Yukon Solitaire looks like Klondike at first glance — seven tableau columns, four foundations, alternating-color descending stacks. The difference is in one rule that changes everything: in Yukon you can move any face-up card, and all the face-up cards on top of it move with it as a group, regardless of whether they form a valid sequence. That single change turns Yukon Solitaire into one of the most strategically rich solitaire variants you can play.
What is Yukon Solitaire?
Yukon Solitaire is a single-player card game played with a standard 52-card deck. Like Klondike, it uses seven tableau columns and four foundations — one per suit — that you build from Ace up to King. Unlike Klondike, there is no stock and no waste pile. Every card is dealt to the tableau at the start, with later cards dealt face-up on top of the base Klondike layout.
The defining Yukon rule is the moving stack rule: you can move any face-up card, and all face-up cards on top of it move along as a unit — even if they don't form a valid alternating-color descending sequence. The only restriction on where you can place the stack is that the bottom card of the moving group must be one rank lower and opposite color to the card it's placed on. Kings (or groups starting with a King) go into empty columns.
This rule makes Yukon Solitaire significantly more winnable than Klondike. With optimal play, experienced players win around 70% of deals. All the information is visible from the start, since every card is dealt face-up (except the base face-down cards in each column), so Yukon rewards careful analysis more than card-luck.
How to play Yukon Solitaire
Step 1 — Understand the deal
Column 0 gets one face-up card. Columns 1 through 6 each get a base of face-down cards (increasing by column) with one face-up card on top — just like Klondike — and then four additional face-up cards are dealt on top of each of those columns. All 52 cards are on the tableau; there is no stock.
Step 2 — Move face-up cards to uncover face-down cards
Your primary objective in the opening is to flip face-down cards. Every face-down card is hidden information — move face-up groups off the columns that have face-down cards underneath to expose and automatically flip them. This is the same priority as Klondike but more achievable in Yukon because you can move groups freely.
Step 3 — Move groups regardless of their internal order
In Yukon Solitaire, a group of face-up cards moves together as a unit if the bottom card fits on the destination. The group doesn't need to be a valid alternating sequence internally — only the bottom card of the group needs to match (opposite color, one rank lower). Use this to rescue useful cards buried under disordered face-up stacks.
Step 4 — Build foundations Ace to King by suit
The four foundations — one per suit — are built from Ace upward. Send Aces immediately. After Aces, be selective: a card on the foundation is no longer available to receive tableau moves. Make sure you won't need a card as a receiver before sending it up.
Step 5 — Use empty columns strategically
When a tableau column is fully cleared, only a King (or a group starting with a King) can move into it. Empty columns are the most powerful resource in Yukon Solitaire — they let you reorganize stacks and unblock face-down cards. Creating an empty column is often more valuable than any individual card play.
Step 6 — Plan multi-step sequences
Because all cards are visible, you can plan three or four moves ahead. Before moving a group, trace the cascading consequences: does this expose a card you need immediately? Does it block a column that was about to become empty? Yukon rewards players who think two moves ahead rather than one.
The Yukon Solitaire play area
Yukon Solitaire's board has two main areas. The seven tableau columns fill most of the screen — they hold all 52 cards, with varying combinations of face-down (covered) cards at the bottom and multiple face-up cards stacked on top. The four foundation piles sit in the upper-right corner, one per suit, building from Ace to King.
There is no stock and no waste pile. This is the most visually distinct difference from Klondike — the entire board is the tableau, and the game is won or lost purely through how you manage the seven columns. When a column is cleared, the empty slot appears immediately and accepts any King-led group.
Face-down cards are shown as card backs; face-up cards are fully visible. When you move the last face-up card off a column (exposing a face-down card), that card automatically flips face-up, just as in Klondike. The Mr. Solitaire board allows dragging groups of face-up cards to valid targets, with the group shown moving together in the drag overlay.
Available moves in Yukon Solitaire
Yukon Solitaire's move vocabulary is simple but powerful.
Move a face-up card or group to another tableau column. The bottom card of the moving group must be one rank lower and opposite color to the target card. Any face-up cards above the bottom card travel with it, even if they form no valid sequence. Kings (and groups beginning with a King) move into empty columns.
Move a single face-up card to a foundation. Standard foundation rules: must match the suit, must be exactly one rank above the current foundation top (Ace starts each foundation). Only single cards go to foundations — you can't move a group there.
There are no draws, no stock actions, and no redeals in Yukon Solitaire. Every move is a tableau-to-tableau or tableau-to-foundation operation. The game is over when either all foundations are complete (you win) or no legal moves remain and the foundations aren't complete (you lose).
Yukon Solitaire strategy
Flip face-down cards first
Every face-down card is a hidden option. On each turn, ask whether there is any move that exposes a face-down card. If there is, strongly prefer it over any move that doesn't. Face-down cards in deep columns (columns 5 and 6 with four face-down cards each) should be your first priority in the opening.
Use the group-move rule to rescue key cards
In Klondike, a useful card buried under a disordered pile is often stranded until you clear everything above it one by one. In Yukon, you can pick up the entire face-up group and put it somewhere else, immediately accessing the card below. Scan the tableau for useful cards — Aces, 2s, Kings — buried under accessible face-up groups and move the group rather than waiting.
Don't rush empty columns
An empty column is worth having, but creating one at the wrong time can strand useful Kings in the wrong position. Before emptying a column, identify which King (or King-led group) you want to move into it. If the right King is inaccessible or already placed well, wait until the situation improves before clearing the column.
Think about foundation timing
In Yukon, every card on a foundation is one fewer card available to receive tableau moves. A 7 on the foundation can't be used as a receiver for a 6 in the tableau. Hold back cards that are actively useful in the tableau — especially mid-rank cards during the opening. Send up Aces and 2s immediately; think carefully about everything above a 4.
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Odds of winning Yukon Solitaire
Yukon Solitaire has one of the highest win rates among complex solitaire variants. Published analyses and simulation results consistently place the win rate for careful players at 70–75% across random deals. This is substantially higher than Klondike (40–50% with Turn 1, much lower without undo) and reflects the complete information visible on the board from the start.
The main cause of losses in Yukon is columnar deadlock: a situation where every face-up group in the tableau has no legal destination, face-down cards can't be exposed, and no foundation moves are available. This typically occurs when all four suits are mid-build but the tableau is arranged so that every placing candidate is sitting on a card of the same color.
Interestingly, the group-move rule doesn't help in deadlock situations — it actually makes them more complex, because moving a group to a new location can block the route to a different face-down card. The best prevention is consistent attention to face-down card exposure across all seven columns rather than focusing on building a single clean sequence.
History of Yukon Solitaire
Yukon Solitaire takes its name from Yukon Territory in northern Canada — the same geographic region that lent its name to the Klondike Gold Rush. The game appears to have developed as a deliberate variation on Klondike, introducing the group-move rule to make the game more completable and more strategically interesting.
The earliest documented references appear in mid-twentieth century card game collections under the name "Yukon." British card game reference books from the 1950s and 1960s list it as a distinct variant of Klondike. The connection to Klondike is direct: Yukon uses the identical initial deal and foundation rules, with only the movement rule changed.
Yukon Solitaire gained wider recognition through online solitaire collections in the late 1990s and 2000s. Because it's not included in Microsoft's default solitaire collection, it remained a niche variant until web-based solitaire catalogs started including it alongside Spider, FreeCell, and TriPeaks. Its significantly higher win rate compared to Klondike makes it a common recommendation for players who find Klondike frustrating.
Frequently asked questions
What is Yukon Solitaire?
- Yukon Solitaire is a single-player card game that plays like Klondike with one key difference: you can move any face-up card onto a valid tableau target, and all face-up cards on top of it come along, regardless of their internal order. There is no stock — all 52 cards are dealt to the seven-column tableau at the start.
How is Yukon Solitaire different from Klondike?
- Three main differences: (1) There is no stock pile — all 52 cards are dealt to the tableau at the start. (2) You can move any face-up card as the bottom of a moving group, with all face-up cards above it moving along, even if they don't form a valid sequence. (3) Win rates are much higher — around 70% for careful players versus 30–50% for Klondike.
Can you move any face-up card in Yukon Solitaire?
- Yes — that's the defining rule. Any face-up card in the tableau can be picked up and moved to a valid destination (a card that is opposite color and one rank higher), and every face-up card stacked on top of it comes along as a group. The group doesn't need to be in valid sequence internally. Only the bottom card of the group needs to match the destination.
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