Yukon Solitaire Objective
The goal of Yukon Solitaire is the same as Klondike Solitaire — arrange all of the cards into separate foundation piles, divided by suit and ascending in order from ace to king.
However, Yukon is a much more difficult Solitaire variation because you have no stockpile or waste pile to use, but you still have hidden cards in the tableau that need to be revealed. Organizing cards is also more complex because you can move entire stacks, regardless of whether the cards are in perfect descending order, as long as the top card is one rank lower and the opposite color.
Yukon Solitaire Setup
Similar to how you set up Solitaire, Yukon has two familiar areas for gameplay:
- Tableau: Use the tableau to arrange cards in descending order, alternating in color (red/black). The tableau consists of seven columns of 52 cards, with the first column a single face-up card. The rest of the columns have hidden cards, starting with one facedown card in the second column and increasing until the last column has six facedown cards. All of the columns with hidden cards end with five face-up cards each.
- Foundation piles: The four foundation piles are set up vertically to the left of the tableau. You move cards to foundation piles from the tableau. Begin the foundation piles, which are separated by suit, with an ace and continue building them in ascending order, ending with a king.
Unlike Solitaire, you won’t have a stockpile or waste pile to use when you get stuck.
How to Play Yukon
You win Yukon Solitaire by sorting all the cards into foundation piles in ascending order by suit, and you must follow these rules:
- Arrange cards in descending order and alternating by color. Not only must you sequence cards descending in rank (king to ace), but cards must also alternate red and black. For example, a 10♥ can be placed on a J♣, or a 5♠ can be placed on a 6♦.
- You can move groups of cards even if they’re not in a perfect sequence. The top card of a group or sequence must follow the above rule and be placed on top of a higher ranking, opposite color card. The cards below it move with it, even if they’re not all properly sequenced. For example, the group 7♣-Q♥-6♦ can be placed on top of the 8♦ even though the cards that follow the 7♣ are out of sequence. A proper sequence can also be moved as long as it follows the ranking and color rule. So 9♦-8♣-7♥ can be placed on top of the 10♠.
- Fill empty columns with a king or a group of cards that begins with a king. You can move a single king, a king that is properly sequenced, or a king that begins a group of cards in a column, even if those cards aren’t properly sequenced.
- Facedown cards are flipped over when revealed. When you move a card or group of cards from the top of a facedown card, that card is turned face up.
- Use the undo button to fix mistakes. If you’ve made a few moves and realized you should have taken another path, you can click the undo button to move cards back, allowing you to make a different play.
Yukon Solitaire Strategy
Because the game is so difficult, you must use strategy when you play Yukon Solitaire to avoid getting stuck.
- Plan ahead to make a cascade of moves. Because it’s easy to get stuck and you have no stockpile to bail you out, survey the tableau and see what chain reactions a move will make. You may have several options for movements, but you need to decide which one offers the best outcome.
- Move deep columns of cards to reveal hidden cards. You can move an entire column of cards even if it’s not sequenced properly. So you can reach hidden cards easily by moving the entire group off of hidden cards when possible. By revealing hidden cards, you discover where ranks or colors are that you need and put more cards into play.
- Build long strings of properly sequenced cards. You need to build long sequences of cards in the tableau so that you can easily move them to their foundation piles. Building sequences pulls cards into order and helps reveal hidden cards. And the more cards you get into play and get sequenced, the better chance you have for winning the game.
- Only move aces to foundation piles immediately. The one card you can safely move to foundation piles right away is an ace. While building foundation piles completely wins the game, putting cards in their piles too soon pulls cards out of the tableau that you need. Each card has just two options for building a sequence. For example, a 9♦ can be placed on top of the 10♠ or 10♣. So keep cards in the tableau for sequence building except aces, which can’t be used to build sequences.
- Don’t clear columns unless you have a king. If you move a card out of a column without a king, you’ve wasted a move by playing a card without revealing another playable card. You actually take cards out of play by moving them without revealing another playable card.
If you find the limited movement of Yukon Solitaire too hard, you can practice with Solitaire Turn 3 or Canfield. But if you’re looking for more of a challenge, Russian Solitaire is even more difficult because it plays like Yukon except you must sequence cards by suit. You can enjoy these and other Solitaire games for free on Solitaire Bliss!
