Yukon Solitaire looks like Klondike at first glance but plays like a very different animal: there is no stock, no waste, and no flipping three cards hoping for a save. Every card is on the table from move one, which means every game is a puzzle you can actually solve with thought rather than luck – if you know what to look for.
This guide walks through the full rules, the unusual group-move mechanic that sets Yukon apart, a practical strategy to raise your win rate, and the most popular variants you will meet in modern solitaire apps.
What Yukon Solitaire Is
Yukon is a patience game played with a single 52-card deck. You win by building the four foundation piles up in suit from Ace to King. The twist is in the tableau: you can move any face-up card to a valid spot, and every card sitting on top of it tags along for the ride – even if those cards are in a messy, out-of-order jumble.
Because there is no stockpile to refill the tableau, Yukon rewards planning and punishes reflex play. It is usually classed as more difficult than Klondike but more winnable than Spider for beginners, which is why it has stayed a staple on desktop and mobile solitaire collections for decades.
How Yukon Differs From Klondike
- No stock or waste pile. All 52 cards are dealt to the tableau at the start.
- Group moves ignore order. In Klondike, the cards you move together must already form a descending alternating-colour sequence. In Yukon, only the bottom card of the moving group needs to land on a legal target.
- More face-up information. Yukon starts with far more face-up cards visible, so the puzzle is closer to open information.
Setup and Deal
Use a standard 52-card deck, shuffled. Deal seven tableau columns from left to right. The first column gets one card, the second six cards, the third seven, the fourth eight, the fifth nine, the sixth ten, and the seventh eleven. That uses all 52 cards.
In each column, the top card is face up. Then deal four additional face-up cards on top of every column except the first, so each column from the second onward shows five face-up cards and hides the rest face down. Leave space above the tableau for four foundation piles, which start empty.
Quick Setup Checklist
- 7 columns, sizes 1-6-7-8-9-10-11
- 5 cards face up on columns 2 through 7, 1 card face up on column 1
- 4 empty foundations above the tableau
- No stock, no waste
How to Play – The Core Rules
Building the Foundations
Foundations are built up in suit, starting with the Ace and finishing with the King. Move Aces up as soon as you see them, then 2s on top of the matching Aces, and so on. Once a card is on a foundation it normally stays there, though most apps let you pull a foundation card back into the tableau if you need it for a manoeuvre.
Building the Tableau
On the tableau you build downward in alternating colours. A red 7 goes on a black 8, a black 6 goes on a red 7, and so on. An empty column can only be filled by a King, or by a group of cards whose bottom card is a King.
The Yukon Group-Move Rule
This is the rule that makes Yukon feel different from every other solitaire. You can pick up any face-up card and move it to a legal target, and every card stacked on top of it moves with it as a unit. Those stacked cards do not have to be in any particular order, suit, or colour.
For example, you may move a red 9 onto a black 10 even if the red 9 has a random 3, Jack, 7 and 4 sitting on top of it. All of those cards travel along. The only requirement is that the card you pick up lands legally on the target card.
Turning Cards Face Up
Whenever a face-down card becomes the new top of a column, flip it immediately. It is then available for play just like any other face-up card.
Winning Yukon Solitaire
You win when all 52 cards have migrated to the four foundations in ascending suit order from Ace to King. There is no draw and no redeal, so if you run out of legal moves before finishing, the game is lost.
Reported win rates vary widely depending on whether the player uses undo. With perfect play and unlimited undo, most computer-dealt Yukon games are solvable; skilled human players without undo typically land in the 30–45 percent range. That is higher than Freecell-free Spider but noticeably lower than Klondike with three-card draw.
Strategy That Actually Moves the Needle
1. Expose Face-Down Cards Before Anything Else
Every face-down card is hidden information in an otherwise open puzzle. The earlier you flip them, the better your decisions become. Given a choice between a move that frees a foundation card and a move that uncovers a face-down card, the uncovering move is usually stronger – especially in the first half of the game.
2. Don’t Rush Aces and Twos Onto the Foundation
Yukon’s group-move mechanic means low cards buried under a messy pile are often useful levers. An Ace stuck on top of four face-down cards should still go to the foundation immediately, but a 2 or 3 that is currently the base of a long relocatable stack might be more valuable staying put for another turn or two.
3. Treat Empty Columns Like Currency
An empty column is Yukon’s most flexible resource, but the rules say only a King (or a King-headed group) can fill it. Emptying a column you cannot immediately refill with a King is usually a mistake, because you lose the ability to dump an awkward group there later. Plan the refill before you commit to the move.
4. Plan Moves Backwards From the Hidden Cards
Look at each column with face-down cards and ask: what single move would expose the next one? Then work backwards. Often the answer involves moving a group out of the way by using the Yukon group-move rule on a messy stack, which is exactly the kind of play Klondike instincts will miss.
5. Use Colour Balance When You Have a Choice
If you can move a 7 onto either an 8 of clubs or an 8 of spades, the right choice depends on which red 6 and red 8 you still need to place later. Keeping both colour paths open for future cards is a small edge that adds up across a game.
Popular Yukon Variants
Russian Solitaire
Identical layout and group-move rule, but tableau building is by suit instead of alternating colour. It is significantly harder than Yukon and usually considered one of the toughest single-deck patience games that is still winnable.
Alaska
Same layout as Yukon, but tableau building is by suit and can go either up or down. Direction changes mid-sequence are not allowed, so once a run starts descending it keeps descending. It sits between Yukon and Russian Solitaire in difficulty.
Moosehide
A Yukon variant where tableau building is by different suit, adding a small constraint that changes the feel more than the difficulty.
Double Yukon
Played with two decks and a larger tableau. The extra cards make winning less about hidden-card luck and more about long-range sequence planning. It is a good step up once standard Yukon feels routine.
Where Canadians Can Play Yukon Solitaire Online
Yukon is widely available for free on desktop and mobile. Popular options include Solitaired, 247 Solitaire, Solitaire Bliss, and MobilityWare’s Solitaire app, all of which offer Yukon as a built-in variant. For offline play, any standard 52-card deck works – no jokers required. The game’s namesake territory makes it a natural fit for a quiet Canadian evening, which is probably not a coincidence given its name.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is Yukon Solitaire harder than Klondike?
Generally yes. Yukon has no stock or redeal, so you cannot stall for a lucky draw. On the other hand, the group-move rule and the large number of face-up cards give skilled players more levers to pull, so experienced Yukon players often win at similar rates to Klondike single-draw.
Can I move any card to any column in Yukon?
Only legally. The card you pick up must land on a face-up card of the opposite colour and one rank higher, or it must be a King placed into an empty column. The cards piggybacking on top of it can be anything.
What happens if I run out of moves?
The game ends and is scored as a loss. Yukon has no stock to draw from, so when no legal moves remain there is nothing left to do.
Do I have to flip every face-down card the moment it’s exposed?
Yes. As soon as a face-down card becomes the top of a column, flip it. It then joins the pool of playable cards like any other face-up card.
Is Yukon Solitaire always winnable?
No. A meaningful percentage of random Yukon deals have no winning solution regardless of play. Exact figures depend on the dealer’s randomness and whether undo is counted, but you should expect to lose a fair share of games even with strong strategy – that is part of the charm.
Final Thoughts
Yukon Solitaire rewards the kind of patient, many-steps-ahead thinking that Klondike only pretends to require. Once the group-move rule clicks, you start seeing the tableau as a set of nested problems rather than a single downward cascade, and that is when Yukon turns from frustrating to genuinely satisfying. Deal a game tonight, commit to uncovering face-down cards first, and see how the habit reshapes your instincts.