What is Yukon Solitaire?
Yukon is a one player card game played on the same seven column layout as Klondike, except that all 52 cards are dealt out at the start and there is no stock to draw from. With nothing hidden in a deck, reading the table matters far more than luck.
The first column gets one face up card. Columns two to seven get one to six face down cards with five face up cards on top. So 31 cards are visible from the first move and only 21 are hidden. As in Klondike, the goal is to build all four suits from Ace to King on the foundations at the top.
How do you move cards in Yukon?
Pick up any face up card and it carries every card above it, in whatever order they happen to be. It can land on the top card of another column when that card is the opposite color and one rank higher. That single rule is what sets Yukon apart from Klondike.
| Situation | Rule |
|---|---|
| Onto a column | A black 9 takes only a red 8 (♥8 or ♦8). Whatever sits on top of the 8 comes along, even out of order |
| Empty column | Only a King, or a group starting with a King |
| Foundations | One top card at a time, same suit, A, 2, 3 up to K |
| Back from a foundation | The top foundation card may come back down to a column |
| Face down cards | Turn over by themselves when they reach the top of a column |
| Russian variant | Columns build down by the same suit instead of alternating colors |
How is Yukon different from Klondike Solitaire?
Three things change: there is no stock, far more cards start face up, and unsorted groups can be moved. Klondike is about waiting for the right card to turn up from the stock. In Yukon every card is already on the table and the game is about planning the order of your moves.
Free group moves do not make it easy. Dragging piles around without a plan buries face down cards under tangled stacks. Deciding which cards to keep as anchors and which groups to clear first is where the fun is.
Is every Yukon deal winnable here?
Yes. Each time the cards are shuffled, a solver plays the deal through, knowing the face down cards, and you only get deals it has solved. If you get stuck, an earlier move can be improved; the deal itself is fine.
In our tests the solver cracked a little over six in ten random Yukon deals and about one in twenty Russian deals, so a Russian game can take a moment longer to shuffle. The hint button runs the same solver from your current position, and tells you when the position can no longer be won.
What is Russian Solitaire?
Russian Solitaire is the same deal and the same group moves as Yukon, but columns only accept the next lower card of the same suit, which makes it much harder. A ♠9 takes only the ♠8.
With a quarter of the landing spots, every move counts, and when you open the deep columns on the right decides the game. Once Yukon feels comfortable, pick Russian on the title screen. Best records are kept separately for each variant.
Tips for winning Yukon Solitaire
- Work on the deep columns on the right. Column seven hides six face down cards, and the later you open it the tighter the game gets.
- Move the card sitting right on a face down card. Taking it and everything above it in one move turns a hidden card over.
- Empty columns are for Kings. Clear a column when there is a King sitting on face down cards that needs somewhere to go.
- Send Aces and twos home right away. They are almost never needed as anchors. Hold higher cards back until the other color has caught up.
- Use undo and hint. Undo is unlimited, and the hint flashes the first move of a winning line from where you are.
How do the daily deal and records work?
The daily deal changes at midnight Korea time, and everyone who plays that day gets the same layout. Finish it and your time and moves are added to your daily check in.
The clock starts with your first move. Undo counts as a move, so a low move count needs care. Your fastest time and fewest moves for Yukon and Russian are saved in this browser, and Share result makes a result card with a link to the same deal.
Controls
- Drag: grab a face up card and it lifts with the cards above it, casting a shadow. A blue outline shows where it will land.
- Tap: tap a card once and it moves to the foundation or another column if it can.
- Auto finish: once every card is face up and each column is in order, the rest fly to the foundations by themselves.
- Keyboard: ← → or 1 to 7 pick a column, ↑ ↓ pick the card, Enter moves, F sends to the foundation, Z undo, H hint, N new deal, M sound.
Records and sound settings stay in this browser and are never sent to a server. Scoring is time and moves only, with no money or betting involved.