Yukon Solitaire

Yukon Solitaire

Yukon Solitaire is a solitaire card game similar to Klondike Solitaire but played without a stock pile.

How to play Yukon Solitaire

Game Basics

Similar to Klondike Solitaire, the goal of Yukon Solitaire is to end up with the cards all sorted by suit in 4 foundation piles starting with Aces, then Deuces and on up to the Kings.

The Deal

Yukon solitaire uses a 52-card deck, so the Jokers are removed. All the cards are dealt at the beginning of the game. There are 7 individual columns with the deal beginning on the left and following to the right. The first card dealt is placed face up. The next 6 cards for the individual columns are dealt face down.

Skipping the face up card on the left, the next pass turns the card face up in the 2nd column and then the next 5 cards in their individual columns are dealt face down. With each pass, the column that has a card face up is skipped and the next one has the card placed face up.

When all the columns have a card facing up, the remaining cards are dealt face up to each column with the exception of the lone card on the left. If the deal is done correctly, there will be 5 cards facing up on top of each of columns 2-7, the 1st column having only the one card. When you begin play in this Yukon Solitaire game, the dealing will already be done for you.

Game Play

Cards are moved among the columns by placing an individual card or a group of cards below a card of a different suit and having a value 1 greater than the card placed on it.

For example, a group of cards consisting of the 4-Clubs, 7-Spades, and the 10-Diamonds with the 4-Clubs being the top card could be placed on a 5 in another column as long as it is a heart, spade, or diamond. The 4-Clubs could not be placed on the 5-Clubs.

If a card selected for a move has other cards below it, they must remain in that same order and be moved with the selected card. The determining factor in where the cards can be placed is the suit and value of the top card.

The goal is to reveal facedown cards, uncover Aces to move to the foundation pile, and strategically place cards so that lower cards are as accessible as possible. Game play is a bit more complicated than in Klondike Solitaire and requires thinking carefully about strategic moves.

Winning the Game

The game is won if all cards end up in the foundation piles beginning with the Aces, Deuces, Threes, Fours, etc. on up to the Kings sorted by suit. The game ends when it is won or when no more plays can be made, constituting a loss.

Strategy and Rules

Yukon Solitaire is challenging when compared to other solitaire games because it is more limiting on the movements that can be made. There is no holding area as in some solitaire games where cards can be temporarily placed to make game play easier.

Similar to Klondike Solitaire, in the Yukon version, only a King can be placed in an empty column. It is okay if there are cards moved along with it in a group, but the King must be the top card to fill an empty column.

The best results are achieved if you can try to shift cards into descending order, from King, to Queen, Jack and so forth. This is so the lower cards are as exposed as possible and can be moved to the foundation piles as necessary. Lower card values buried deep in the columns will make it difficult to access them.

Uncovering the Aces as early as possible and placing them on the foundation piles is also critical. It may be difficult to uncover the Aces quickly and at the same time attempt to organize cards in descending order, and some compromises will be required.

It is possible to win the game, but it requires a bit more study and forethought than many other solitaire games. As with any card game, improvement will come with repeated play.

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Thanks,
Rick