Yukon Solitaire

Yukon solitaire is a strategic game of patience that adjusts the familiar solitaire format to make it a bit more challenging. 

Starting with a single deck arranged into seven rows, but discarding the stock pile entirely, you’ll be setting this game up much like its traditional counterpart.

We’ll be covering how exactly to do this in the following article, and providing you with some exciting variations Yukon has of its own.

But before you go and reach for a deck to play Yukon solitaire online, we do all the setting up for you, allowing you to jump straight into a game completely for free. You can get started right here on our website!

Introduction to Yukon Solitaire

Yukon solitaire is a variation of Klondike, which is seen by many as the classic format of solitaire as popularized by the Microsoft application. 

Those familiar with these terms outside the world of patience games might have already made the connection between their names. Klondike is a region of the state of Yukon within Canada, one famed for its snow capped peaks, alpine lakes and a gold rush at the turn of the 20th century. We can surmise that Yukon solitaire got its name because of this relationship. 

More broadly, solitaire refers to a set of patience games (games wherein a shuffled deck of cards must be rearranged by the player in a particular order) which can be played by a single person. Solitaire comes from the French for solitary. 

These aren’t the only terms you’ll need to know to get started with Yukon. With games of patience, it’s often helpful to have a grasp on what’s what exactly, as this will allow you to switch between variants just by a quick skim of the rules. 

But if you already know what you’re doing, you can find a free Yukon solitaire game download here on our website.

Yukon Solitaire Terms

• Tableau – From the old French for a painting surface. In solitaire, it refers to the playing area where stacks of cards congregate. You can move cards between these stacks so long as you follow certain rules.
• Stack (or pile) – A single pile of cards within the tableau. In Yukon, you’re expected to make up your tableau with seven stacks. Some cards within these stacks are covered and some are uncovered. We’ve provided more information on this in our setup section.
• Run – Once the game is set up, you’ll look to build runs of cards by moving uncovered cards between the different stacks. In Yukon, you can move a card from anywhere in the stacks on three conditions. One, it is of a different color and the direct rank below the card that it’s being moved to. Two, any cards underneath the card being moved must be also brought along with it, even if they don’t correspond to that sequence. Three, the card it is being attached to must be at the bottom of a pile.
• Rank – The rating of a card, typically with king as the highest and ace as the lowest. 
• Foundation – The ultimate goal of the game, the foundation is where you’ll look to rearrange your shuffled deck of cards back into order. This is done by creating four piles, one for each suit, of cards ascending from ace to king. You do this by freeing up cards on the tableau.
• Uncovered cards – Cards that face the player, so you can see their suit and rank. These can be moved onto the foundations so long as they are at the bottom of each stack.
• Covered cards – Cards that face away from the player. These cannot be played, but can be turned over once they’ve become the bottom card of a stack. Turning over these cards is vital for completing your foundations.
• Stock – The remainder of the deck which can be drawn from once a player has run out of moves. In Yukon, you’ll be deploying the entire deck onto the tableau, so you won’t have to worry about the stock.

Yukon Solitaire Rules

The rules of Yukon are largely similar to Klondike or classic solitaire but with some particular differences:

• You should employ the entire deck of cards in your tableau, with no stock left over. The exact layout of these cards will be addressed in the setup section below.
• Cards can be moved between stacks on the tableau so long as they are one rank below and the opposite color of the card they are being moved onto, which itself must be at the bottom of a pile.
• You can move cards from any position in their pile, so long as this condition is met. However, moving a card also means that all the cards under it, even if they’re not directly in sequence with the card above, must be moved along with it.
• Cards can be uncovered if there are no uncovered cards below them in a pile.
• Yukon employs four foundations, one for each suit which runs in ascending order – from ace to king. Cards can only be moved to the foundations if they are of the same suit and one rank above the previous card, or an ace. 
• A game is lost when a player runs out of moves. A game is completed once the deck is returned to order on the foundations.

Types of Yukon Solitaire

There are an endless number of patience games, a natural result of the format’s long history, which stretches back to the 18th century. And in any of these games, there’s an endless number of variations within them. 

Yukon is no exception, and whether Russian, double, Alaskan or classic, you can get started right away with any of the Yukon solitaire online free games available in our collection.

Russian Yukon Solitaire

Russian Yukon is set up in an identical way to regular Yukon, but with one slight difference: you can only build runs if they are of the same suit, in a vein similar to spider or scorpion. In this way, it’s a more challenging variation of the format as there are fewer possible moves.

Double Yukon Solitaire Free

Double Yukon is a variation of Yukon that employs two decks of cards. In order to accommodate the extra fifty-two, there are a few changes that have to be made to the tableau. Naturally, you’ll also be employing eight foundations, one for each suit of the two decks.

First of all, you’ll have to deal your deck into ten piles of cards instead of seven. Your first pile will feature five rows of uncovered cards. Your second, one covered card, followed by six uncovered ones. 

Your third, two covered cards followed by six uncovered ones. Your fourth, three covered cards followed by six uncovered ones. Continue adding a covered card to each pile followed by six uncovered ones until you’ve reached the tenth pile, which will have nine covered cards. 

From then on, the rules will be the same as classic Yukon solitaire, though the game typically takes a little longer to complete as there are more moves to consider. 

How to Play

Now that we have a grasp of the rules and the correct terminology, let’s actually get to playing. The following section will show you how to set up your game, and provide you with some strategies to help you to excel at it.

Yukon Solitaire Setup

Yukon has an interesting setup of covered and uncovered cards, related to the fact that you’re using an entire deck. 

Naturally, when you start your free online Yukon solitaire game on our website, this is done for you. If you have a physical deck of cards, here’s how you can get to setting them up.

• Find a suitable, flat playing surface with plenty of room. Shuffle your deck.
• You’ll be laying out seven piles of cards horizontally. Start with your first pile and place one uncovered card.
• On the second pile, start with one covered card and arrange five uncovered cards in overlapping rows below it.
• On the third pile, start with two uncovered cards and arrange five uncovered cards in overlapping rows below it.
• Continue this method for each pile, increasing the number of covered cards by one each time until you’ve reached the seventh pile. 
• The seventh pile should therefore have six covered cards and five uncovered cards. 
• Once this is complete, you are ready to play.
• Reserve a space for your four foundations to be built up.

Starting the Game

Now that your cards are set up, you’ll be able to start making your moves. There are two things to consider here:

• Moving cards around the tableau.
• Moving cards onto the foundations.

As mentioned in the rules above, any card can be moved around the tableau so long as it follows three conditions:

• The moving card must be of a lower rank and the opposite color to the destination card.
• Any moving card must bring the cards under it with it when it moves, even if they are not in sequence.
• The destination must be a card at the bottom of one of the piles, or an empty space if there is one available. 

The foundations start with an ace and ascend to a king. There are four foundations, one for each suit. As such, cards can only be moved onto the foundations if they are either an ace, or a card of the same suit and the direct rank above the previously moved card.

Best Strategy to Play

For someone unfamiliar with solitaire games, it might seem that there’s a great deal of luck involved when it comes to who wins and who loses.

It is true that the hand you’re dealt can be favorable or unfavorable to you. For instance, you might have existing runs already dealt into the tableau. 

But a player can still make plenty of strategic decisions to bring about a winning finish, and in fewer moves than their previous attempt. Some top tips to refine your solitaire game are as follows.

• Focus on revealing as many of the covered cards as soon as possible. This might mean concentrating your efforts towards moving runs away from the right side of the board, where there are a denser number of covered cards.
• Don’t wait to move any aces onto the foundations once they’re uncovered. They’ll simply take up space on the board as nothing can be stacked below them.
• Once an empty slot opens up, take advantage of the fact you can move cards more freely around the tableau by moving a king (and the cards below it) into the space. 

Conclusion

Yukon solitaire is a slightly more challenging variation of Klondike, owing to the fact that you have no stock to deal from. But with that in mind, it is therefore more strategic. Knowing that you have more uncovered cards allows you to plan ahead better, with less reliance on luck.

If you’re looking for a Yukon solitaire free download, or a chance to simply play it in your browser, you can find plenty of amazing solitaire games right here on our website. We hope you have everything you need to get started!