissive stack moves create a wide-open tactical feel that Klondike players find refreshing — less waiting on the waste, more sculpting the board.
Digital Yukon keeps the same romance as the name: a northern cousin of Klondike where everything is already on the table and skill is in how you lift and restack.